FASHION REVOLUTION

All over the world people in the fashion industry are being paid an unfair wage, this spans from garment workers to students showing that no country is exempt from the unfair pay of the industry. One of the main areas that have come under scrutiny in recent years is the pay or lack of it that students are receiving on their internships where they are expected to put in long hours for little reward apart from the company name on their CV and the imparted knowledge and wisdom from those in the industry. (The fabulous world of fashion Internships: No money, no sleep, no promises, 2014)

Big names such as Alexander McQueen came under fire after several interns sued the company for various amounts claiming that the work they were doing should have been payed.  (Page, 2014) One intern is claiming that they are owed £6,415, due to the unpaid ours they worked where they repaired embellished clothing, dyed fabrics and drew artwork for embroidery. 

Whilst in 2013 the house had to send out a public statement saying that an advert was “Issued in error and was not in accordance with our HR policy”. After they had put an advert out saying that they were looking for a ‘"talented knitwear student" to work five days a week for up to 11 months, without a wage.’ (Page, 2014)

In the same year (2013) 9 companies were required to pay £200,000 to their interns or in fines. One of the main companies that had to do this was Arcadia owned by Sir Philip Green. Arcadia runs Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, TopShop, Burton and BHS.(Cooper, 2013) Harrods was also made to pay an intern £1,800, who had completed three months of unpaid work. (Cooper, 2013)

This shows that they are cracking down on the imbalance in pay between interns and workers but many people are still working for very little pay due to the label of intern.