(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-15 06:04

LONDON - Some of Britain's fashion retailers are not doing enough to help lift workers who make their clothes out of poverty, a report published by two charities said on Friday.

War on Want and Labour Behind the Label surveyed 34 retailers and said 12 firms and brands "cold-shouldered the only detailed study on the case for garment employees to receive a living wage."

It said the 12, which included well-known high street brands, deserved "severe criticism and consumer scepticism."

The charities said the firms failed to accept the need for overseas garment workers to be paid a "living wage" by their suppliers, had little or no information available on pay levels, and failed to respond to questions posed by the authors.

The study called "Let's Clean Up Fashion" was published on the eve of London Fashion Week.

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), a broad alliance of firms NGOs and unions working to ensure that the conditions of workers producing for the UK market meet or exceed international labour standards, said wages should always be enough to meet basic needs and to provide some discretionary income.

Simon McRae, senior campaigns officer for War on Want, said: "This report exposes retailers' empty rhetoric on ethical treatment for workers who make their clothes, but remain trapped in poverty.

"The British government must introduce regulation to stop UK companies exploiting overseas workers."

The study builds on a similar one issued 12 months ago giving firms the chance to say how they have tried to improve workers' wages and conditions.