Bangladesh's ready-made garment industry and its harsh working conditions have been the center of intense scrutiny for the past decade, especially following the massive death tolls of the Tazreen Fashions factory fire in 2012 and the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013. While lauded by many for its tremendous contributions to the Bangladeshi economy and its employment of primarily women, the garment industry is responsible for causing harm both to the women who work there and the local environment. Women workers are physically and verbally abused in the workplace for little pay, while the factories emit pollutants that contaminate the drinking water in surrounding areas and destroy crops. The global North, while being the main destination for exports from Bangladesh, refuses to intervene in a meaningful way to help the people who supply cheap goods for them, even in spite of highly publicized agreements to help improve factory safety, like the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. This paper will examine the Bangladeshi garment industry using an ecofeminist lens. Doing so helps to illustrate the various power relations involving gender, capitalism, and the environment that characterize the industry. These axes of power, all stemming from the same mindset of superiority, reinforce one another both ideologically and materially. Seeing how these different issues – including harassment, pollution, crop loss, and forced displacement – are connected will help to determine how to best solve each of these individual issues.

This work serves as an exploration of how garments life can be extended through the possibility of updating it post-use with natural pigment printing. Flat garment construction is explored for the possibility of taking garments apart to update them with print during their lifetime. The technique of naturally printing in combination with flat garment construction can potentially lead to garments that will change over time, dependent on the wearer which creates an emotionally durable design, writing the history of time into the garments.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is dedicated to achieving social justice throughout the world. It specifically recognises the right to collective bargaining as one of the main drivers of its ambitions. It desires to achieve social justice through various Conventions and Recommendations. South Africa as a member of ILO constitutionally recognises the right to engage in collective bargaining. The Labour Relations Act (LRA) advocates for the establishment of bargaining councils in various sectors in the country to effectively recognise this right. This study predominantly focuses on the efficiency of these councils as tools for collective bargaining. The study is intended to ultimately provide a lesson to Lesotho. Trade unions in Lesotho’s garment industry are adamant that bargaining councils are the solution to the country’s collective bargaining woes. Specific attention is paid to the history of collective bargaining in the two countries to firstly indicate the inter relation of the bargaining framework in the two countries and to trace the origins of the bargaining councils in South Africa’s set up. The role of these councils is examined, with prime attention placed on the advantages and disadvantages of industry level bargaining. The Constitutions of the National Textile Bargaining Council and The National Bargaining Council for the Manufacturing Industry are examined to determine the roles these councils play in the collective bargaining framework of South Africa. Attention is also paid to the procedures required for the establishment of these councils. The challenges facing this form of bargaining are also outlined, with prime attention being given to the cases in South African courts that are a potential threat to the bargaining council system in South Africa. The study culminates in conclusions on the bargaining framework in South Africa and provides recommendations on ways to improve the collective bargaining framework in the country. This subsequently provides a platform for the lessons that Lesotho should learn from the framework in South Africa. The study ultimately concludes that bargaining councils are efficient tools for the promotion of collective bargaining. They, however, are not a desirable solution for the collective bargaining problems faced in Lesotho’s context. / LLM (Labour Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is dedicated to achieving social justice throughout the world. It specifically recognises the right to collective bargaining as one of the main drivers of its ambitions. It desires to achieve social justice through various Conventions and Recommendations. South Africa as a member of ILO constitutionally recognises the right to engage in collective bargaining. The Labour Relations Act (LRA) advocates for the establishment of bargaining councils in various sectors in the country to effectively recognise this right. This study predominantly focuses on the efficiency of these councils as tools for collective bargaining. The study is intended to ultimately provide a lesson to Lesotho. Trade unions in Lesotho’s garment industry are adamant that bargaining councils are the solution to the country’s collective bargaining woes. Specific attention is paid to the history of collective bargaining in the two countries to firstly indicate the inter relation of the bargaining framework in the two countries and to trace the origins of the bargaining councils in South Africa’s set up. The role of these councils is examined, with prime attention placed on the advantages and disadvantages of industry level bargaining. The Constitutions of the National Textile Bargaining Council and The National Bargaining Council for the Manufacturing Industry are examined to determine the roles these councils play in the collective bargaining framework of South Africa. Attention is also paid to the procedures required for the establishment of these councils. The challenges facing this form of bargaining are also outlined, with prime attention being given to the cases in South African courts that are a potential threat to the bargaining council system in South Africa. The study culminates in conclusions on the bargaining framework in South Africa and provides recommendations on ways to improve the collective bargaining framework in the country. This subsequently provides a platform for the lessons that Lesotho should learn from the framework in South Africa. The study ultimately concludes that bargaining councils are efficient tools for the promotion of collective bargaining. They, however, are not a desirable solution for the collective bargaining problems faced in Lesotho’s context. / LLM (Labour Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The competitive advantages of Sri Lanka's garment industry, and how these can lead to increased trade with Swedish companies, were examined through a study divided in two main parts. The research was carried out with a focus on the labour force and the social aspects of CSR. It was initiated in Sweden, where the goal was to investigate how Swedish companies select suppliers and what their requirements are in terms of code of conduct and social responsibility. In the following part of the study we examined the corresponding parts of Sri Lanka's garment industry. To identify the competitive advantages and potential problems, we conducted a study on three different factories in the country, where the owners, managers and workers were interviewed. To further expand the survey results we also interviewed additional stakeholders to the industry. In this case a trade union and an organization working in the garment industry. The collected data were analysed using selected parts of Porter's diamond and Carroll's CSR pyramid, as well as the Swedish companies' demands on the social aspects of CSR. In order to identify these requirements, interviews were conducted with four different people at the Swedish companies. We were also given access to documents with their code of conduct. Through our analysis we are able to identify the competitive advantages that exist within the industry. In addition to that we are able to identify the areas of the industry where problems exist today, but where Sri Lanka has the opportunity to strengthen its competitive advantages in order to become a more attractive partner for Swedish companies.

Multinational corporations (MNCs) in the West have introduced voluntary codes of conduct (CoC) in global supply chains to promote the application of international labour standards and labour rights in their suppliers’ factories. Previous studies on CoC implementation have addressed various problems of its effectiveness but they are limited to a rather narrow context of business relationships between MNCs and factory-based suppliers. My research examines CoC implementation in a wider global supply chain and domestic institutional context. It aims to: firstly, assess how CoC is implemented throughout the multi-layered clothing supply chain and, secondly, identify structural and institutional constraints which hinder the effectiveness of CoC. The thesis employs qualitative analyses of 398 web-based documents from the 75 largest clothing brands and retailers in US and UK markets. It also provides data from 62 in-depth and semi-structured interviews of garment factories managers, workers, vendors, labour auditors and local officials in Vietnam, as well as representatives from UK retailers and campaign groups. The thesis analyses various sets of relationship among these actors and in two dimensions of the environments in which CoC operates: global supply network structure and domestic employment relations system. My thesis makes three original contributions. Firstly it challenges the presumed logic of CoC aimed at supporting workers, because it shows evidence from the workers’ perspective that CoC not only fails to support workers’ needs but also faces resistance from them in non-complying factories in Vietnam. Secondly, I argue that the oversimplified assumption of principal-agent control model between MNCs and suppliers’ factories, which underpins the CoC arrangement, fails to recognise the complex structure of supply network with interdependent operations and multi-level flow of commands. Finally, my thesis exposes the weakness of market initiatives like CoC: when their pledges to improve working conditions and promote workers’ rights clash with economic and socio-political priorities of the local government, the latter prevails. Taking the business and institutional dimensions together I have developed a framework for a more comprehensive assessment of CoC and similar voluntary initiatives that can be applied by other researchers in similar contexts.

The purpose and underlying motivation for this project was to examine the procedure of garment construction methods, by specifically choosing to abandon traditional rules and standards that are associated with mass production. I chose to explore domestic hand-craft made by women in New Zealand in their domestic situation, focusing on hand-stitched techniques from the past reflecting a nostalgic value which potentially contributed to the garment’s construction process. The project sought to utilize the re-using of materials by incorporating previously made hand-craft; and looked at the remaking of second-hand garments by means of deconstruction and reconstruction. Traditional hand-craft, in this context, refers to the use of craft forms not governed by principles of efficiency, mass production or technology, allowing the garments to contain unique ‘one of a kind’ hand-made qualities. My studio practice specifically focused on exploring the relationship between hand-craft and garment construction, by researching their application and integration into the garment’s structure, along with disrupting the orderly traditional production process. I was not focusing on the finished garment’s design. The project provided an opportunity to refocus my attention on the hand-made, as I perceived that the skills required to produce these were being extinguished by modern lifestyles. Exploration promoted new discoveries by exposing the construction process and revealing unpredicted combinations. The project explored these ideas, resulting in a range of women’s garments that revealed, as part of their construction, hand-work which offered a modern variation of nostalgia. This project comprised of 80% practical work and will be accompanied by an exegesis with a value of 20%.

Evidence suggests that employment for women can reduce poverty and inequality resulting in improved living standards. The garment industry is an important source of income for Indian women. This thesis tested the effects of garment work as an income source on women’s health-care utilization practices and decision-making in comparison to both agricultural labourers and general women in India. Cross-sectional data collected from India’s National Family Health Survey-3 were used to generate descriptive statistics. Statistical modeling was used to test the effect of garment work on a) barriers to health care services and b) decision-making abilities of Indian women. Results suggest garment workers are younger, more educated, urban, and wealthier, make more cash earnings, and have more access and control over their own money as compared to agricultural labourers. Results indicate female garment workers report facing fewer barriers to accessing health care services. As well, access to cash earnings increases their decision-making abilities.

Bodydressed: Investigate alternative forms of wearing garments in relation to the body trough questioning garments fixed position and bodily relationship, using the own body and a bodystocking as a tool for draping.

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