Princess Eugenie is taking a stand on an insidious fashion phenomenon. Eugenie, who is the Co-Founder of The Anti-Slavery Collective, has launched a major new campaign, Hidden Threads: Fake Fashion - A Human Rights Scandal. The campaign aims to expose the invisible human cost behind counterfeit clothing and accessories. It comes as dupes of high-end fashion are at an all-time high. According to the collective, half of European consumers aged 15-24 now say they see no issue in buying fakes.
While buying dupes might often be considered harmless, this is far from the truth. The industry is laden with exploitation from unregulated factory floors to market stalls. At worst, evidence has been found of forced labour, child labour and human trafficking. It's estimated that 218 million children aged between five and 17 around the world work, 70 per cent of these children are considered victims of child labour, including within fashion supply chains. Moreover, the money made from this lucrative activity is often used as seed funding for darker organised crime operations, including drugs, weapons, money laundering and human trafficking.
Princess Eugenie, Co-Founder of The Anti-Slavery Collective, exclusively told HELLO!: "It's easy to see fake fashion as a victimless crime, but this is far from the reality. The people making, distributing, and selling these items are too often victims of coercion or exploitation. This campaign is about creating a call to action for consumers. We want people to pause and think about where their fakes come from and how they were made - because only then can we start to change the demand that fuels this exploitation."
"Our mission at The Anti-Slavery Collective is to uncover and disrupt the hidden systems that perpetuate exploitation. Counterfeit fashion is a clear example of how organised crime intersects with human rights abuses. By working together across governments, businesses and civil society, we can start to dismantle these networks and ensure that no one has to pay for fashion with their freedom," Sarah Woodcock, CEO of The Anti Slavery Collective also tells HELLO!.
As part of the campaign launch, The Anti-Slavery Collective and its partners hosted an event at Goals House in New York. Here, they took guests on a learning journey about the dangers of fake fashion and forced labour. They also learned about emerging technologies and partnerships which aim to disrupt illicit trade and expose one of fashion's most overlooked human rights scandals.
The campaign aptly kicks off in New York, which coincides with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and New York Climate Week (September 21-28), as part of a new global partnership between The Anti-Slavery Collective and the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade.
