When choosing what to wear in the morning it’s unlikely that you think very much about how far your clothes travelled before they reached your wardrobe. But, in the age of growing transparency, customers want to know more. So we’re asking the question, where do clothing brands manufacture?
The garment and textile industry operates on every continent (except Antarctica) and 430 million people are estimated to work in garment and textile production. Far from the days of cottage industries and local tailors, the modern fashion world is an international affair. The production process for just one piece of clothing can span multiple continents.
Many clothes travel hundreds or thousands of miles as brands increasingly favour an offshore manufacturing process. While the final stage of production may be in one place, the raw materials will likely have come from a different country or even continent. The fabric suppliers in the middle could well be in another part of the world altogether.
Hidden in these murky global supply chains are often ethical and environmental transgressions that can seem jarring with the shiny stores our clothes end up in.
So, where do most brands make their clothes, why do they make them there and why should we care?
Where do clothing brands manufacture?
Understanding where our clothes come from can be a complicated question. One t-shirt can have travelled through multiple countries before reaching your wardrobe. While a clothing business may have its headquarters and design its clothes in one part of the world, this doesn’t mean that this is where its garment factories are located.
The biggest manufacturer and exporter of clothing and apparel products is China, with 65% of the world’s clothing being made there.
The second largest country for clothing manufacturing in the world is Bangladesh. Garment exports make up close to 85% of the country’s overall exports. Bangladesh’s ready-made garments industry has seen growth in recent years, with its share of global garment exports rising to 6.7%.
Other top garment producers include:
- Vietnam – Accounting for 5.2% of the global market share, the Vietnamese garment industry is expected to generate $45 billion in exports in 2022.
- India – Holding a 4% share of the global textile and apparel trade, India’s domestic textile and apparel industry contributes 2% to the country’s GDP.
- Turkey – The country has a 3.8% share in the global clothing industry. An estimated 500,000 people are employed in the Turkish garment manufacturing sector.
- Europe – While Europe may represent a large and international industry, it is often reported as a whole. The industry is worth 166 billion Euro, with top manufacturing countries including Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
- Other players in the global apparel manufacturing industry include the USA, Pakistan, the Philippines, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia.
Why are clothes made in these countries?
So, you may be thinking it would be easier for brands to manufacture closer to home. But, this often isn’t the case. Developing countries are such big markets for clothing manufacturing because it is often easier in these areas for brands to skirt the rules and exploit people along the supply chain.
Paying less for unregulated conditions
Fewer, less robust, or non-existent workplace regulations make it easier for brands to pay workers less and force them to work in unsafe conditions. While this keeps the production cost down and makes profit margins better, it leaves a trail of exploitation, tragedy and human rights issues along the supply chain.
It’s easy to think that this is all in the interest of offering lower prices. However, The Clean Clothes Campaign did its own research and showed it would only add a tiny percentage to the cost of an item to pay workers a living wage. Their breakdown of the cost of a t-shirt makes compulsory and shocking reading.
In saying this, some brands and fashion designers do source from apparel manufacturers that put the welfare of workers as the main priority. And this small number of ethical brands is growing. We write about them often. However, this has sadly not been the standard practice so far.
To learn more about the Bangladesh garment sector, check out our article 50 Bangladesh textile industry statistics fashionistas should know.
What are garment workers paid?
Generally, working in a clothing factory is hard work. Workers face long hours and physically demanding tasks. In an ideal world, they would get fair pay for their efforts. Unfortunately, this often isn’t the case.
China
In China, many garment workers earn the minimum wage. While this varies across the country, it peaks at about $350USD per month. This amount, however, is far below the living wage of around $780USD per month.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, it is a similar story, with the minimum wage for garment workers set at 8000 taka (around £70) per month. This is far below the £330 needed each month to comfortably live in the country. One study even found that many workers in Bangladesh earn the equivalent of just 25 pence per hour.
Vietnam
Workers in Vietnamese garment factories are often taking home just over 30% of the living wage each month.
If the question of where do clothing brands manufacture leads you to Ethiopia, workers there have been reported to face even more dire pay levels. The country set its base wage for garment workers in some regions at the equivalent of a measly $26 a month. This makes Ethiopian garment workers some of the lowest-paid in the world.
Eastern Europe
Those working for garment manufacturers in Eastern Europe don’t often fare much better. The minimum wage in Serbia was found to be just a quarter of the living wage. Similarly, the minimum wage for Slovakia and Hungary was just a third of the living wage.
LA
Even in LA in the United States, it has been reported that those employed by clothing manufacturers work 60- 70 hours per week and earn as little as 2 to 6 cents per garment made.
Turkey
In Turkey the pandemic and hyperinflation has meant that workers earning the minimum wage are taking home just a quarter of the living wage rate. Reports have found that one in three Turkish garment workers are earning the minimum wage.
Southern Italy
Whilst the label “Made in Europe”, or even more “Made in Italy” might fill us with confidence, a disturbing article by the New York Times shed light on shady practices in Southern Italy. Here, home workers are paid a pittance to hand sew garments for luxury brands.
To find out which brands pay their workers a living wage, see our article: Making fashion fair: 22 brands that pay a living wage.
Unclean, unsafe and unfair
Hidden behind the fancy clothes in glittering stores on the high street is a tale of exploitation and unsafe conditions. Accidents are common in the garment sector, with only the worst in the industry making global headlines. Workers are often forced to work in cramped, poorly ventilated and poorly lit conditions.
Unsafe working conditions
Unsafe working conditions in the industry have led to tragic disasters. Disasters such as the Rana Plaza collapse that killed over 1,000 garment workers and a factory fire in Pakistan’s garment industry that led to the death of over 300 people.
Unpaid and poorly paid overtime
Workers in countries such as Bangladesh and China commonly work overtime, with this often paid at a basic rate, or not at all. One study found that 97% of factories surveyed in Bangladesh relied on excess overtime to meet industry expectations.
Unsafe practices
Workers in many factories are exposed to unsafe practices, such as sandblasting, and dangerous chemicals, without adequate protection. Excessive noise, extreme temperatures and risk from repetitive motion are also risks many garment workers face daily.
Unsafe conditions and workplace accidents led to a recorded 56 incidents, 131 deaths, and 279 injuries in the garment sector between January 2021 and June 2022. In reality, this number is likely to be far higher due to poor reporting.
An environment that foots the bill
The environmental impact of the fashion industry has been increasingly in the spotlight in recent years. The sector accounts for a greater carbon dioxide output than international flights.
Fashion produces 300 million tons of plastic, and garment production has doubled since 2000. On top of this hefty environmental bill, many unethical factories along fashion supply chains engage in illegal dumping and unsustainable production practices.
The fashion sector produces 20% of the world’s wastewater. Dyes and chemicals being dumped in local waterways have turned rivers black in Bangladesh. Reports have found at least 700 washing and dyeing facilities in Dhaka dump wastewater and other toxic waste into waterways.
See our articles for more information on water pollution in the fashion industry and toxic dyes in clothing production.
The pollution generated by the clothing sector varies depending on location. Developing countries where clothes are more likely to be produced generally have less strict regulations than countries closer to home. Clothing produced there can disturbingly cause a lot more pollution.
This hidden environmental impact makes it even more important to know where our clothes are made.
Why should we know where our clothes are made?
Understanding where our clothes were made is important information. It gives the power back to consumers to purchase from companies that produce clothing ethically. For too long companies have hidden behind murky supply chains and greenwashing campaigns, while workers and the environment suffered for our fashion.
Knowing where our favourite brands make their clothes, knowing what they pay their workers and what conditions workers are facing allows an informed choice. It allows us all to shop in line with our ethics and to lobby brands, if necessary, to improve supply chain practices.
Like in any industry, in the fashion sector, money talks. By buying from ethical brands and demanding unethical brands do better, we can help to reshape the fashion industry into a clearer, kinder and greener one.
Knowing where our clothes come from can also help us factor in the carbon footprint of transportation. Shipping accounts for roughly 2.5% of global CO2 emissions. This number could rise to 17% by 2050.
Knowing where clothes were made, we can shop for styles made closer to home and help reduce shipping emissions too.
Where do our favourite styles come from?
We all have our favourite brands and there are some truly gigantic names in the fashion sector. So, we’re also taking a look at some of the biggest names in the business to find out where these clothing brands manufacture.
It’s important to remember that most brands don’t publish complete lists of where they make their clothes. Even those that do can have such complex supply chains that even knowing where the final stage was carried out, it can be hard to understand a garment’s origins.
Where do Zara manufacture their clothes?
One of the original names in fast fashion, Zara produces an estimated 450 million garments every year. Meanwhile, Zara’s parent company Inditex, has reported bringing over a billion products to stores in just one year. To keep up with this immense level of production, Zara supply chains span multiple continents.
The majority of Zara’s clothing is produced in Spain, with a large number of products also produced in Portugal, Morocco and Turkey. The brand also sources from suppliers in countries including China, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam and India.
Inditex has been reported to have over 1,800 suppliers and to work with over 7,000 factories around the world. A business model of rapid production paired with the extreme size of Zara’s supply chain can make it impossible to trace a specific clothing article back to an individual factory.
Where do H&M manufacture their clothes?
Much like Zara, the H&M supply chain is vast to say the least. The brand works with over 600 suppliers and over 1,500 tier-one factories that operate across Europe, Asia and Africa. Suppliers in China and Bangladesh produce most of the brand’s clothing lines. Over a million people are employed by H&M supplier factories.
The H&M group, including H&M, Arket, & Other Stories, sources from forty countries and works with 265 separate factories in just Bangladesh. This huge supply chain makes the estimated three billion clothes the company sells every year.
As with Zara, the size of H&M’s supply chain can make it hard for a shopper to be sure of where exactly an individual piece of clothing came from and the conditions in which it was produced.
In saying this, H&M do score relatively well on the Fashion Transparency Index. While this does not guarantee good working conditions, it does point to more accountability than many other fast fashion brands in the industry which can only be a good thing.
Where do Primark manufacture their clothes?
The slightly smaller cousin of H&M and Zara, many Primark clothes begin their journey in China, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. In China alone, Primark has been reported to have 450 supplier factories. In both India and Bangladesh, the company has over 100 supplier factories.
The fast fashion retailer also sources from Turkey, Vietnam, Myanmar and Romania, with its full supplier list including suppliers across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Where do luxury brands manufacture their clothes?
It isn’t just fast fashion brands that source from global supply chains, some of the most well-known names in the luxury sector also have international suppliers.
Many Marc Jacobs bags are made in China, while the final products stocking Calvin Klein shelves may have started out in Bangladesh. Prada, another standard name in the luxury sector, manufactures at over 21 sites including ones in Romania, France and Italy.
Many luxury brands use clothing manufacturers across Europe. However, brands in the luxury industry aren’t always the most forthcoming in publishing full clothing supplier lists. This can make it difficult to make an informed choice when buying luxury clothing.
TRANSPARENCY CAMPAIGNS
There are some great campaigns to try and improve transparency in the fashion and garment industry. These campaigns are asking clothing brands where they manufacture, and holding them accountable for conditions along the supply chain.
Fashion Revolution
Started in the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse, Fashion Revolution has become a global movement. It advocates for transparency, and fair and safe conditions in the fashion sector. Perhaps the most well-known campaign by Fashion Revolution is the Who Made My Clothes Campaign, in which consumers are encouraged to ask brands, who made my clothes?
To learn more about the Who Made My Clothes movement check out our article The Who Made My Clothes movement: is it changing fashion.
Clean Clothes Campaign
Operating in 45 countries, the Clean Clothes Campaign works at both a global and local level to protect workers’ rights and safety in fashion supply chains. The organisation offers support and solidarity to workers facing worker violations as well as lobbying governments and companies, organising training and working with labour rights campaigns.
LABOUR BEHIND THE LABEL
Working with a variety of organisations, unions and individuals, Labour Behind the Label fights for fairer and safer conditions in the garment industry. The organisation promotes consumer awareness and asks shoppers to push for change. The organisation also pressures governments and companies to enforce fairer conditions and provides a platform for workers’ voices to be heard.
Resources
When looking for ethical brands, these handy resources for checking transparency and supply chain practices are a great place to start:
Fashion Checker – Information on some of the biggest brands, including if they pay a living wage and have transparent supply chains.
Open Apparel – Free, structured data sets for the apparel sector, making information about garment facilities across the globe easily available.
Certifications – The best factories are endorsed with certifications such as SA8000, SEDEX, SMETA or the Fair Wear Foundation. These attest that the people who make your clothes do so under decent working conditions. It’s a good idea to look out for their logos on a brand’s website.
A COMPLICATED ANSWER TO A SIMPLE QUESTION
Where do clothing brands manufacture? It should be an easy question with a straightforward answer. But, in the complexity of the modern fashion industry, it is an answer that often spans multiple continents, supply chains, and covers a multitude of ethical missteps.
In such a global industry, knowing where our clothes were made and by who has never been more important. It gives us, as shoppers, the choice to support ethical brands and to vote with our feet against fashion that is built on exploitation.
So, maybe it is time to ask your favourite apparel brand, where do you make your clothes?
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE…
13 men’s vegan clothing brands UK proving its cool to be kind
Using some vegan and plant-based materials, these are the UK men’s vegan clothing brands making styles for every taste that support a vegan lifestyle.
Bonnie brands: sustainable clothing brands from Scotland
A hub for creative talent, we’re taking a look at sustainable clothing brands in Scotland that are creating unique, eclectic and eye-catching ethical fashion.
A costly impact: 8 reasons why sustainable clothes are so expensive
It can seem that eco-friendly fashion is a luxury that few of us can afford, but why are sustainable clothes so expensive?
101 ethical & sustainable fashion statistics and trends 2022
What is the state of fashion? We take a look at the numbers behind recent sustainable fashion trends and bring you 101 Ethical Fashion Statistics.
22 Ways Hemp Clothes Benefit You and the Earth
Hemp is an ancient fabric that is receiving increasing attention, but should we use it and how do hemp clothes benefit us and the world?
