Ruth from Oxford Uni P&P talks to shoppers about Topshop’s dirty laundry
Topshop, which uses the slogan “we love students!”, faced demonstrations by People & Planet groups across the country on Saturday 1 March in protest at sweatshop conditions in its supply chain. Topshop is part of the Arcadia Group, whose owner Philip Green has refused to take the most basic step of signing up to the Ethical Trading Initiative.
Students from over twenty universities protested at stores around the country, including Topshop’s flagship store in London’s Oxford Street. At all the stores concerned, students found customers interested in hearing what they had to say and alarmed to discover Topshop’s exploitative practices.
- In London’s Oxford Street, students dressed in bin liners carried a banner with the words “We would rather wear rags than sweatshop clothes”. Richard Roaf, from the University College London P&P group, who joined the protest in Oxford Street, said: > I am here because Topshop are forcing people to work in inhuman conditions. Every other major high street retailer has signed up to the Ethical Trading Initiative. There’s no reason why the Arcadia Group can’t as well. The students I meet every day are totally behind us.
Students from P&P groups in York dramatise the exploitation of workers in the garment industry
- In York, P&Pers staged some attention-grabbing street theatre.They dramatised the inequality in wealth and power between the company’s billionaire CEO Philip Green and the cotton pickers and factory workers who make the clothes he profits from. They got lots of action cards signed and went in to speak to the store manager about their concerns with the company’s business practices.
Oxford Uni P&P hang out Topshop’s dirty laundry on the national day of action
In Oxford a washing line of Topshop’s dirty laundry was hung up outside the store for the third time this term! Following their humiliating withdrawal from a debate on Fairtrade Fashion in Oxford last month, Topshop should be pretty familiar with the Oxford Uni P&P group by now…
In Preston students from the North West P&P groups took action as part of their regional gathering. Although private security guards tried their best to move them from public land, P&Pers stood firm and asserted their right to public protest with chants of “Topshop sweatshop” and “what do we want?/ Workers rights!/ When do we want them?/ Now!”. A photo petition was collected with passing shoppers photographed holding up a t-shirt calling for a more ethical Topshop.
What happened at your local store? Email us your photos and stories… As well as your ideas for how we can continue to keep up the pressure on Topshop to make a serious commitment to respecting workers’ rights in its supply chains.