Versace is hardly #NOTW or Rupert Murdoch but is equally feeling mounting pressure to change its ways.
The company has turned off fan posts on its Facebook page after loads of people left messages demanding the company ban sandblasting, one of the techniques used to give jeans a used look. The technique of sandblasting involves workers firing sand under high pressure at jeans and has been proven (allegedly) to kill workers in some of the larger garment-producing countries, like Turkey and Bangladesh, where jean sandblasting is still done manually. The large amounts of silica dust generated during sandblasting can cause silicosis, a potentially lethal pulmonary disease, which workers inhale as tiny particles of silica.
A number of the big brands both High Street and luxury, (such as Levi’s, H&M, C&A and Gucci), have already abolished sandblasted jeans in their collections. However, Versace has taken no action despite repeated calls from international labour rights groups, like the Clean Clothes Campaign initiated by Change.org.