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SHOPPING
FOR A
BARGAIN

Have you ever considered the lives and working conditions of the women who make our clothes when shopping with your favourite brand?

Oxfam, with Monash University has conducted groundbreaking research, revealing the poor business practices of big Australian fashion brands that are part of a system of exploitation keeping the women who make our clothes trapped in poverty, no matter how hard they work.
Shopping for a Bargain is the first detailed investigation into the way leading fashion retailers operating in Australia and do business with their suppliers.
It shows how conventional purchasing practices such as aggressive price negotiation, inaccurate forecasting of orders, and short lead times keep wages low and force factories to cut corners, placing workers at risk.
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See how your favourite brands stack up

Are they committed to paying the women who make our clothes a living wage?
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Download the report

Download the free report now, to see how the leading fashion retailers operating in Australia are rated on the way they do business with their supply factories in Bangladesh.
Is your favourite fashion brand really paying a living wage?
Find out now.
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By providing your details, you agree that Oxfam Australia may contact you about the progress of this campaign and different opportunities to support its work around the world, including fundraising. You consent to Oxfam Australia collecting and handling your personal information in accordance with its privacy policy. If you have any questions please email us at enquire@oxfam.org.au or call 1800 088 110.

Hear first hand from Oxfam CEO, Lyn Morgain, about the findings of this ground-breaking report and how unethical purchasing practices create a cycle of poverty.
Lyn visited Bangladesh before Covid-19 hit and spoke to many of the women who make clothes for big fashion brands.
Watch and share the video now.

The safety and livelihoods of the
women who make our clothes should never be up for negotiation.

We’re calling on big fashion brands to make a public, credible commitment to ensuring the women who make our clothes are paid a living wage.
For those that have already taken this commendable step, we’re asking them make that promise a reality by:
  • Publicly committing to review their purchasing practices policies, and reporting on progress;
  • Acting urgently to ensure that labour costs are ‘ringfenced’ in negotiations with factories –that is, separately calculated to ensure the payment of living wages to workers;
  • Improving payment terms with factories, to avoid a repeat of the mass layoffs that occurred Covid-19 hit.

WHAT CAN I DO?

As shoppers face the hectic holiday season, with just one month to the day before Christmas, we’re asking the community to come together to demand that brands to put an end of the payment of poverty wages by improving their purchasing practices.

Download the Shopping for a Bargain report now

Read what the brands have to say

Sign the petition to show your support for a fairer fashion industry

PHOTO CREDITS: Close ups of Bindu holding the tags: Fabeha Monir/Oxfam AUS Garment worker, Parvin: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan/OxfamAUS