Or how to use an outside crisis to further exploit your workers
Human rights economics draws attention to the way that power relations permit injustices and inequalities to grow. These power relations and the injustices are often subtle, hard to identify and even harder to convey.
But sometimes they are shamelessly visible.
Clothing and sportswear brands like Inditex (Zara), Walmart, Decathlon and Levi’s have made huge profits over the past year. In a a new variation of a well-tune tune, they have used the new and fluctuating US import tariffs as an excuse to pass costs down the supply chain.
The reports from textile-producing countries around the world are consistent. First, brands request suppliers to reduce costs if they want to keep their custom, or cancel orders altogether. Then, the suppliers shift the costs on to workers, through increased production pressure, reduced overtime pay or layoffs. The broader social and human rights impacts are immense and likely to be long-lasting as many studies have shown.
In Lesotho, the US trade tariffs negatively affected approximately 12,000 jobs or working hours by July 2025. In Bangladesh, tens of thousands of workers lost their jobs or saw reduced working hours in 2025 following the US tariffs. In Madagascar, the Groupement des Entreprises Franches et Partenaires estimated over 60,000 jobs would be affected by the decision to raise US tariffs to 47%. These figures are for the time being tentative and it is not always possible to link a job loss directly to the tariffs. But they give a sense of the scale of the human impacts in just a few of the countries where fashion brands locate their production.
Contrast this with the results of some of the leading brands that produce in those countries:
Inditex
Inditex is one of the biggest brands producing in Bangladesh and India. It reported a 6% increase in profits in 2025 as compared to the previous year, i.e. an annual net income of €6.22 billion. The upward trend continues this year, with net income having increased 5.4% to €1.4 billion.
Walmart
Walmart is another of the big brands procuring in Bangladesh and India. The company enjoyed a 10.5% increase in 2025 profits relative to 2024 i.e. an annual net income in excess of $US 20 billion. Walmart’s profitable trend continues: it reported a profit of over $US5 billion for the quarter ending April 30, 2026, a 8.2% increase year-over-year.
Decathlon
Decathlon, one of the bigger brands supplied by workers in Madagascar, had a net income of €910 million for 2025, a 16% increase over 2024.
Levi’s
As for Levi’s, one of the main brands to source in Lesotho, it came to the end of 2025 with a comfortable net income of US$502 million by November.
0 Comments