Victoria’s Secret Responds to Bloomberg Allegation
Victoria’s Secret responds to the Bloomberg allegation released earlier this week about this high-end undergarment line using organic fair-trade cotton in their garments that come from a farm in Burkina Faso
Their response was published by USA Today. Read full article at: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/12/child-labor-allegedly-used-in-some-victorias-secret-cotton/1
“If this allegation is true, it describes behavior that is contrary to our company’s values and the code of labor and sourcing standards that we require all of our suppliers to meet. These standards expressly prohibit child labor,” Limited Brands said in a statement. “… Depending on the findings, we are prepared to take swift action to prevent the illegal use of child labor in the fields where we source Fairtrade-certified organic cotton in Burkina Faso.”
Clarisse Kambire’s labor “exposes flaws in the system for certifying fair-trade commodities and finished goods in a global market that grew 27% in just one year to more than $5.8 billion in 2010. That market is built on the notion that purchases by companies and consumers aren’t supposed to make them accomplices to exploitation, especially of children,” the Bloomberg report says.
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Not-so fair trade – Victoria’s Secret Revealed in African Child Labor
As Victoria’s Secret’s partner, Guebre’s organization, the National Federation of Burkina Cotton Producers, is responsible for running all aspects of the organic and fair-trade program across Burkina Faso. Known by its French initials, the UNPCB in 2008 co-sponsored a study suggesting hundreds, if not thousands, of children like Clarisse could be vulnerable to exploitation on organic and fair-trade farms. The study was commissioned by the growers and Helvetas. Victoria’s Secret says it never saw the report.
Clarisse’s labor exposes flaws in the system for certifying fair-trade commodities and finished goods in a global market that grew 27 percent in just one year to more than $5.8 billion in 2010. That market is built on the notion that purchases by companies and consumers aren’t supposed to make them accomplices to exploitation, especially of children.
Read full article here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-15/victoria-s-secret-revealed-in-child-picking-burkina-faso-cotton.html
Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Clarisse Kambire, 13, a child laborer, begins her daily task of picking the crop from her farmer’s field of fair trade organic cotton near Benvar, Burkina Faso, on Nov. 10, 2011.
