Primark: Too good to be true?

I

I don't like ethical decisions.  They take me away from the path I admire the most... that of least resistance.

This is a problem given that I shop at Primark a lot.  Maybe it's because I'm tight with money or maybe because I'm a man of simple tastes.  Whilst it's probably a mix of the two, I hope it is more the latter.  What is the point of getting something fancy when you are going to look back in ten years time "Why was I wearing that?".  Why go for something that is five times the price just because it has a brand name on it?  I suppose an argument can be brought that other shops are better quality.  However, just like M & S vegetables, they may be better but not five times better, so don't be a snob.  Also, no matter how good the quality is, my trousers will always develop a hole in the crotch.  It's natural law.

So Primark it is.... or is it?As the saying goes: "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is".  If the clothes are that cheap, there must be something wrong. 

However, just imagine that you have just had a whole menagerie of Jewish festivals, you are coming up to the last one and you have no shirts that are simultaneously both clean and dry.  Never happened, of course, but just imagine.  Now whilst in general you don't need a new shirt, you just want to buy something cheaply and quickly to avoid looking like a vagabond and vagrant in synagogue.  Here, old adages fly out the window and plenty of reasons come to reassure me:

• They probably have automated machines which cut down on costs
• Plus... they must buy in bulk which'll make them inexpensive
• Reasonable quality clothes are bound to be that cheap if they are part of last year's line and other shops will no longer stock them.
• They explicitly state on their website that they ensure all their suppliers are ethical
• They are regulated and so wouldn't be able to get away with unethical practices

So go on then.  Let's get a nice plain shirt for a few pounds.  After all, G-d will probably love me more in a Primark shirt than if I turn up in a "Shit Happens" T-Shirt.

II

Today however, Primark- again- have been found to source from unethical suppliers. 

Once before they were found to have imported clothes made in Indian slums where children laboured in poor conditions.  At the time, Primark investigated promptly and decided to stop using these factories once they were aware of the problem.  This is exemplary company policy- and I don't mean that in a sarcastic way.  Companies make mistakes and it would be unfair to accuse them of knowing what is happening.  This is especially so if they have done everything they can- such as send out auditors- to find out if the suppliers are kosher.  The mark of morality is not that you don't make mistakes but that you say sorry and correct the mistake instantly.

Yet, today BBC news reports in this link  about their undercover report into conditions at a TNS Knitwear factory, who make clothes for Primark.  The workers get paid as little as £3.50 an hour (a long way below the minimum wage) and for as much as twelve hours a day, seven days a week.  All the money gets paid out in cash and there is no paperwork.  This is just as well because many of the employees wouldn't be allowed on the books.  Amongst the workers are illegal immigrants and people claiming unemployment benefit.

Once again,  I'm sure there was no intentional wrongdoing on Primark's part.  They are part of the 'Ethical Trading Initiative' and they have a precise code of conduct suppliers should follow.  However, it makes one very uneasy that, rather this unethical practice being detected by their procedures, the scandal only emerged after an undercover investigation.  It makes one wonder how many other dodgy suppliers they have on their books.

III

I'm not usually one to advocate boycotts of anyone or anything.  They are ineffectual, firstly, because unless everyone boycotts them, then your action is merely symbolic.  No-one is going to listen to your voice and you won't be able to affect change.  Secondly, even if everyone did boycott a particular firm and they went bust, what would that achieve?  You will be scapegoating someone without doing anything about the problem.  It's like the police arresting an insignificant drug dealer when a) they haven't cut off the supply and b) there are plenty of insignificant drug dealers to take their place. 

In this case, the public will have got on their high horse about Primark, thought how wonderfully moral they are, and move on to the next cheap retailer.  That is, until they have been caught in an act of indiscretion, at which point you have another scapegoat. 

No, given that such retailing isn't on its way out soon, the best thing for regulators to do is help tighten up Primark's procedures and to help them enforce the policies they already have .  The right thing for the kind of people that will continue to bargain-shop is:  demand that wrongs are righted, and then shop in a place committed to an ethical policy (which Primark seem to be).

However, having said this, I will boycott Primark products and stop buying there.  This will be coupled with not buying from similar stores.  I realised that this incident hasn't taught me anything about Primark per se, but about this kind of trading in general.  When you look for the cheapest mass-produced products from anywhere in the world, you are bound to run into trouble. 

To use another drug metaphor, no matter how careful you are, if you are going to buy your ecstasy from a man in the club, you'll eventually end up with a dog pill.  No matter how good Primark's procedures are, when dealing with these types of firms, you are going to run into unethical suppliers.  While there is still a demand for these clothes, then these scandals will always arise.  My boycott then, one which ideally others would follow, is to stop going for financial shortcuts.  Go to a shop and pay a bit more money, but where you know the worker's will get a fair deal.  Cut off the demand.  Unfortunately, I don't see that happening.

Given that I'm in a metaphor mood, let's use one last one to sum up my position...

With certain foods, checking the ingredients and spotting a green 'v' on the packet is no guarantee that the product is kosher.  It's not even a guarantee that it's vegetarian!  If you want the hescher, you have to pay for the hescher.