Stop Endangering and Exploiting Workers at Lululemon Factories

Target: Calvin McDonald, CEO

Goal: Create a significant and documentable improvement in the brand’s overseas clothing labor practices.

Fast fashion is the idea of creating shifts in styles at a rapid pace in order to sell larges quantities of clothing. Low costs of production allow retailers to regularly rotate their racks and offer fair prices. In turn, consumers readily toss articles aside after a couple of years or less and stock up on new items. High end retailers, consequently, have taken notice and followed suit to shave costs and maximize profits on their already coveted brands.

Lululemon is one brand which continues to market products at a premium price while prioritizing monetary gains over the wellbeing of their overseas production team. Goodonyou.eco, a website that follows popular brands and their sustainability practices, rates Lululemon’s as “not good enough” after noting the company has made little to no efforts to pay a living wage to foreign production workers. The site also points out how Lululemon chooses to operate their factories in countries that traditionally are not transparent on working conditions and have reputations for poor guidelines surrounding workers’ rights.

This recent report is especially alarming following news from the Guardian in 2019 that Lululemon faced complaints from women in their Bangladesh factory. These accusations claim physical and verbal abuse in addition to excessive overtime work to meet production demands. The Canadian company is not quick to address these unsettling incidents; organizations such as the Fair Factories Clearinghouse are left to hold corporations like these accountable through reports based on individual factories. These documents, unfortunately, do not paint a different picture from those found across the internet.

Sign the petition below to express the urgency needed from Calvin McDonald, CEO of Lululemon, to respect the thousands who work hard every day to keep the brand’s shelves stocked.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Calvin McDonald,

Fast fashion is infectious. It pollutes minds of consumers to make them believe purchasing more is better, pollutes the earth to get this clothing on shelves, but perhaps most alarmingly, it ruins the minds and bodies of the factory workers who ensure profit margins are met for clothing corporations. It is likely more companies follow the model of outsourced and underpaid labor than not, and Lululemon is no exception.

While fast fashion can provide a selection of clothing at competitive costs, your company is one that has maintained premium price points while cutting on production costs at the same time. A wealth of information available outlines physical mistreatment in addition to pay disparities for the workers who are responsible for keeping your stores stocked with product. Your product carries with it a level of status, so should the quality of the company not match?

There is no doubt the reputation and desire for Lululemon has grown since its inception, with profits matching growth. It is time for your company to stand behind the brand and start recognizing the hard working people who drive your success behind the scenes. It is time to use your prominence to be a leader in the fashion industry and show that success is not contingent on human exploitation. We urge you to make considerable improvements in your overseas labor policies now.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo credit: ajay_suresh