Cost of Stuff

Please note the labour cost figure quoted for a T shirt is 2.2 pence and not 22/23 pence as originally quoted. Please see the revised powerpoint available here for updated information.

Cost of Stuff: As the price of stuff drops the human cost goes up
Prof. Doug Miller, Chair in Worker Rights in Fashion and Fiona Sadler, Head of Ethical Trading, Marks and Spencer believe this just can’t be right.  But what can you do?  In this session Doug and Fiona talked about their work in this arena

Fiona Sadler is Head of Ethical Trading at Marks and Spencer where she is responsible for developing and communicating the ethical trading strategy to suppliers, ensuring they meet the M&S global sourcing principles and the eti Base code.

Doug Miller has 30 years experience in teaching, researching and communicating on the issues surrounding equality, corporate responsibility and industrial relations.  He worked intensively on the development of the first international framework agreement for the textile, clothing and footwear sector between the Global Union and Inditex S.A. – the Spanish multinational and world’s largest retailer.  He is currently focused on a specific feature of buying behavior in the UK fashion retail industry: the negotiation of a manufacturing price (CMT cost) with suppliers which does not separately itemize labour cost.