For each man who sits gaping at a Victoria's Secret model strutting in her colourful bra and panties, a child in Africa paid a price. Bloomberg has exposed Victoria's real secret, revealing the use of child labor to manufacture cotton in Burkina Faso.
Victoria's Secret bears its use of "fair trade" fabric, branding their underwear as "Good for women and children who depend on them." Except that an investigative story carried out by Bloomberg Markets has unveiled the widespread exploitation a child suffers prior to placing cotton on a Burkina Faso truck that advertises "fair trade."
Cam Simpson writes for Bloomberg stating that Bloomberg records the work of Clarisse Kambire, a 13-year-old girl who labors in a West African cotton field. Kambire is wrenched from her mattress by a farmer before sunrise – and a mattress which is described as
"barely thicker than a glossy magazine."
Kambire then proceeds to perform the work of an ox and plough, digging over 500 rows of cotton with her bare hands and a how. If she be unsuccessful to keep up with the expected rate of knots, her farmer whips her with a tree branch, as the report stated.
After the cotton is loaded to a truck in Burkina Faso it is sent to India and Sri Lanka where it is then used to fashion Victoria Secret's labels of color and zebra print, sold under spot lights in flagship stores.
Last season Victoria's Secret LTD purchased all of the organic cotton from Burkina Faso, as said by Georges Guebre, the leader of the country's organic and fair-trade program. This year the underwear label is expected to acquire a substantial amount of its cotton from the same said farms.
The Fair-trade International also started a review in Burkina Faso after Bloomberg News raised these questions.
