Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion.

Welcome to the BEOF podcast. It's Friday, February 12th. COVID-19 has exposed rampant inequality

in the world and also in the very heart of the

fashion industry, the people who make our clothes. From Bangladesh to Xinjiang, from Los Angeles to

Lester, garment workers have borne the brunt of this crisis, losing their jobs and livelihoods,

or forced to work in unsafe conditions amid the

pandemic. This is Sonia. She's 18 years old. She's just one of millions of factory workers

that have been affected by the collapse of the global fashion and clothing industry caused by the

coronavirus pandemic.

I'm in a lot of difficulties after I lost my job.

I don't have money to pay for my rent and food.

My husband is the only breadwinner.

Throughout the course of the pandemic, we've heard a lot of talk about essential workers,

like medical staff and grocery employees.

But you may not be

hearing as much about garment workers aside from working tirelessly to make

the clothes on our backs they're also the ones making those face masks that are

so essential to our health California is home to the highest concentration of

garment industry workers in the country but most garment workers don't even

make minimum wage this week things heated up further when the BBC was banned from broadcasting in China,

following its reports on the country's autonomous region of Xinjiang,

where it says more than one million people are working in forced labor camps,

...