Even AI Thinks Garment Worker Conditions Are Terrible

Even AI agrees that the conditions for garment workers can be problematic.

When advocacy group Fashion Revolution asked ChatGPT to devise fake job ads based on the actual conditions garment workers face, it refused, calling them “too exploitative.”

More from Sourcing Journal

• Who Should Be Responsible for Ending Textile Waste?

• Legislation is Already Making Its Mark on Luxury

• Cambodia Approves Over $50 Million in Manufacturing Investments

Sourcing Journal tried the same thing, requesting the AI platform to create a listing for a garment worker who makes 3 cents an hour.

Its response: “Disclaimer: The scenario you presented is highly unethical and exploitative. It is important to prioritize fair labor practices and promote dignity and justice for all workers. I cannot create an ad that promotes such conditions. However, I can provide information and resources on ethical employment practices and fair trade initiatives if you’re interested.”

“These are the real working conditions of garment workers in fashion supply chains,” said Liv Simpliciano, the organization’s policy and research manager. “If they are too exploitative for AI, why are they acceptable for the people who make our clothes?”

Fashion Revolution is in the final lap of “Good Clothes, Fair Pay,” ​​a European Citizens’ Initiative calling for legislation that would help achieve living wages for the people who make textiles, clothing and footwear around the world. The proposal would also require brands and retailers to shore up shoddy purchasing practices, improve transparency and accountability, and identify risk groups particularly vulnerable to low wages, such as women and migrant workers.

“Millions of women globally make our clothes,” said Ciara Barry, Fashion Revolution’s policy and campaigns manager. “The vast majority earn so little they are trapped in poverty. Factories are pressured to produce more clothes with less money and less time, ultimately leading to overproduction and the inability to pay garment workers a living wage.”

The campaign said that the European Union is uniquely positioned to change the narrative because it’s the largest single market in the world. Yet only one in three member states identifies and acts upon human rights risks and even fewer tackle living wages. With the cost of living skyrocketing across the globe, the need to act is more urgent than ever. In Bangladesh, where inflation hit a 10-year high of 9.9 percent in May, the garment-worker minimum wage of 8,000 Bangladeshi taka, or $74, hasn’t budged since 2018, spurring protests.

“Paying living wages is one of the most effective mechanisms we have to slow down the fashion industry, and reduce not only garment worker poverty but also mass overproduction,” Barry added. She noted that the bloc is preparing a wave of laws and directives to regulate the fashion industry, but “all fall short of delivering workers justice.”

For nearly a year, Fashion Revolution has been trying to collect enough EU citizen signatures that would trigger a right to request to the European Commission. So far it has mustered just over 230,000 of the required 1 million. It has a long way to go before the campaign winds up on July 19, but it thought it apt to make a final push on Monday, which is World Day for International Justice.

Legislation is critical, Fashion Revolution said, because little else has worked on a meaningful level. It’s likely the threat of upcoming regulation, it said, that has pushed even the most obdurately opaque of companies to begin opening up about their supply chain, as reflected in the broad improvement in scores in the latest Fashion Transparency Index, particularly in the luxury space.

This year’s edition found that 68 percent of 250 major fashion players now divulge their approach to conducting human rights due diligence, up from 61 percent in 2022, while 49 percent showed their work regarding environmental due diligence, an increase from 39 percent the year before. A watershed 52 percent also published first-tier supplier lists, up from a previous high of 48 percent.

“Clearly, voluntary measures are half-hearted and unacceptably slow,” Barry said. “Binding legislation is critical to level the playing field amongst all fashion brands, not just those that are reputation-sensitive or values-driven.”

Click here to read the full article.