Workers making Tesco's clothes are allegedly forced to work 80-hour weeks. Photo / Bloomberg
Workers making Tesco's clothes are allegedly forced to work 80-hour weeks. Photo / Bloomberg
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Concern about the exploitation of foreign workers in sweatshops has prompted a big rise in the number of British people boycotting budget clothes. More than one million shoppers boycotted the likes of Primark last year amid publicity about low wages and long working weeks.
Around £175 million ($470million) worth of business was lost because of the boycotts - up 400 per cent on 2005, said the Co-operative Bank's Ethical Consumerism Report 2007.
Overall, 5 per cent of the population, about three million people, followed their conscience and refused to shop at particular clothing companies. Half of those (52 per cent) - 1.5 million people - refused to patronise at least one low-cost clothing outlet.
Although the report did not name the retailers, it is understood the main targets of boycotts in the £8 billion-a-year "value"clothing market were Primark, Tesco and Asda.
All three companies were alleged by a War on Want report in December 2006 to be buying clothes from factories in Bangladesh, paying their workers 3p an hour for a 80-hour week with forced overtime.
Boycotting the budget retailers marks an expansion of ethical consumerism, which previously focused on companies such as Nike and Gap.
The Co-op said: "Most consumers report that once they boycott a brand they are unlikely to return to it.
"However, it appears that where businesses are taking a responsible approach to such issues, this is filtering through to consumers, as 2006 saw less evidence for boycotts of such brands.
"However, 2006 did see the emergence of a significant number of low-cost clothing boycotts.
For a number of consumers it appears that low cost is now a potential indicator of poor labour conditions."
In its report, the Co-op said that ethical consumption as a whole rose by 9 per cent to £32.3 billion.
