![\"kalaivani](\"https:\/\/www.ethicalsuperstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/transform-trade-kalaivani-homeworker-1024x778.jpg\")
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Credit: Transform Trade\/Bhargav Shadilya<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Over the festive season, fashion brands will make huge profits. In the UK alone, people will spend around \u00a32.4bn on Christmas clothes that barely get worn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We all know factory workers in the fast fashion industry face appalling working conditions. But fewer people know about the millions of workers employed in the fashion supply chain from their own homes or small, informal workshops, stitching, packing, and sewing clothing and paid by the piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hidden from view, millions of homeworkers help make the clothes sold on every high street in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without formal recognition, they are not entitled to maternity leave, or sick pay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conditions homeworkers face are unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For millions of women, homeworking is the only option to earn a living \u2013 it allows them to care for small children and elderly parents, choose their own workplace, and escape long hours on the factory floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fashion brands take advantage of this. By refusing to even acknowledge homeworkers exist, they turn a blind eye to the exploitation which takes place in their supply chain \u2013 and avoid paying a fair price for the labour they rely on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n