BURNING QUESTIONS
“in a prominent place” on the homepage.
and difficulties for employees who are mistreated, the first of which relates to the clear barriers preventing them from leaving their abusive employers because of the restrictions surrounding them being bound to one employer. In addition, a number of these employees are averse to seeking help from authorities for fear of deportation. The government’s amendment to the act does nothing to protect these workers and although those identified as trafficked through the NRM might be offered a six-month visa, the general outlook remains the same – tolerate the abuse or break the law and leave the employer. While the government has made significant progress in codifying and consolidating the law surrounding forced labour and human trafficking, it is difficult to discount the significant shortcomings that the retention of the tied visa regime brings. As such, some of the most defenceless migrant workers within the United Kingdom remain extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abuse from their employers. Keisha Phippen is a second-year trainee solicitor in Shoosmiths’ commercial practice group. She is based at the firm’s Birmingham office
trendsetting: a designer produces a new design, affordable only to an elite few. These consumers, or trendsetters, are willing to pay the high price tag because they value the design for its exclusivity and distinctiveness. The design inspires other designers, signalling the beginning of a trend, which spurs copies. By the time the design is taken up by the high street and the market is saturated with low-quality, low-price versions, the design has lost its appeal to its original market. The trend dies as the trendsetters begin to look for the next big thing, restarting the cycle. This idea that copying is the driving force behind trend cycles was first proposed by US economist Paul Nystrom in 1928. However, in 2016 designers and their mass-market copyists are finding it increasingly difficult to co-exist peacefully. evolved thanks to the innovative manufacturing and supply chain management processes pioneered by businessmen such as Amancio Ortega, the founder of Zara and its parent company, Inditex. Zara and other high-street retailers which have followed suit are able to compress the concept-to-shelf time into as little as two weeks, while designers continue to take up to six months to get new designs onto the shop floor. Combined with the industry’s seasonal calendar, where designers show their collections four months before releasing them in stores, and the fact that modern technology can provide open access to images of new designs within seconds of the models stepping onto the runway, fast-fashion retailers are able to get their imitations onto shelves long before the originals even become available for purchase. Disruption to the cycle Today’s fashion copyists have
Does the act protect migrant domestic workers? Although the act is largely considered as a substantial step forwards in terms of criminalising slavery and human trafficking, there are critics who argue that there is too much focus on law enforcement and not enough focus on victims and victim support. In particular, there have been concerns raised in relation to Britain’s own migrant domestic workers. These concerns focus around any abused domestic workers’ ability to escape abusive employers. Unfortunately, the government failed to address this group of individuals in the drafting of the Modern Slavery Act. Tied visas bind foreign domestic workers to one employer upon entering the United Kingdom – meaning that they cannot move jobs. Additionally, various sources suggest that many overseas workers are regularly subjected to abuse at the hands of their UK employers. Although the House of Lords voted in favour of an amendment to the act that would have allowed vulnerable domestic workers to escape abusive employers, this was blocked by the government. Instead, an unsatisfactory alternative was put into place in Section 53 of the act, whereby the abused workers would be provided with an additional six months visa on the condition that they could satisfy authorities that they had been victims under the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). Despite the inception of the NRM, its practical effect is minimal besides categorising the victim’s position. The concept of a tied visa encompasses a number of concerns
An IP fashion revolution?
Question Has intellectual property (IP) law caught up with the rise of fast fashion? Answer Copying has always played a role in fashion. At the heart of the industry is the concept of
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