Ep. 314 Behind the Seams: What’s Happening in the Factories in Sri Lanka that Produce Patagonia?

For this episode, we will highlight interesting points from an article published in Follow the Money by Yara van Heugten titled Sustainable clothing brand Patagonia manufactures in the same factories as fast-fashion; textile workers are being exploited.

Yara van Heugten is a Dutch investigative journalist. Yara studied economics and business administration at Maastricht University and moved to Rotterdam for a master‘s in international economics. She worked for three years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a journalist, she prefers to detect system errors and then ask what solutions are possible. At Follow the Money, she investigates the green promises of significant companies.

She Investigates the truth behind the green promises of large companies from the financial sector to the clothing industry.

During the conversation we discussed some of the following points:

• How did she develop the idea for this article, and what motivated her to write about this critical topic
• What challenges did she face while researching this article?
• Patagonia does not have control over working conditions, even if you are a provider or supplier.
• 60 hours of work in these factories that produce Patagonia in Sri Lanka

Yara also shared what response she received from Patagonia.

Read her full article in Follow the Money.

Contact with Yara van Heugten on LinkedIn