Topshop faces student backlash over sweatshop conditions

Topshop is facing increasing criticism from its core customers - students and young people - who are protesting over sweatshop conditions in the company's supply chain.

Topshop uses the slogan "we love students!", but students across Britain are planning peaceful protests at Topshop branches on Saturday 1 March.

They are backing the Redress Fashion campaign run by People & Planet, Britain's largest student network concerned with human rights, global poverty and the environment. Redress Fashion has also won the support of trade minister Gareth Thomas MP.

Topshop's embarrassment came to the fore last week, when the company pulled out of a Fairtrade discussion in Oxford for fear of student criticism. Topshop forms part of the Arcadia Group, whose owner Philip Green has refused to sign up to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).

According to Sarah Waldron, People & Planet campaigns officer, the Arcadia Group is the biggest high street retailer not to sign up to the Ethical Trading Initiative.

"Time and again, Philip Green's business has been associated with unacceptable working conditions," she said. "If he wants to continue to attract students through the doors of Topshop, Philip Green must drag his company into the twenty-first century and change his business ethics."

Rebecca Jones, costume student at Rose Burford College in London, said: "Young people love shopping and fashion but the big retailers like Topshop are hiding the true sources of their clothes.

"They blind us with celebrity collaborations and 'must-haves' which make us lose sight of what is truly valuable - human lives."