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Research Project

Transforming Responsive and Relational Autonomy in the Garment Sector of the UK and Bangladesh (THRREADS)

Principal Investigator

Dr Shoba Arun

An image of lots of different coloured rolls of material

Achieving sustainability in the ready-made garment and fashion sector

Led by Dr Shoba Arun, THRREADS aims to achieve economic and social sustainability in the ready-made garment and fashion sector and improve autonomy in the workplace in Leicester and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

"This research will help shape policy and actions for economic and social sustainability of the industry. Such research and practical outcomes will boost confidence in a global industry that has been affected by stories of exploitation, environmental and economic challenges."

Dr Shoba Arun Centre for Work, Organisation and Society

Research Project Details

Background

The research will allow for an inter-disciplinary approach to sustainable business through both its aims and methods.

The state of the garment industry is often reported in news headlines. In some cases, conditions have improved, and attention has been made to the ground-breaking interventions such as The Bangladesh Accord and The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, however, the research team stress that this is not enough. In many cases, working conditions and rates of pay are still not adequate, while suppliers are faced with strict turnover periods.

Recently, it was reported that negotiations over a minimum wage for garment workers sparked demonstrations on the streets in Bangladesh. Workers receive the legal monthly minimum wage, which is one of the lowest in the world, and has remained at the equivalent of £58 since 2018. Poor working conditions and low wages in the Leicester garment sector have also been highlighted.

Funding

Supported by over half a million pounds of funding (£645,000) from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the interdisciplinary team will seek to find ways to support garment sector employees, suppliers and workers in order to “foster conditions for autonomy and economic justice in their workplace.”

Partnership Universities

A team of researchers – from the University of Essex, University of Derby, Manchester Metropolitan University and Universal College Bangladesh – plan to encourage positive long-term changes within the industry. Additionally, the research team will work in partnership with community organisations who have been set up to combat poor working conditions, including The Fashion-workers Advice Bureau Leicester (FAB-L), the Safety and Rights Society (SRS), and the Green Bangla Garments Workers Federations (GBGWF) in Bangladesh.

"The garment sector in Leicester has hit the newspapers with negative headlines since the COVID pandemic, causing a further detrimental impact on the sector. Our research will adopt multi-stakeholder based approaches to offer solutions for economic and social sustainability in the industry and revive the tarnished goodwill of Leicester as a brand."

Professor Samsul Alam Co-Investigator, University of Derby

Our Publications

2024

Roper, I and Arun, S (2024). Outsourcing, Offshoring and Global Value Chains In Gibbens, P, Smith, A and Wilkinson, A (eds) Key theories and concepts in work and employment relations. (In press)

2023

Akter, N. and Hossain, M.I. (2023). Bangladesh e-waste value chain: Structures, actors and interdependencies. Research Monograph published by Bureau of Business Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Alam, MS., Atif, M., Cumming, D. and Islam, MS., (2023).The impact of board gender composition on loan covenant violations. Corporate Governance
Arun, S., & Olsen, W. (2023). Modern slavery and exploitative work regimes: an intersectional approach: Modern Slavery and Exploitative Work Regimes: policy implications of multiple and differential intersections. Development in Practice, 33(2), 133-144
Arun, T (2023) “ Corporate Governance and sustainability ethics in developing countries” (with G. Donker, D.Sasu and J. Abor), in Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Developing Markets: A Companion, Edited bu J. Abor, Edward Elgar
Arun, T (2023) “Guest editorial: Transparency, accountability and the role of control mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic: a future research agenda in the context of emerging economies (with J Siddiqui, H Yazdifar), Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies 13 (4), 705-713.
Atif, M., Alam, MS. and Islam, MS., (2023).Firm‐level energy and carbon performance: Does sustainable investment matter?. Business Strategy and the Environment. 32 (4), 2275-2295
Hossain, M.I., Akter, N. and Muzareba, A., (Forthcoming, April 2024). Marketing in a Transition Economy - New Realities, Challenges and Prospects. Springer Nature.

2022

Alam, MS., Safiullah, M. and Islam, MS., (2022).Cash-rich firms and carbon emissions. International Review of Financial Analysis. 81, 102106-102106
Perry, P. (2022) Shein’s sudden rise: The human cost of fast fashion. Available at: https://www.context.news/money-power-people/opinion/sheins-sudden-rise-the-human-cost-of-fast-fashion
Safiullah, M., Alam, MS. and Islam, MS., (2022).Do all institutional investors care about corporate carbon emissions?. Energy Economics. 115, 106376-106376

2021

Arun, T (2021) “Can Information Networks Influence Financial Behaviour of Female Headed Households? The Mediating Role of Financial Expertise”, Economic Modelling, (with Bose. U, and Arun, S) ISSN 0264-9993
Islam, MM., Perry, P., Gill, S. (2021) Mapping environmentally sustainable practices in textiles, apparel and fashion industries: a systematic literature review. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 25 (2), 331-353.
Rydén, P., Hossain, M.I., Kottika, E. and Skare, V. (2021). Social Media Storms: Empowering Leadership Beyond Crisis Management. Oxford, UK: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group ISBN 9780367425272.

2020

Arun, T (2020) Accounting, Accountability and Global Development: Key perspectives, (with Kelum Jayasinghe and Muhammed Ashraf) Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Vol. 11, No. 1.
Arun, T (2020) COVID-19 policy responses: reflections on governmental financial resilience in South Asia, (with Bedanand Upadhaya, Chaminda Wijethilake, Pawan Adhikari and Kelum Jayasinghe), Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management Vol. 32 No. 5, 2020 pp. 825-836
Karaosman, H., Perry, P., Brun, A., Morales-Alonso, G. (2020) Behind the runway: Extending sustainability in luxury fashion supply chains. Journal of Business Research, 117, 652-663.
Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H., Perry, P., Rissanen, T., Gwilt, A. (2020) The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1 (4), 189-200.

2009 - 2019

Alam, M. S., Selvanathan, E. A., Selvanathan, S., & Hossain, M. (2019). The apparel industry in the post‐Multifiber Arrangement environment: A review. Review of Development Economics, 23(1), 454-474.
Alam, M. S., Selvanathan, E. S., Selvanathan, S., & Hossain, M. (2019). Causal relationship between apparel exports and macroeconomic factors. Applied Economics, 51(25), 2687-2702.
Arun, T (2019) “The cooperative movement in South Africa: Can financial cooperatives become sustainable enterprises?”, Strategic Change – Brieings in Entrepreneurial Finance, 28(4):259-271, with M. Mushonga and N.W.Marwa
Alam, M. S., Selvanathan, E. A., & Selvanathan, S. (2017). Determinants of the Bangladesh garment exports in the post-MFA environment. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 22(2), 330-352.
Perry, P. (2017) The environmental costs of fast fashion. Available at: https://theconversation.com/read-this-before-you-go-sales-shopping-the-environmental-costs-of-fast-fashion-88373
Alam, M. S., & Natsuda, K. (2016). The competitive factors of the Bangladeshi garment industry in the post-MFA era. Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d'études du développement, 37(3), 316-336.
Perry, P., Ahmad, A. (2016) Islamic and Buddhist perspectives of Corporate Social Responsibility. In Örtenblad, A. (ed.) Research Handbook on Corporate Social Responsibility in Context, pp. 69-88, Edward Elgar, London
Perry, P., Wood, S., Fernie, J. (2015) Corporate Social Responsibility in garment sourcing networks: Factory management perspectives on ethical trade in Sri Lanka. Journal of Business Ethics, 130 (3), 737-752.
Perry, P., Towers, N. (2013) Conceptual framework development: CSR implementation in fashion supply chains. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 43 (5/6), 478-501.
Perry, P. (2012) Exploring the influence of national cultural context on CSR implementation. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 16 (2), 141-160.
Perry, P., Towers, N. (2009) Determining the antecedents for a strategy of corporate social responsibility by small- and medium-sized enterprises in the UK fashion apparel industry. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 16 (5), 377-385.

Research Team

Dr Shoba Arun

Reader

Essex Business School, University of Essex

Shoba’s research interests have a strong international and comparative dimension with expertise on emerging economies such as India and Africa in the nexus of their global work, neoliberal regimes, organisations and labour markets, migration, digital technology and global value chains with a focus on social justice and wellbeing. Her recently completed collaborative projects examine migration and integration policies in educational settings using co-creation and participatory approaches across the UK and the EU; gendered and racialised nexus of education-work transition in South Africa; gender capital approaches to digital inclusion in the labour market and entrepreneurship in India. She has been recently awarded a UKRI funded project exploring autonomy in the garment sector workplaces of Leicester and Dhaka, focussing on strengthening anti-slavery legislations for enhancing worker representation, workplace control and autonomy in workers’ organisations.

Professor Thankom Arun

Faculty Dean Research

Essex Business School, University of Essex

Thankom Arun is a Professor of Global Development and Accountability at the Essex Business School. Currently, he is a Professor Extraordinaire at the Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa and a Research Fellow at IZA, Bonn. He is also Chairing an academic steering group on Financial inclusion in the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF). He is a Fellow of Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Previously, he was Professor and Director of the Institute of Global Finance and Development (IGFD), at the Lancashire Business School, UCLan; Visiting Professor at the University of Rome and held academic positions at Manchester and Ulster.

Dr Md Shahidul Islam

Lecturer

Essex Business School, University of Essex

Dr Shahidul Islam is a Lecturer in Accounting at Essex Business School. Prior to University of Essex, Shahidul held academic roles at Universities of Suffolk, De Montfort, Coventry and Dhaka. Shahidul obtained his PhD in Accounting from Cardiff University and MSc in Accounting and Finance from University of Manchester, both fully funded with prestigious scholarships. His research interests include corporate governance and sustainability performance, carbon finance, corporate political connections, executive characteristics, financial distress, stakeholder misconduct and violations, and audit regulations.

Dr Shaila Ahmed

Lecturer

Essex Business School, University of Essex

Blogs

Sustainability in Bangladesh's Garment Industry: The DBL Group Story Stories Behind the Data Scenes: Navigating the Complex Realities of Research in Bangladesh’s RMG Industry Training to strengthen capacity for researching workplace autonomy Transforming change in the garment industry

THRREADS Dr Shoba Arun, Principal Investigator

University of Essex

Telephone: +44 (0) 1206873143

Email: shoba.arun@essex.ac.uk