A report by Bloomberg Markets Magazine has put the multinational lingerie company in check after revealing that the company uses cotton produced by children in Burkina Faso.
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| PHOTOS: Reuters/Bloomberg |
The investigation narrates the daily life of Clarisse Kambire, a 13-year-old girl who works under arduous working conditions in the cotton fields of this West African country, always closely watched by a tough foreman, who does not hesitate to hit her with a tree branch if she does not meet the demands he imposes on her.
This is the second harvest the young woman has worked on. The cotton from the first season went from her hands to the trucks of a program in Burkina Faso that handles cotton certified as fair trade. The fiber from that harvest then went to factories in India and Sri Lanka, where underwear was created for Victoria's Secret. From there, it went to stores, where this October you could buy clothes from the brand, with a label that read "Made with 20% organic fibers from Burkina Faso." All of last season's organic Burkina Faso harvest was bought by Victoria's Secret, which in principle was also going to keep this year's harvest.
Even though forced labour and child labour are common on African farms, the cotton grown by Clarisse and the other workers in this field is supposed to be different, as it is certified organic and fair trade, and should therefore be safe from these practices. The report thus highlights the shortcomings of the system for certifying basic and finished products as fair trade in this emerging global market, which grew by 27% in one year.
For six weeks, Bloomberg has been reporting on Clarisse, her family, neighbours and village leaders in Burkina Faso. Her experiences are similar to those of six other children interviewed in depth by Bloomberg, including a scrawny 12-year-old working in a nearby field.
A Victoria's Secret spokeswoman said that "the amount of cotton the fashion brand buys from Burkina Faso is minimal." The accusations, she said, "describe conduct contrary to our company values, the labor code and the rules of origin that we require all our suppliers to comply with." Nearly 25 million garments produced by Victoria's Secret were made with cotton collected in fields in Burkina Faso, where malnourished children work, according to Bloomberg.
Main source: Third Information
Main source: Third Information
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