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Ethical Fashion: How Singular Narratives of Worker-Management Relations Fail Us

If we’re serious about making the fashion industry more just, we must stop relying on a one-size-fits all explanation for why manager-worker relations can become contentious.

Kim van der Weerd
JUST FASHION
13 min readOct 7, 2020

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Photo by Aok Samnak

As a former garment factory manager, it’s my conviction that stories about management-worker relations desperately need some diversifying. Often, this relationship is talked about in terms of a singular narrative: exploited workers and exploitative management. But this narrative doesn’t help us to understand a multi-dimensional and highly contextual relationship. Most likely, it isn’t in the best interest of workers either.

If we’re serious about making the fashion industry more just, we must stop relying on a one-size-fits all explanation for why manager-worker relations can become contentious.

Relying on a singular narrative might help us make sense of a messy and disorderly world, but it also makes it nearly impossible to notice the alternative, more complex, and less binary narratives that not only co-exist, but also leave more room for possibility.

The Limits of a Singular Narrative

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JUST FASHION
JUST FASHION

Published in JUST FASHION

Radically reimagining the fashion industry with equity and justice for all. We are writers and industry professionals discussing not only why the fashion industry needs to change, but how to do it.

Kim van der Weerd
Kim van der Weerd

Written by Kim van der Weerd

Co-host of Manufactured podcast, sustainable fashion advocate, former garment factory manager.

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