Normally one thinks of Asia, maybe Eastern Europe, when it comes to questionable conditions in the textile and clothing manufacturing industry. Low wages, poor treatment, little union representation, long hours and poor security. But there is a production site on the doorstep with similar problems.
In the Arte documentary “Poisonous Jeans – The Dark Side of the Turkish Textile Industry”, the cultural broadcaster provides information about catastrophic working conditions at supplier companies, health risks for textile and clothing workers and environmental pollution from the industry.
Turkey is one of the largest textile exporters in the world and attracts with the inexpensive production on the doorstep. Everything looks good on the outside – clothing is made in ultra-modern, apparently exemplary factories, but the reality is different for many: Textile workers slave away in basement workshops twelve hours a day and are defenseless against dangerous chemicals.
Although employee rights are guaranteed by law in Turkey, they are often ignored and not sufficiently controlled by the authorities. And if clients should ask themselves, workers are often forced to lie – about working hours, conditions, allowances or corona payments. Employers can also avoid paying severance pay if the workers resign themselves. They cooperate for fear of losing their job, because a poorly paid job is still better than none at all.
work that makes you sick
It is not uncommon for one’s own health to be put at risk. Workers are exposed to dangerous chemicals in washing factories – often without protective clothing. “There were signs all over the factory telling you to wear a mask, but they didn’t even give us a mask,” former textile worker Amidou says in the documentary.
Former textile worker Bego Demir was already working in the textile industry at the age of 15, bleaching jeans using the sandblasting method, which is now banned. As a result, he became seriously ill with silicosis and lost half of his lungs. He still suffers from shortness of breath today, but was able to contain the spread of the disease.
“Many others weren’t so lucky,” he says, referring to the many workers who have died as a result of daily exposure to hazardous chemicals.
He has been campaigning for better working conditions in the textile industry for years and also warns of the environmental threat: “The chemicals used in the manufacture of textiles migrate into the rivers and destroy every life there. The textile industry is one of the biggest water polluters in the world.”
Clean fashion instead of fast fashion
But he is not only interested in pointing out problems, but also in making suggestions for improvement and pointing out alternatives. As a member of the clean fashion movement, he founded his own jeans brand, Bego Jeans. This produces jeans with used fabric or organic cotton and thus saves 60 percent water, uses no chemicals, generates 80 percent less waste and is strictly against child labor. Workers receive around 40 percent higher wages than elsewhere and the company ensures that all producers along the supply chain pay their workers fair wages.
For clients, this means identifying the black sheep and concentrating on the companies that treat and pay their workers fairly, value their health and protect the environment. Because they exist, but they operate with price margins that allow these conditions. And if this is judged to be “too expensive”, then the problem lies at the other end of the supply chain.