Britney Spears might be a communist now, and teenagers on TikTok are calling Karl Marx “daddy.” Jeff Bezos — memed mercilessly for losing a minuscule portion of his money — has in fact now added $25 billion, more than the GDP of Honduras, to his total wealth since the coronavirus crisis began. “We could all die, and for what? “Workers cannot oppress workers, but that’s what happens at the factories,” Myint said. As of May 7, the country has officially recorded only 176 cases and six deaths. Online Fashion Is a Weak Coronavirus Antidote Zara’s owner Inditex has closed half its stores worldwide. Zara's first store opening in Australia, in Sydney in 2011. These unions are a lifeline for people who are treated by big brands as convenient, but ultimately disposable, cheap labor. Myan Mode’s union was able to negotiate small victories for the workers, like permission to be up to 15 minutes late for work, and more reasonable working hours than other factories demanded — 44 hours a week, with up to 14 hours of overtime. The coronavirus pandemic caused the first decline in the number of international transfers in the men's game in a decade, FIFA has said. For too long, we’ve pretended that fast fashion and eco-consciousness can coexist, that the worst excesses of sweatshop exploitation are a thing of the past. Click "Continue" to accept and continue with ET Retail. Inditex does not publicly disclose the list of factories it sources clothing from, but here workers put in 11-hour shifts, six days a week, for as little as $3.50–$4.74 per day. This month, for instance, thousands of workers including those who sew clothes for Zara are returning to garment factories in Bangladesh, even during the pandemic. Fast fashion was always a problem. Ao continuar com a navegação em nosso site, você aceita o uso de cookies. WEB As global leaders and health officials track the strain and make decisions regarding containment, supply chain leaders need to assess and plan for how the virus will impact global supply chains. For instance, more than 500 workers who were laid off still had no jobs, and the fact that they had accepted a paltry severance was being used against them. The reputation that Ortega, Inditex’s billionaire founder, enjoys as a small-town hero in Spain is bolstered by stories about his legendary humility. When she spoke to BuzzFeed News on the phone from Yangon, she sounded defiant and sad in turns — the factory had fired every single union member, and a woman who had complained that a senior colleague at the factory had made sexual advances toward her. Zara Home poised to unveil its new global image . The company said net profit for its year to end-January 2020 was 3.6 billion euros, a gain of six percent … Get ETRetail's top stories every morning in your email inbox. All Rights Reserved. Inditex was among 200 fast fashion labels to sign a worker safety accord for Bangladeshi workers following the accident — but increasingly, that accord has ceased to matter. “The husbands of two women who worked at the factory returned from Thailand and were showing symptoms of COVID-19,” Ohmar Myint, a 34-year-old sewing machine operator at Myan Mode, told BuzzFeed News. One of the factories, Myan Mode, fired every single member of a workers’ union, along with a woman who had complained of being sexually harassed at the factory last year. Reinventing Processes in the Face of Global Disrup.. Inditex owns several other brands, including Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius, Zara Home, and Uterqüe. While Ortega showed generosity and concern for workers in Spain, BuzzFeed News has spoken to employees from two factories that form part of Zara’s supply chain in Myanmar. There was still no mention of social distancing. “With the employers and brands being so multinational, workers need to be united internationally as well if they are going to have any power to improve the garment industry. “Owners briefly shut down the factory only to quickly reopen with new, nonunion workers,” Tillet-Saks, the labor rights activist, said. In the past, labor unions and NGOs have been wary of publicly calling out brands because they were afraid of precisely what happened at Myan Mode and Rui Ning — troublemakers would be fired, or the brand would shut that particular factory down and sign a contract with another. The cost of this retail therapy, the longing for comfort and normalcy under lockdown, is being borne by workers thousands of miles away, faces you’d never see in a summer fashion campaign, even when the videos include token models of color. NEW DELHI — A woman immaculately dressed for quarantine reads on a plush sofa in her black crop top and anti-fit denim pants. Not a whole lot had changed in the working practices at Myan Mode, the Zara factory which lies in the heart of the industrial district of Hlaing Tharyar, in Myanmar’s capital, Yangon. Wednesday’s release of the half-year results, from February to the end of July, reveal the material impact of coronavirus-related store closures, with a loss of €195 million in net income. A man wearing a face mask walks on an empty road, amid restrictions put in place to halt the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Yangon on April 10. For the past month, around 30 members of the Myan Mode union who were sacked appeared daily outside the factory’s gates in protest, where they ate, slept, sang union songs. But like several parts of Southeast Asia, it is difficult to give a true picture because there is insufficient testing — as of May 1, the government had administered 8,300 tests. At the height of the pandemic in Spain this year, Zara’s parent company, Inditex, closed more than 3,000 stores. Zara owner takes coronavirus 287 mn euros hit. “We have communicated with suppliers to follow local government recommendations and instructions and/or to implement measures to ensure they are following the health protection guidelines for workplaces detailed by the WHO regarding Covid 19,” the Inditex representative wrote. Workers In Myanmar Paid The Price. On March 28, ambulance crews gathered outside his home to wish him a happy birthday, memed mercilessly for losing a minuscule portion of his, officially recorded only 176 cases and six deaths, the health minister said the people owed to their diet and lifestyle, spotted wearing a black, fitted Zara Man jacket, factories in Brazil were likened to “slavery”, returning to garment factories in Bangladesh. The World Bank has estimated that Myanmar has only 249 ventilators for a population of almost 55 million. All Zara stores in the United States are temporarily closed, ... Jan. 17, 2021, 10:48 p.m. Put Makeup On. “The owners agreed, but said there was no plan to close the factory yet.” Myan Mode confirmed the details of this conversation. Then suddenly, in the last week of March, everything changed. Another, dressed in a flouncy floor-length peach dress, dances in her kitchen with joyous abandon. Want to see more stories like this? While brands like Zara, which has stores in 96 countries, ramp up work at logistics centers, workers assembling clothes, swimwear, accessories, and shoes are being sacrificed to meet the demand. The former Miss Great Britain, 25, could be … But Ortega’s true gift is speed. This article has been updated with information that Inditex set up a hardship fund for workers in Turkey in 2017. Nearly half a million people in Myanmar work in garment factories, living cheek by jowl in dormitories that factories rent to them for half of their salaries. (Inditex said it had set up a hardship fund for workers). During the COVID-19 pandemic, disposable N95 respirators are in short supply; however, such PPE is necessary during all aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). But in the middle of a pandemic, it is no longer enough to wear faux concern. We use cookies to ensure the best experience for you on our website.If you choose to ignore this message, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on ET Retail. Ortega’s quick thinking served him well even when the coronavirus hit Spain. Contact Nishita Jha at nishita.jha@buzzfeed.com. If we take even one day off, we lose money. “Inditex has worked tirelessly over many years to ensure the standards set out in its supplier code of conduct are followed, including through its global partnership with the IndustriALL Global Union – the first agreement of its kind in the industry – and its membership of the ACT platform on living wages,” a spokesperson said in a statement issued after this article was published. Most of Myan Mode’s workers are young women from rural villages — Myanmar’s garment workforce is over 90% women. COVID-19 is a novel strain of coronavirus that causes … MADRID: Zara owner Inditex booked its first quarterly loss on Wednesday after the coronavirus crisis forced it to shut almost 90% of its stores in the three months from February to April. H&M Group’s 2020 goal, for instance, is to only use cotton from sustainable sources. Inditex, the cash-rich owner of other brands such as Massimo Dutti and Bershka, said the rapid drop in sales had slowed, with sales at constant currencies falling 34% in the June 2-8 period compared to a … While these decisions have largely depended on the health of each country’s domestic economy, countries suddenly closing down their borders have caused panic — particularly among the poorest and most invisible populations of migrant workers, who cross domestic and international borders searching for work. By February, Myint and the other union members had heard that the supply of raw materials from China, things like zippers, fabric, buttons, rivets, and velcro, had stopped coming to Myan Mode. Ortega, now 84, is so reclusive that until 1999 no photograph of him had even been published. The country’s minimum wage is one of the lowest in Asia, and following a wave of strikes last year, approximately 50,000 garment workers have joined or formed unions. Become a BuzzFeed News member. This exodus of worried workers, desperate to return home as the worst economic and health crisis grows around them, is occurring in tandem with spikes in COVID-19 cases. “If that does not work, we might even sue,” one leader told BuzzFeed News on the condition of anonymity. Felicidades Amancio, Marca España 🇪🇦. The company said net profit for its year to end-January 2020 was 3.6 billion euros, a gain of six percent with the charge, but which would have been 12 percent without it. FRIENDS. Esses Cookies nos permitem coletar alguns dados pessoais sobre você, como sua ID exclusiva atribuída ao seu dispositivo, endereço de IP, tipo de dispositivo e navegador, conteúdos visualizados ou outras ações realizadas usando nossos serviços, país e idioma selecionados, entre outros. They just don’t because they prioritize their financial profits over the people who make their clothes.”. At the insistence of the workers’ union, factory bosses had added a basin for workers to wash their hands, while temperature checks took place as workers entered the factory. “The women and their husbands lived in the dormitory, so everyone found out.”On March 28, the union decided to speak to the factory’s owners again. Freedom of association is a core principle of our supplier Code of Conduct which is why as soon as the Myanmode dispute arose we insisted on a mediation process.”. He directed 11 of his factories in Galicia, northwest Spain, to immediately switch to making personal protective equipment (PPE). In 2017, workers making clothes for Zara in Turkey began sewing pleas for help into their lining. Dig into Zara’s history, and you will find its owner Ortega’s origin story recounted in breathless detail. Last updated on May 14, 2020, at 10:03 a.m. “We were given no notice at all,” Maung said. Until lockdowns in Spain forced everyone to stay indoors, Ortega still drank his coffee at his favorite local café. All they want is that workers who were fired should be reinstated and that they do not use the pandemic as an excuse to attack the union.”Inditex’s own code of conduct states that the company supports unions and wants factories to treat workers in the supply chain with care for their health and safety. In 2016, Inditex was accused of tax evasion worth over 550 million euros, about $596 million (Inditex published a lengthy response denying the allegations). Meanwhile, in crowded factories located in chaotic, crime-filled industrial hubs, the workers making these clothes find themselves abandoned by Zara, the global retail brand that’s making quarantine look so glamorous. The latest trends for Woman, Man, Kids and next season’s ad campaigns. “As soon as the Coronavirus pandemic hit, we committed to pay our suppliers in full for all orders produced or currently in production. It Was Meant To Be An App To Help Immigrants Lead A Normal Life In The US. ET. ET Canada; Bang Showbiz. Making already rich brands super rich,” one worker said on the phone from Myanmar’s capital, Yangon, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Myan Mode is still refusing to recognize the union officially, while it has hired hundreds of daily migrant workers who are not members of any union. All of the cotton, linen and polyester used by Zara will be organic, sustainable or recycled by 2025, parent company Inditex announced this week. Wear Tight Clothes. It will mean a lot to the union in Myanmar,” said Tillett-Saks, who was aware of emails exchanged between the unions in Myanmar and Spain. Mango did not respond to a BuzzFeed News request for comment. The protests, one of Modi’s toughest political challenges yet, follow an eventful 2020 when the combined fortunes of Ambani and Adani swelled by almost $41 billion, even as millions of Indians lost their jobs to the pandemic that pummeled the $2.9 trillion economy. These Gut-Wrenching Photos Show What Happens When A Coronavirus Lockdown Backfires. The globe-trotting, stylish woman from Zara’s campaigns moved indoors — or at least, that’s where you’ll see her in the slickly produced videos that the global fashion brand uploads to Twitter. The union has also approached the South Korean consulate and Yangon’s Arbitration Council. Her entire body ached from hunching over the zippers and lining she sewed into skirts, jackets, shirts, and hoodies for Zara and its rival Spanish brand, Mango. It’s possible that no one will don a Versace cape anytime soon, but consumers are ordering clothes online to reflect their new lives: clothes to wear on work Zoom calls, athleisure for exercising at home, sweats and pajamas for lounging around, and clothes that simply make us feel good. ET. Dear user, ET Retail privacy and cookie policy has been updated to align with the new data regulations in European Union. Billionaires in the US have seen their net worth increase by tens of millions of dollars in the last three months. When more than one-third of the planet went under coronavirus-related lockdowns, fashion changed. Domestic online grocery market to grow 8 times, JioMart to be big gainer: RedSeer8 hrs ago, Indian trader group says minister pledges strict foreign investment rules for e-commerce1 day ago. Many want the ultra-rich to do more, which might be why Rihanna, who has donated millions of dollars to coronavirus relief efforts, has been described as a “one-woman COVID-19 foe.” But the pandemic and its economic repercussions have laid bare the hypocrisy of the super-wealthy who do just enough to make sure they get good press, while treating workers who labor for their brands as disposable. Issues with fast fashion far precede the emergence of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, but its rapid spread has deepened the incredible inequity between garment workers who work at one end of the supply chain and wealthy individuals like Zara’s Spanish billionaire owner Amancio Ortega, the world’s sixth-richest man, who are rebranding themselves as benevolent saviors. 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Oppmann to enter India by homegrown liquor startup Ciro, Better and reformed implementation of National Retail Policy expected as it proposes ease of doing business, Rising health awareness amid the pandemic to accelerate sale and visibility of premium salt segment; says Tata Salt, Snapdeal increases energy-efficient products on its platform, Actor Rana Daggubati funds alcobev startup Salud Beverages that has forayed into the ecosystem with RTD Gin-and-Tonic, Embed ETRetail.com Widgets on your Website. Zara’s story begins with the opening of our first store in the Spanish coastal city of A Coruña in 1975, an early milestone in our company’s long history. Anxiety about being laid off or having your salary slashed because of the coronavirus crisis has led to thinkpieces, graffiti, and “eat the rich” memes. 16 September 2020. Please review and accept these changes below to continue using the website.You can see our privacy policy & our cookie policy. By Stephanie Saltzman. Amancio Ortega, founding shareholder of Inditex fashion group, in July 2013. Myint said sexual harassment was rampant at garment worker factories in Myanmar, and she admired the way the union stood by the complainant, their solidarity ultimately leading to the man’s resignation from Myan Mode. The more than 500 workers who had accepted severance pay could possibly be able to return to the factory once it resumed work at full capacity — although it was unclear when that might happen. Los Angeles, crushed by Covid-19, now confronts a more contagious variant. Since the factory, whose owners are based in South Korea, opened in 2016, half of all orders have been from Zara. in a summer fashion campaign, even when the videos include token models of color. BuzzFeed News also learned that union members from the Myan Mode and Rui Ning unions have reached out to union workers in Spain, who have assured them that they will add pressure to negotiations with Inditex and Mango. Everything is terrible — but the pandemic is particularly worrying for the people making our clothes, because readymade garment workers work on short-term contracts or are sometimes paid per piece of apparel, existing precariously close to poverty. On days we finish our work early, we cannot sign out of the factory, we’re simply given another task, and then another, and another...the work never stops.”Being in the union gave Myint more bargaining power, she was part of a collective of over 500 people, most of whom were women. But at the end of each day, Myint said, she still felt as though she was a machine whose batteries had died. Prince Charles and Camila Share Reunion Pic Ahead of 15th Anniversary Following Coronavirus Isolation By Rachel McRady‍ 5:44 AM PDT, April 9, 2020 Chris Jackson/Getty Images Inside a Zara factory in Yangon, Myanmar. A coronavirus is a common virus that causes an infection in your nose, sinuses, or upper throat. Caso não concorde com o uso cookies dessa forma, você deverá ajustar as configurações de seu navegador ou deixar de acessar o nosso site e serviços. But Ortega’s generosity and concern for Zara’s workers stopped at the borders of Spain. To help keep this news free, become a member and sign up for our newsletter, Outbreak Today. “The working class is being sacrificed so they can wear good clothes.”. Fast fashion retailer Zara is going green. A union leader in Rui Ning explains what happened at the factory. Find new arrivals, fashion catalogs, collections & lookbooks every week. Gogglebox duo Mary and Marina have received their coronavirus vaccines - and had the jabs at the same time. Now It’s Helping Them Survive The Coronavirus. Coronavirus; Zara’s Billionaire Owner Was Praised For Helping In The Coronavirus Crisis. H&M and Zara topped a list of European retailers most at risk from the new outbreak of coronavirus. COVID-19 Information for the Otorhinolaryngology Community Elastomeric Respirators: Alternative to Disposable N95 Respirators. Plus, beauty founders share how they are navigating the coronavirus crisis and experts turn a critical eye on the transparency movement. It always begins with poverty, the seed for his philanthropic nature was planted when as a 12-year-old boy he saw his mother being denied food on credit at a local shop in La Coruña.That kind of poverty is familiar for Myint, who was one of the 571 employees laid off at Myan Mode. We have updated our terms and conditions and privacy policy Nishita Jha is a global women's rights reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in India. Everyone on the list, including Myint, Maung, and 520 union members, was fired on the spot, representing about half of Myan Mode’s workforce. The pneumonia, a strain of coronavirus that WHO later named COVID-19, has since spread through China and into other countries. A third socially distances on a boat, her white poplin shirt dress a contrast to the lush green surroundings. Someone in close relation to the royal family has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Inditex delivers €866 million net profit in the third quarter, and reaches historic net cash position . The relentless consumer hunger for branded clothes and fast fashion means that when the worst of the crisis is over, and our appetite for shopping returns, all that a big brand has to do is find the next bunch of cheap laborers. Ortega pivoted his fashion empire to making hospital gowns and masks, and according to Forbes, flew in medical supplies worth millions from China. Pop star Zara Larsson has revealed she hopes her new will be a form of "escapism". She had five hours to herself in the entire day, and those were meant for sleep.Myint said she first learned about the novel coronavirus in January, while browsing Facebook.“[I was reading about] how contagious it is, and that’s scary for me, because we work so close to each other all day, if one of us fell sick, everyone would fall sick,” she said. We have various options to advertise with us including Events, Advertorials, Banners, Mailers, Webinars etc. But the company’s crown jewel is undoubtedly Zara. Experts fear that if the number of coronavirus cases increased dramatically, the country’s public healthcare system would collapse. MADRID: The investment vehicle of Amancio Ortega - founder of fashion empire Inditex and one of Europe's richest men - reported on Tuesday it had real estate assets with a market value of 15.16 billion euros ($17.15 billion) at end-2019. Already, several brands have canceled orders of clothes that have already been made in factories, and many have reneged on payments promised to workers in Asia. On March 28, ambulance crews gathered outside his home to wish him a happy birthday. “It was a half-day, Saturday, so the management told us it would come back with a decision soon.” A few hours later, an official came to the room where the workers were gathered and read out a list of 571 names. At This Coronavirus Graveyard, Family Members Have To Bury Their Loved Ones With Their Own Hands. “We wanted masks to be made mandatory, an end to mandatory overtime while the crisis was on, and we wanted them to send home the two women whose husbands had COVID-like symptoms,” a veteran union leader named Mau Maung, who was part of the negotiating committee, said. The name was coined by June Almeida and David Tyrrell who first observed and studied human coronaviruses. ●. Latest trends in clothing for women, men & kids at ZARA online. Andrew Parker Bowles, the 80-year-old ex-husband of Camilla, the … The union worker said that the offer to reinstate 29 people fell short of the union’s demands. Stories like how his first fashion distribution network began in 1963 at the port city of La Coruña to help women earn money, while their husbands went out to sea to fish. LOVE Island star Zara Holland will appear in court in Barbados on Wednesday charged with breaching Covid-19 laws. These workers cannot work from home and, in some cases, they are working in factories in close proximity to each other where there is no concern for protecting them from the coronavirus.