Inside-Out Clothing Aims To Make Serious Statement About Garment Worker Safety
By Hadas Kuznits
WAYNE, Pa. (CBS) -- Folks around the world today were commemorating the one-year anniversary of a sweatshop disaster in Bangladesh by declaring this the first-ever "Fashion Revolution Day."
The Element Six clothing store in Wayne, Pa., was participating in Fashion Revolution Day. Marketing manager Laura Hink (top photo) says that by putting the clothes on their mannequins inside out -- and store employees dressing that way -- they hoped to remind shoppers to check the labels on garments and thereby encourage those in the fashion industry to manufacture their clothes responsibly.
"To have the clothes inside out, you see the brand name, and hopefully you'll be curious as far as what it's made out of, where it's being made, who put the garment together, and where that is located," Hink tells KYW Newsradio. "Are the people getting livable wage? Are they being treated fairly?"
She says Fashion Revolution Day coincides with the one-year anniversary of a garment factory collapse in Bangladesh (see related story and photos).
"A lot of designers here in America used (overseas sweatshops) to help cut costs of manufacturing," she notes.
Hink adds that shoppers are being encouraged to ask where their clothes are made through social media with the hashtag #insideout.