Healthy workers, healthy business

In response to Simon Parry's portrayal of poor health conditions in a Chinese mannequin factory, three Australian companies talked to Belinda Smart about their commitment to health and safety.

Descriptions of factories where workers' health is as disposable as the sand filings created by the smoothing of mannequins' contours are not entirely new to Graeme McPherson.

As general manager of Sydney-based mannequin and retail display specialist Storeworks, McPherson travels to Asia several times a year to source product and liaise with manufacturers. Aside from the inevitable jet lag, he's also been exposed to "the good, bad and the ugly" of health and safety standards; with Simon Parry's article embodying the latter two descriptors. 

While larger chains and department stores generally develop mannequin ranges in conjunction with reputable distributors who buy from equally reputable factories, further down the pecking order standards become decidedly wobbly, he says.

"Unfortunately, some of the smaller budget chains and many low end fashion stores are tempted to purchase a cheaper, inferior product. These are often bought from crude lower end resellers who have either sourced their product through cheap local wholesalers or direct from poorly run Chinese factories."

"In my experience it is absolutely certain that if you are buying a cheap, unbranded mannequin [then] you are buying a product made in an inferior factory, whose processes would not meet best practise standards. As in all retail, cheap usually does mean nasty. I have visited some of these low quality factories on fact-finding trips and the conditions are appalling; correspondingly the quality of the product is too."

By contrast, mannequins made under best-practice conditions are both a moral and commercial necessity for Storeworks, he says.

He visits one factory in China several times a year, which manufactures Storeworks' own 'Stare' mannequins, whose clients include major department and chain stores throughout Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK. The factory has passed government environmental inspections and attained an environmental license to operate.

Protective clothing - including masks, gloves and aprons - is compulsory. Regular, scheduled cleaning of work areas, particularly sanding areas, is undertaken several times a shift and all areas are properly ventilated. Such measures make sound business sense in an industry dogged by skill shortages, he says.

"If our factory owner did not treat his employees well, they would go to work at another factory; and skilled mannequin factory workers, particularly sanders, sculptors and make up artists, are extremely hard to replace. Staff retention is a high priority and the best way to ensure high retention rates is to keep employees happy and healthy."

United Displays, a leading manufacturer and designer of mannequins - which offers a proprietary range as well as customised models - also has strict health and safety guidelines in its Asian factories, says director John Ronzel.

"Our overseas factory has implemented a strategy that includes minimising dust through the installation of dust extraction systems, combined with the use of effective masks. Individual operators are attached to specific duties and areas and extensively trained in that particular field of operation."

Ronzel is quick to point out that health and safety standards vary widely in China. "In most industries there exists a significant variation in working conditions and practices, ranging from poor to excellent. Obviously those with better practices do tend to have a higher cost base, but [Simon Parry's] article tended to focus on the lower end of the spectrum."

Belinda Sheldrick, national sales and marketing manager of mannequin and store display specialist Mei & Picchi, says her company has worked with the same Chinese mannequin manufacturers for more than 12 years. All the company's suppliers are based in first-world-equipped factories where strict health and safety rules apply and protective clothing is worn at all times. The company is so confident of its record that it regularly takes Australian fashion retail clients to visit suppliers' factories, she says.

"Our customers actually get to see [conditions] for themselves and can sleep well at night knowing they are purchasing quality products at the right dollar value, from facilities operating at world-class standards."
While Sheldrick applauds Parry's article for exposing the "human cost" associated with some mannequin production facilities in China she also warns against generalisations.

"I do hope that Australian fashion retailers read Simon Parry's article and consider their future mannequin purchases with thought for this situation and its true cost. We must however make sure that we do not criticise and pigeon-hole all Chinese mannequin factories in the same vein, as they simply are not all the same."

By Belinda Smart