People & Planet groups all over Britain have been hanging out Top Shop's dirty laundry. Thursday's national day of action saw student activists causing a stir amid the Christmas shopping frenzy exposing the truth behind Top Shop its parent Arcadia Group's buying practices. The cotton growers and factory workers behind the brand have been victims of high-street exploitation that goes right up the supply chain and is not atypical in the fashion industry. A recent BBC Newsnight Report that cotton used to make Top Shop clothes was picked by using forced child labour in Uzbekistan (pictured) and a Sunday Times report claimed “Topshop's clothes made with 'slave labour'” in Mauritius [2]. Arcadia have been targeted by People & Planet, Behind The Label and War on Want as their extravagantly rich billionaire boss Phillip Green [1] has refused to take even the most basic step to improving standards by signing the Ethical Trading Initiative [3].

In Edinburgh (pictured) students set up shop outside the huge “Arcadia Tower” - home to many of Phillip Green's brands. They gave out flyers, installed a mock-washing line, and waved banners and placards accusing the chain of employing slave labour. Several of the group were given an audience with the shop's manager who reportedly stated he was sympathetic towards the issue and would raise it at their annual buyers fair.

Finlay Ross, a student at the Scottish Agricultural College, says: “It is obscene that Topshop CEO Philip Green's bonus in 2005 was enough to double the wages of the entire Cambodian garment workforce for 8 years! Improving labour standards would clearly not break the bank. We hope our actions will expose this injustice and force the company to make a serious commitment to workers' rights, such as a living wage and the right to organise in a trade union”.

Notes:
1. Billionaire Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group owns Topshop, Topman, Outfit, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Wallis and Miss Selfridge. Despite a difficult retail climate, the company recently posted an annual operating profit of nearly £300 million, an increase of 1.6% in the year until 1 September.
2. Recent examples of unacceptable conditions in the Arcadia group's supply chain include a report from the BBC's Newsnight, which found Uzbek cotton - picked with forced child labour - in Topman's supply chain.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7068096.stm
3. The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) focuses on improving the implementation of ‘codes of practice’ on supply chain working conditions. The ETI is an alliance of companies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and trade unions. It was set up in the late 1990s as a result of public pressure on companies to ensure decent working conditions for the people producing their goods.