Busting Unionmade's manufacturing myths

What's in a name? Quite a lot actually, as the American fashion brand Unionmade is finding out. Unionmade clothing is, you see, not union-made.

At a time when employees' rights and mobilised workforces are increasingly under pressure – if not on the wane more broadly – this nomenclature is a true case of style over substance.

The title refers to a concept rather than a truth, intended to convey the rich heritage of labour that constitutes aesthetic niceness, but with none of the rights that come with it. Put another way, it's retro-hipsterism gone mad.

Which is all well and good as long as numpties keep on buying vintage typewriters and old sewing machines as ornaments.

But if your workers haven't yet attempted to rip their foreman to pieces Germinal-style, then for heaven's sake, maybe don't remind them that they could.