Killer Jeans - Manifesto to end sandblasting
In other countries, there are no statistics available, but the numbers of casualties and potential future victims are estimated to be very high. The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), working together with the Solidarity Committee of Sandblasting Labourers in Turkey, demands from jeans producers that they guarantee that sandblasting is not part of their supply chains. A number of fashion companies and retailers have already banned the sale of such jeans, or publicly announced that the would phase it out over the next months. Amongst them are Levi-Strauss & Co. and Hennes & Mauritz (H&M).
The CCC also calls on the governments of jeans-producing countries to outlaw denim sandblasting, ensure that occupational health and safety rules are enforced, and provide disability pensions to sandblasters who contracted silicosis. Consumers in the importing countries can also contribute by assuring themselves that the jeans they buy have not been treated with the deadly process. From January onwards, the CCC will start a consumer action whereby all owners of a pair of jeans can send messages to jeans companies that refuse to ban sandblasting.