Hasta La Motion!

Rethink Canada in Vancouver has helped Canadian Fair Trade Network draw attention to the people around the world working tirelessly in unsafe conditions, by adding their stories to clothing labels. The long labels on a suit jacket, sweater and hoodie carry the tag line “The Label Doesn’t Tell The Whole Story”, and the message: “It’s time for change. Buying fair-trade ensures workers are being compensated fairly and not exposed to unsafe work conditions.”

100% Cotton. Made in Bangladesh by Joya. Who left school at the age of twelve to help support her two brothers and newly-widowed mother. Her father was killed when a fire ripped through the cotton factory where he worked. Now she works in the building across the street from the burned down factory. A constant reminder of the risk she takes every day. The label doesn’t tell the whole story.

100% cotton. Made in Cambodia by Behnly, nine years old. He gets up at 5:00 am every morning to make his way to the garment factory where he works. It will be dark when he arrives and dark when he leaves. He dresses lightly because the temperature in the room he works reaches 30 degrees. The dust in the room fills his nose and mouth. He will make less than a dollar, for a day spent slowly suffocating. A mask would cost the company ten cents. The label doesn’t tell the whole story.

100% cotton. Made in Sierra Leone by Tejan. The first few times he coughed up blood he hid it from his family. They couldn’t afford medical treatment and he couldn’t risk losing his long-time job at the cotton plantation. When he fell into a seizure one day it could no longer be ignored. The diagnosis was pesticide poisoning. The lack of proper protective clothing has left him with leukemia at the age of 34. He has two daughters. One of them starts work at the factory next year. The label doesn’t tell the whole story.

Credits

The Label Doesn’t Tell The Whole Story campaign was developed at Rethink Canada, Vancouver, by creative directors Ian Grais and Chris Staples, art director Leia Rogers, copywriters Danielle Haythorne and Arrabelle Stavroff, studio artist Jonathon Cesar, photographer Clinton Hussey, print producers Cary Emley and Sue Wilkinson, and account manager Albane Rousellot.