There isn’t much information available about the factories in Ukraine that carry out orders for western fashion brands. What information there is praises their quality, stating that not every company is capable of producing work for well-known brands such as Hugo Boss, Esprit, Adidas, C&A, Asos and Marks & Spencer - according to open sources, these and other brands are produced in Ukraine.
This export-orientated economic model and attraction of western investment has been seen by Ukrainian governments as the only way to achieve “western” living standards. For the workers in the clothing factories, however, it has very different results.
This article is based on material collected with Anna Oksiutovych and Artem Chapeye between 2017 and 2019 as part of the Clean Clothes Campaign. Names and certain details of factory workers in this article have been changed.
