Fashion chain withdraws feminist campaign T-shirt amid 'sweatshop' claims

By Magdalena Mis

LONDON, Nov 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Fashion brand Whistles has removed from sale T-shirts with feminist slogans pending an investigation into whether the garments with a £45 ($72) price-tag had been produced in Mauritius sweatshops by women earning $1 per hour.

The "This is what a feminist looks like" T-shirt sold by Whistles is part of an Elle magazine campaign to celebrate its December feminism issue.

The slogan was created by the Fawcett Society, a British charity that promotes women's rights in the labour market.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and opposition leader Ed Miliband were photographed wearing the T-shirt as part of Elle's campaign, while Prime Minister David Cameron had declined to wear the garment.

According to the Mail on Sunday newspaper, the T-shirts, part of a range including phone cases and clutch bags, were made in overseas factories by women earning below the local average wage and living in "spartan dormitories, 16 to a room", despite Elle's claims that the range was "ethically-produced".

On Monday, the T-shirt was no longer available in the Whistles online shop and an assistant in one of its London stores told the Thomson Reuters Foundation the T-shirts had been withdrawn pending investigation.

Responding to the newspaper report, a Fawcett Society spokeswoman said the organisation had been convinced the T-shirts were made in ethical conditions.

"We're appalled at any suggestion that the T-shirts were produced in anything other than an ethical fashion and we're taking (the accusations) really seriously," Darinka Aleksic told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"We believed that the T-shirts were produced in the U.K. and when we found out when we were sent some samples that they were being produced abroad in Mauritius we immediately queried that with Whistles and we were given ... reassurances that the T-shirts were produced to a high ethical standards."

A woman working in one of the factories which produced the T-shirts told the Mail on Sunday: "How can this T-shirt be a symbol of feminism when we do not see ourselves as feminists? We see ourselves as trapped."

Elle magazine issued a statement saying it had been assured that the factory which produced the T-shirts was selected specifically for its award-winning ethical policies.

Whistles said in a statement it was "shocked" to hear the accusations and was investigating them as a matter of urgency. (1 US dollar = 0.6251 British pound) (Reporting By Magdalena Mis; Editing by Ros Russell)