Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality: Cambodian Garment Workers Turned Models to Fight for Rights

Garment factory workers model clothes for the 'Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality' fashion show in Phnom Penh.
Photo courtesy of Nicolas Axelrod/Roum

Two weeks ago, the Workers Information Centre (WIC), an organization striving to improve working conditions for women garment workers, held a fashion show in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. However, the women donning these clothes were not your usual 6 foot-tall, waif-like models. Rather, the fashion show engaged the very same people who toiled under deplorable conditions and paltry wages to model the clothes they make for well-known, global brands to spotlight the social injustice facing them.

The aptly themed 'Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality' fashion show serves as a platform to highlight the huge income disparities between garment workers and apparel brand owners as well as to advocate for a living wage and better working conditions for these workers. Garment workers in Cambodia not only face poor working conditions and low pay but also live in fear due to violent government clampdowns that have killed five garment workers. Ruom Collective, a Cambodian-based social journalism platform, provides an excellent coverage of the fashion show including the issues facing these garment workers.

The Workers Information Centre is a partner organisation of the International Women's Development Agency (IWDA), a Melbourne-based NGO that I support. Above is a video made by IWDA to educate consumers on the unfair and often exploitative treatments of Cambodian garment workers, of which 90 percent comprises of women. It serves to highlight the good work carried out by WIC to empower women garment workers in Cambodia by helping them fight for a fairer wage and working conditions.

According to reports carried by just-style and Shanghai Daily, global brands including H&M, GAP and the Inditex Group (Mango, Zara etc.) have indicated that they support higher minimum wages for Cambodian garment workers. As consumers with voting rights i.e. purchasing power, let's hold these highly-profitable labels accountable for the promises they have made.

Lotus Culture: From Sexual Slavery to Seamstress

My Lotus Culture Purchase (Clockwise): Clutch Bag, Boho Bag, Door Stopper, Tote Bag

Lotus Culture's Brand Tag

Over the Labour Day holiday, I went to the 3rd anniversary sale of Lotus Culture, a social enterprise working to rebuild the lives of sex trafficking victims in Cambodia. Lotus Culture supports AFESIP Cambodia, an NGO that rescues and rehabilitates sex slaves, through three key areas - education, mental healthcare and social enterprise. The social enterprise component saw Lotus Culture fund a business called Kumnit Thmey that hires former victims to work as seamstresses. 

Lotus Culture is co-founded by Sylvia Lee who is also the founder of EmancipAsia, a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to raise awareness and advocate action against human trafficking. She proudly told me that they managed to keep the overhead costs low thanks to the help of skilled volunteers as well as self-funded trips to Cambodia. This is to ensure that most of the donations go directly to the beneficiaries. The low overheads are also reflected in the price-point of their well-made products. The three bags I bought (at less than $100) remind me of the bags you can get at fast-fashion retain chains minus the abusive, sweatshop manufacturing conditions. 

                                                                       Singapore Committee for UN Women Gala Screening of 3.50 The Movie 

                                                                                               (Please excuse the terrible resolution!)

Shopping at Lotus Culture reminded me of a local movie I recently caught called 3.50 The Movie which spotlights the sex trafficking trade in Cambodia, in particular the lucrative virgin market. Due to abject poverty, young girls were sold by their parents or tricked by promises of well-paid work in the city, only to be forced into sex slavery. I can still recall a very disturbing scene whereby a victim's hymen was sewed by a dodgy doctor to make her a "virgin" again in order to raise her street value. I cannot even begin to imagine how it would feel like to be put through such pain and suffering. 

Social enterprises such as Lotus Culture work with aid organisations to provide employment for these survivors so they can rebuild their lives and create a better future for themselves. Products sold by Lotus Culture include an assortment of bags such as handbags, totes and clutches as well as home decor items. The enterprise also produce custom-made gifts for corporate clients. You can purchase their products from The Shop at The Arts House, online via Shop For Social or you can add them onto Facebook to receive notices on upcoming sales events.