#stayfair
27 May 2020
COVID-19 is on everyone’s mind and is now a part of our everyday life. Not only in Europe, but also in Africa, people are threatened by the virus. As a project that offers tailors a training with advanced craft and commercial contents in Malawi, so that they can lead an economically independent life, we are horrified to see that our team in Malawi is not protected by any efficient health care system like we have here in Europe. As a tailoring project we also know that the prices offered to tailors in Malawi for a face mask are far too low to make a living from it. With the calculation methods and factors we use for our own products, we have calculated a fair price of 80 Euro cents for a mask. Our studio in Malawi has received an offer of 200 Malawi-Kwacha, or about 25 cents – an unfair price even during a crisis.
As a social project that has been fighting for fair wages for workers in the textile industry for five years, we cannot accept this. The crisis is no excuse for falling back into an exploitative pricing policy. Even tailors must receive fair wages for the work they do to stop the spread of the virus. However, we are aware that this problem does not only apply to tailors in Malawi and other African countries, but also in Europe. We also know from our tailors in our german team that 5 euro for a mask is too little to live on. The common reasoning is that everyone has to do their part to stop COVID-19, so tailors would have to sew for low prices or even for free.
Only, who is contributing to pay them? We can not accept this development, but we believe that many people aren’t aware of the tailors’ situation. Our aim is to start a public, open, transparent and constructive dialogue about the subject. We believe that most people would be willing to pay more for a mask if they are sufficiently informed about the production background. This dialogue thrives on the fact that everybody’s aware of where their masks come from. We believe that if we work together and raise awareness, this crisis can be solved not only from an epidemiological point of view, but also from a social one.
