British Clothing Brand Lawsuit Serves Notice To Fast Fashion

Manchester based clothing brand Lawsuit Apparel has turned pleas for help, from low-paid overseas garment workers, into a one-off jumpsuit that gives voice to their protest against exploitative labour practices in the fast-fashion industry.

In 2014, shoppers in South Wales reported seeing mysterious messages on labels sewn into the neckline of clothes they’d bought from fast fashion outlets. They featured statements such as, “Forced to Work Exhausting Hours'' and “Degrading Sweatshop Conditions”, and appeared to be cries for help from the women in Bangladesh who’d made the garments. Subsequent investigations suggested the labels had probably been stitched into the garments by protesters in the UK but their exact origin remained a mystery.

Then last year the labels reappeared on social media, accompanied by claims they'd been sewn into clothes from online fast-fashion retailers. Trending videos on TikTok were quickly followed by news stories drawing attention to this new wave of SOS messages. Stung by the criticism, fast-fashion giants subsequently debunked these new labels as another hoax.

But the appalling treatment of the people who make our clothes is no hoax. It’s a depressing reality.

Whilst the fashion industry turns over nearly $3 Trillion a year, garment workers, 80% of them women, are still working for poverty pay, earning as little as £68 a month. Long hours, forced overtime, unsafe working conditions, sexual, physical and verbal abuse and short term contracts are all commonplace in the factories making clothes sold in the UK*. Fast Fashion is an industry built on exploitation, but a lack of supply chain transparency makes it harder to hold clothing brands accountable for their actions. Now Lawsuit is doing just that.

Lawsuit have created a bespoke piece of “workwear couture”, in the hope of helping and supporting female factory workers and drawing attention to sweatshop working conditions in Bangladesh and beyond. Made in Manchester, this one-off jumpsuit features 500 "worker SOS labels", stitched into the front-mid panels and will be auctioned to raise money for organisations campaigning to improve the lives of overseas garment workers.

Lawsuit creative director, Keith Gray, commented: "The problem with the original protests was that nobody knew exactly who'd created these labels, that were intended to give a voice to women making clothes in appalling conditions. So instead of focussing on the real issue, the debate became focussed on who'd made the labels, instead of the issues they were drawing attention to. But this time there can be no doubt who created these labels of protest, it was Lawsuit. The jumpsuit is intended as a piece of art, which aims to provoke questions about the treatment of workers in the fast fashion industry, rather than who made the labels."

ENDS

*Data sourced from Labour Behind The Label

About Lawsuit

Lawsuit responds to social trends and not just fashion trends. We bridge fashion, music and sport to promote positive social change for the next generation of humans. We’re not interested in celebrity status, we care more about the state of humanity; it's not the brands you wear but what you stand for.

Lawsuit is all about fashion activism. It was born as an exciting alternative to the mainstream: the Lawsuit logo is a symbol for positive action and self-worth, holding a flame to hyped-up, expensive brands that exploit both consumers and the workers who make their clothes.

Notes to Editors

This press release can be used for immediate publication. It has been issued on behalf of Lawsuit Apparel. Further images of the jumpsuit are available on request and all images and logos remain the intellectual property of Lawsuit Clothing Limited.

Enquiries and requests for interviews should be directed to Andrew Warner at our agency Brand Pharmacists, which is part of the Susumi Marketing Group: andrew.warner@susumi.co.uk