Made in Sweatshops. Worker, technology and Gender (comparison Paris-Shanghai, Late 19th c.-Late 20th c.)

Project Information

MISS

Grant agreement ID: 101024003

DOI

10.3030/101024003

Project closed

EC signature date 20 April 2021

Start date 1 August 2021

End date 31 July 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 214 158,72

EU contribution

€ 214 158,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MISS (Made in Sweatshops. Worker, technology and Gender (comparison Paris-Shanghai, Late 19th c.-Late 20th c.))

Reporting period: 2021-08-01 to 2023-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The overall aim of MISS was to show how technologies fuel the misery of women's work and the depletion of industrial products, a development encouraged by the rise of neoliberalism.
Four specific objectives (SO) were addressed:
1) technology
The analysis focused on the entire production process, from creation to profit distribution. The sources studied were more numerous and varied than expected.
- The bibliography on Prato, made in Italy, made in France, neoliberalism and free trade, and sweatshops was supplemented by an analysis of European regulations and migrations (Africa-Italy, China-Italy, Pakistan-Italy). I conducted interviews with workers, trade unionists and textile agency managers in Prato.
- Following the distribution of my books, I was able to interview photographers specializing in migrants, employees of Médecins sans Frontières and SOS Méditerranée, and lobbyists in Brussels.
- I visited factories, examining tools, machines, locations, ventilation, the number and gender of workers. The geography of Prato's industrial complex with its specialized districts (Macrolotto 1, 2, 3) but also the scattered family workshops were investigated right down.
2) the origins of the workers
- I observed a decline in the number of women workers in manufacturing companies. Indeed, traditional analyses indicate the presence of 80% women in factories. In the Prato factories, this figure is more like 20%.
- This decrease is due to the massive arrival of male migrants. The Pakistani and Bangladeshi population is constantly growing.
- Whereas the Chinese used to hire their compatriots in the factories, they now choose to hire mostly Pakistanis in supervisory positions (foremen). The lower positions in the hierarchy are reserved for Africans.
3) the means of reproducibility
- The analysis was to focus on tools and machines to understand the techniques of reproducibility. However, these tools and machines have remained unchanged for several decades.
The reproducibility of objects and the volumes they generate are based, on the one hand, on the intense division of labor. The technical factor has little impact. Reproducibility is possible thanks to the number of workers and their governance in small structures.
4) Industrial and artistic property: in particular designs, patents, inventions and innovations, inventors and innovators.
- The Chinese Made in Italy production system in Prato is based on the ownership of production tools and the purchase of Italian-sounding brands since the 1980s. Ownership of so-called "Italian" brands gives Made in Italy an aura and a reputation for Italian know-how.
- Copying and plagiarism are a mainstay of Chinese creations in Prato.It's a racket organized on a massive scale - according to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

All stages of manufacturing and production are affected by illegality: illegal entry into a territory by migrants, false contracts, illegal dumping of waste, exchanges between mafia networks (Nigerian, Chinese Triad, Ndrangheta and Camorra). Human, drug and arms trafficking are intrinsically linked to the clothing industry. The impact of such trafficking directly affects consumers, notably through the presence of chemicals, carcinogens, mutagens and toxins in clothing.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The objectives were broken down into 4 themes (industrial process, women's history, textile history ). The results of the research were disseminated within the scientific framework and to a wider audience (books, book chapters, articles, documentaries, radio, social networks, conferences...).

Industrial process:
Conference:
• History of Capitalism: Woke Washing: Capitalism, Consumerism, Opportunism, University of Oslo, Seminar, 08/05/2023
• Norway Institute in Rome, Luxury in the sweatshops. Labor force, prices and subcontracting (Prato, c. 2000-2020), 10/11/2023
• Official and unofficial: structures of illegality in the fashion industry (Prato, Italy), Oslo Metropolitain University (Norway), 05/12/2022
• Livre noir de la mode, Université du Luxembourg, Collège des Bernardins (Luxembourg), 24/09/2022
• Fast Fashion : history and impact, Conference: Max Havelaar, 19/04/2022
• Fashion without Fashion, Roundtable: Creative IPR international Conference, University of Oslo, With. V. Duvé-Sénécal and V. Pouillard, 17/02/2022
Book chapter:
• « The Production Chain: fashion, technology and globalization (1800-2022) », in V. Dubé-Sénécal, V. Pouillard, History of Fashion and Dress, 1800 to the Present, Routledge, 2022.
• « Made in France », in D. Higgins, N. Glover, Made in. Historical trajectories and multi-country perspectives, Routledge, 2022 (with V. Pouillard)
• « Technology, government, and institutions », in M. Hendrisken, Cultural History of Technology, 1650-1800, Bloomsbury, 2023 (with M. Buning)
Scientific expert :
• Trade and hazardous textile: Report (Member of the European Parliament, Saskia Bricmont, EELV), European Parliament, 31/01/2023
Popular audience
• Radios (5 interviews)
Documentary :
• M6, Gaspillage 2050, 10/02/2022, TF1
TV NEWS, « le prix des soldes », 16/01/2022
• BRUT MEDIA, 22/01/2022

Women’s History
Book:
• Les dessous du maillot de bain. Une autre histoire du corps, Paris, Editions les Pérégrines, 2022, 250 p. (Nomination for Renaudot Essay Prize 2022)
Article :
• “Capitalism of Bodies: The Colonisation of Digital Beauty”, Dimensioni e problemi della ricerca storica, Roma, University of Sapienza, 2022, p. 27-42.
Popular audience
• Radios and conferences (6)

Textile History:
Book:
• Woke Washing. Capitalisme, consumérisme, opportunisme, Paris, Editions les Pérégrines, 2023, 271 p.
• L’étoffe des héros. Histoire de l’habillement, Paris, Steinkis, Cité des Sciences et de l’industrie, 2022 (avec S. Laliberté et N. Gobbi), 138 p.
Popular audience
• Radios and conference (6)

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Sweatshops have long been a subject of study, particularly in the garment industry. However, the results of MISS show a transformation over the last 20 years. Women are no longer in the majority in prato garment factories. The origins of workers make it possible to track migratory movements due to political and economic causes, but also climatic ones - as in the case of Bangladeshis fleeing rising sea levels. The industrial districts of Prato and the intra muros workshops show the laissez-faire attitude of Italian police and politicians, the impunity of Chinese manufacturers, the absence of controls to ensure compliance with regulations, the difficulties of freedom of association, wages below the subsistence minimum, indecent and illegal working hours (up to 14 hours a day), the use of subcontracting by large legal companies to take advantage of an illegal and cheaper workforce. In short, this research has shown that human rights are not respected, either in a totally illegal way through parallel networks, or through the use of legal loopholes, in particular impunity for subcontracting. workplace safety, discrimination, child labor, forced labor and environmental protection.
The fashion industry system involves arms, drugs and human traffickers. It involves the Chinese Triad (human and arms trafficking), the Nigerian Mafia (human trafficking, sex trafficking and racketeering), the 'Ndrangheta (drug, human and arms trafficking), the Camorra (human trafficking, racketeering, arms and drug trafficking, toxic waste trafficking).

dpa/picture alliance/Xie Zhengyi