O My Bag have worked very hard to achieve a B Corp rating for human rights and sustainability, as well as a precious World Fair Trade certification.
O My Bag have a clear goal to be a successful fashion company with added transparency in the working conditions and wages for the people who make their products, and an absolute minimum impact on the environment.
They are keen to prove to the mainstream fashion industries that a fashion company can be successful without taking advantage of their makers or our planets resources.
Around 170 nations world wide now have legislation requiring minimum wage levels for their citizens. Although this sounds positive, the legislation has led to a new poverty, called "working poverty" where a worker is paid the legal minimum wage, but cannot afford for their children to attend school, or for adequate medical services, but have just enough for rental costs and food. The COVID pandemic revealed the desperate consequences for working people who cannot afford decent health care. In some nations the minimum wage level is 30% of their ILO (International Labour Organisation) calculated living wage. Only by going beyond their legal requirements, can businesses ensure that all their employees have the income to support their own needs, and those of their dependents, and raise standards of health and well-being.
A small but growing number of companies are working with the UN to promote the payment of the ILO calculated Living Wage for their factories. O My Bag has been careful to choose manufacturing companies committed to ethical safety practices and standards to make their beautiful bags, and have been working with these companies to raise the wage levels to a Living Wage. They report each year on their progress, and now have 400 workers across the factories that make the O My Bag products are made receiving a ILO living wage. This has more than tripled since 2021. Good Work!
- Yoko, Minimum Wage vrs Living Wage: Read here
- United Nations Global Compact, Living Wage; Read here
- International Labour Organisation; Setting Adequate Wages; Read here
- O My Bag Sustainability Report: Read here
