When you think of pollution, you probably envision smoking coal power plants and raw sewage piped into our waterways. We don’t often think of the overall impact of the fashion industry on our planet. It's quite grim.

Child labour is a particular issue for fashion because much of the supply chain requires low-skilled labour and some tasks are even better suited to children than adults. In cotton picking, employers prefer to hire children for their small fingers, which do not damage the crop.

There is a vast mismatch between the earnings in the garment industry and the wages paid out to the workers who produce the garments. It's estimated that the average percentage of the final retail cost of a garment made in the developing world, which goes to the garment worker, ranges from 0.5- 4%.

Widespread corruption makes it possible for crooks to escape inspection and sanctions. This intensifies the responsibility of foreign buyers to strengthen CSR in order to compensate for inefficient Government control and impunity.

Workers in factories in Bangladesh making clothes for western firms continue to suffer from poor working conditions years after a factory collapse that killed 1,100 people and prompted widespread promises of reforms.