Academics win award fighting for fashion workers’ rights
Materials Social responsibility 15th October 2024
Fashion academics Dr Amy Benstead and Dr Victoria Stephens have won an award for their research on modern slavery in supply chains, focusing on the role of worker voice.
Based in the Department of Materials, their work has now been acknowledged for two consecutive years at the annual Business and Modern Slavery Research Conference. Winning first place in 2023, the team now take home the accolade of runners-up, maintaining their status as frontrunning researchers in the supply chain discipline.
The project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, is being carried out in collaboration with Erica Charles (Glasgow Caledonian University) and Professor Helen Goworek (Durham University). Research Associate in Modern Slavery, Filipe Sarmento, has now also joined the research team.
The award-winning research is ongoing and focuses on garment manufacturing in Leicester, UK. In recent years, the region has come under scrutiny due to repeated reports of unethical working conditions and violations of modern slavery laws in factories linked to certain fast fashion brands. However, there is now a strong movement within the industry to transform practices, with the research now focusing on a shift towards a more human-centred supply chain that values and prioritises workers.
Project Lead, Dr. Benstead, is a Senior Lecturer in Fashion Management and a recognised expert in modern slavery. She played a key role on the British Standards Institution (BSI) committee responsible for producing the UK’s first national standard on modern slavery, which was launched at the House of Lords. This expertise has positioned her at the forefront of efforts to combat unethical labour practices.
Along with Dr Stephens, a Lecturer in Sustainable Supply Chain Management, the research builds on the project’s foundational work. Theorising worker voice for supply chain justice – communication, representation and recognition was recently published in the leading International Journal of Operations Management & Production Management.
The awarding trust, Leverhulme, was founded by William Hesketh (1851), who manufactured soap and other cleaning products. The Lever Brothers brand soon became a global entity he was named Lord Leverhulme in 1917. This brand has become what is universally known today as Unilever, owner of Dove and Lynx personal hygiene products.
Despite his philanthropic work in some aspects of the business, it is understood that during the early twentieth century, the Lever Brothers’ brand exploited illegally forced labour in regions such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Solomon Islands.
Today, the Leverhulme trust recognises the affiliation with Lever and his unethical practices, using funded scholarships and research to facilitate independent studies of the legacy of colonialism and racism.
The research award was presented at The University of Sussex in Brighton by the highly regarded Journal of Supply Chain Management in recognition of outstanding research and contribution to the supply chain discipline.
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