"Their socks are soooo cheap!". I don't give a damn. After watching a Panorama episode exposing Primark's sweatshop labour, and their shameless attempts to conceal the evidence and stand tall as ethical retail giants - I'm forever more looking down Portbello Road's charity shops for my wallet-friendly bits and bobs.
Our consumer nature can ultimately consume us, and so I won't hate on anyone (including the shopaholic ladies in my life) not to be tempted by cheap-ass garms going a notch cheaper in the January sales - BUT I also challenge anyone to read my Ctrl.Alt.Shift follow-up report below (along with the vid above) and not feel even a spoonful of second-thought when ravaging through the racks of these corrupt superstore barons:
Feature: Bloody Primark Underwear
Getting paid pence for a 9-5, being exploited by the corporate machine, being a slave to the money-making game - it's not right, whatever continent you are standing on. But it’s even worse when the scandalous companies that rip off the non-the-wiser strugglers are sitting in our own back yard.
In June 2008, Primark was thrown under the spotlight, as BBC’s Panorama exposed the appalling conditions faced day-to-day by Indian hustlers grafting out clothes for the infamous store. Since then, Primark has taken no significant steps to alleviate the lives of these workers; they have done nothing to seize the exploitation of the women and children that keep the cogs of their dirty wheel turning. Instead, the company launched an audacious PR offensive through a new website titled www.ethicalprimark.co.uk, manufactured to convince us not to worry that their cheap-ass socks and boxers may be tainted by the hands of developing world penny-workers - well they might as well be stained with blood.
That is why organisations Labour Behind the Label and No Sweat have joined the fray, teaming up with Tara Scott and Stacey Dooley (from BBC’s reality show Blood, Sweat and T-shirts). Together they will demonstrate against the high-street giants on Friday December 5 as Primark sit down for their AGM from 10.30am at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) building, Congress Centre, 28 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS – the mass of campaigners will bring the noise with hopes to shift the ignorant mindsets of Primark’s shareholders who have the power to alter the way their company operates.
Here's what 22 year old Tara, and 32 year old Labour Behind the Label campaigner Claire Milne, had to say about their upcoming publicity stunt, the cause and the opponent in the bloodied red corner - Primark:
What is the protest all about?
Claire: We want Primark to stop feeding us spin and lies. Having successfully revolutionized 'cheap' as the new black, the Primark brand has come to epitomise cheap, fast fashion and the worker exploitation that comes with it. We want Primark to come clean and start taking meaningful action to improve the lives of the workers making its clothes.
Tara: We have seen Primark is only interested in money not people, so we need to show the shareholders that consumers want the truth, not to be fooled...
Read the rest of the interview here
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