Cottons Hidden Voices: Stories from the makers of your clothes

英国的时尚产业价值超过260亿英镑，雇佣了至少80万人，是英国创造力和创新声誉的主要贡献者。然而，英国时装的生产高度依赖于全球供应链，孟加拉国、柬埔寨、中国、印度和斯里兰卡等全球南方国家的工人提供了种植棉花、纺纱、针织和编织面料的劳动力，并最终制作出我们在英国穿的服装。这些供应链与主要的道德问题有关，包括各种形式的歧视、低工资、抵押劳动、童工和危险的工作条件。这些问题现在最好用“现代奴隶制”这个总称来描述。但时尚产业也为超过2.5亿工人提供了就业机会，对许多工人来说，时尚供应链为他们自己和家人提供了减轻贫困、接受教育和发展社会流动性的机会。因此，设计师、品牌、政策制定者和联合国可持续发展目标面临的挑战是，如何消除现代奴役问题，同时保留时尚能为南半球工人提供的积极方面。消除现代奴役和建立可持续的供应链对英国时装业和地球的未来至关重要。然而，旨在提高可持续性和解决现代奴隶制问题的政策、倡议和讨论往往无法理解和适应这些供应链的复杂性、参与者的多样性以及从棉花农场到英国衣柜的时尚之旅中涉及的工人的声音。本项目将通过供应链中工人的声音来描述这一过程及其复杂性。通过与印度工人的合作，它将创造视觉、音频、书面和数字内容，将他们隐藏的声音带给英国的利益相关者。通过打破生产者和消费者之间的文化和地理差异，这些内容旨在促进关于英国消费者穿的衣服和制造这些衣服的工人之间联系的对话。这些人的故事将帮助设计师、消费者、教育工作者和政策制定者提高他们对全球时尚产业的了解和认识。创新的内容将通过与利兹博物馆和画廊的合作共同设计和交付，利兹博物馆和画廊是英格兰最大的地方政府运营的博物馆服务，拥有英国最重要的多学科收藏之一。这将由利兹大学的公众参与和艺术教育参与团队以及AHRC资助的未来时尚工厂提供支持。该项目还支持该大学对公众参与其研究和联合国可持续发展目标协议的承诺。该后续项目以先前资助的人权理事会项目“2019冠状病毒病对消除全球供应链现代奴隶制管理的影响”为基础（人权理事会资助编号：AH/V009206/1）。该项目由利兹大学和印度果阿管理学院合作，从英国消费和印度生产的角度探讨了新冠疫情对时尚供应链中工人现代奴役风险的影响。该研究项目强调了可持续时尚的解决方案必须反映供应链的优先事项，以及全球北方对时尚的既定观点如何忽视了全球南方的观点。这对联合国可持续发展目标的实现具有重要意义，特别是对作为本后续项目重点的以下可持续发展目标：可持续发展目标5性别平等；认识到时尚行业的大多数工人是女性，-可持续发展目标8体面工作和经济增长；时尚产业是全球南方减贫和GDP增长的途径，-可持续发展目标12：负责任的消费和生产；了解英国时尚消费和印度生产之间的联系。

The UK fashion sector is worth in excess of £26 billion, it employs at least 800,000 people and is a major contributor to the UK's reputation for a creativity and innovation. However, production of UK fashion is highly dependent on global supply chains where workers in the Global South in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India and Sri Lanka provide the labour to grow cotton, spin yarns, knit and weave fabrics and ultimately make the garments we wear in the UK.These supply chains have been associated with major ethical issues which can include various forms of discrimination, poor pay, bonded labour, child labour and dangerous working conditions. These issues are now best described by the umbrella term 'modern slavery'. But the fashion industry also provides employment for over 250 million workers, and for many workers fashion supply chains offer an opportunity to alleviate poverty, access education and develop social mobility for themselves and for their families. Therefore, the challenge for designers, brands, policy makers and the UN SDGs is how to eradicate issues of modern slavery, while retaining the positive aspects that fashion can provide for workers in the Global South.Eradicating modern slavery and creating sustainable supply chains is vital for the future of the UK fashion industry and for the planet. However, too often policies, initiatives and discussions aiming to improve sustainability and address modern slavery issues fail to understand and accommodate the complexity of these supply chains, the diversity of actors and the voices of workers involved in the journey of fashion from cotton farms to UK wardrobes.This project will describe this journey and its complexity using the voices of workers in the supply chain. Through collaboration with workers in India, it will create visual, audio, written and digital content that brings their hidden voices to stakeholders in the UK. By collapsing the cultural and geographical divides between producers and consumers, this content aims to facilitate dialogue about the connections between the clothes consumers in the UK wear and the workers who make them. These human stories will help designers, consumers, educators and policy makers improve their knowledge and awareness of the global fashion industry.The innovative content will be co-designed and delivered through collaboration with Leeds Museums and Galleries, the largest local authority-run museum service in England with one of the most significant multidisciplinary collections in the UK. This will be supported by the Public Engagement and Arts Educational Engagement Teams at the University of Leeds and the AHRC funded Future Fashion Factory. The project also supports the University's commitment to public engagement with its research and to the UN SDG accord.This Follow-On project builds on a previously funded AHRC project 'Impact of Covid-19 on management to eradicate modern slavery from global supply chains' (RC Grant reference: AH/V009206/1). This project, a collaboration between the University of Leeds and the Goa Institute of Management, India, explored the impact of the Covid on modern slavery risks for workers in fashion supply chains from the perspective of UK consumption and Indian production. The research project highlighted how solutions for sustainable fashion must reflect the priorities of the supply chain, and how established Global North views of fashion have ignored Global South perspectives. This has implication for the delivery of the UN SDGs, particularly for following SDGs which are the focus for this Follow-On project:- SDG 5 Gender Equality; recognising the majority of workers in fashion are female,- SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth; the fashion industry is a route for poverty alleviation and GDP growth in the Global South,- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production; understanding the link between fashion consumption in the UK and production in India.