Despite promises to address excessive working hours in its supply chain, a recent investigation revealed fast-fashion company Shein still has a problem. Workers in factories supplying Shein are reportedly working 75-hour weeks, with little improvement in wages since previous reports.
Shein denies many of the allegations and states that it is investing in improving supplier governance and compliance. However, concerns about labor exploitation persist, including observations of underage workers and increased surveillance in factories.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to provide context, commentary and analysis on this matter. If you would like to speak to an expert, please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Tayah Frye at tayah [dot] frye
gwu [dot] edu (tayah[dot]frye[at]gwu[dot]edu).
Fast Fashion
John J. Forrer is the director of the Institute for Corporate Responsibility at the George Washington University School of Business and a professor of strategic management and public policy. Current research project topics of Forrer’s include impact investing, ESG standards in emerging markets, carbon credits and offsets, ESG as a form of global governance, and circular economy and fast fashion. He teaches courses on impact investing, business government relations, and public private partnerships.
"We all know the catastrophic damage caused by fast fashion,” Forrer says. “What we need now is to develop better business models targeting sustainable fashion products and their supply chains that will attract impact investors who want to make a reasonable return and promote greater sustainability."
Bibiana Obler is an Associate Professor of Art History for Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at the George Washington University. Obler’s research and teaching interests include modern and contemporary art and craft from the late nineteenth century to the present, with emphases on twentieth-century avant-gardes, theories of gender and cross-cultural representation, photography, applied arts, and intellectual history. Obler previously curated an exhibition exploring issues concerning the production and distribution of textiles and clothing. It aimed to catalyze conversations on topics ranging from how consumers can affect labor conditions in garment industries to how designers can offer more environmentally sustainable garments.
Labor
Dr. Chris Kayes (Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University) is a professor of management at the George Washington University School of Business and a senior fellow at the Center for Excellence in Public Leadership at the George Washington University. He serves as a faculty fellow at the Institute for Experiential Learning and at the Learning and Innovation Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is the author or co-author and editor of five books: Judgment and Leadership: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Concepts, Practice and Development (Edward Elgar), Contemporary Organizational Behavior (Pearson), Organizational Resilience: How Learning Sustains Organizations Through Crisis, Disaster, and Breakdown (Oxford), The Learning Advantage: Six Practices of Learning-Directed Leadership (Macmillan), and Destructive Goal Pursuit: The Mt. Everest Disaster (Macmillan).
-GW-