MADE IN CAMBODIA

Cambodia’s garment sector employs more than 650,000 people, it was worth more than US$5bn in exports in 2013, and accounts for 80 percent of the country’s exports. Yet it is more often the poor working conditions of this vital trade that make the headlines. In 2013 over 4,000 workers demanding a US$5/month salary increase, went on strike at the Sabrina garment factory, a supplier to Nike. Clashes between police and strikers left several workers injured including two women who miscarried. Weeks before, Wing Shoe Factory made the headlines when a ceiling in one of its buildings collapsed killing two people and injuring several more. Despite intense media exposure and the efforts of the unions and rights groups to pressure the government to enforce the law and improve working conditions, this multibillion-dollar industry – which continues to feed Western markets – remains an embarrassment for international brands such as Nike and H&M.