Most of Aarrelabel's products are made at our own factory in Northern Portugal and with partners located nearby. In 2023, 68 different textile industry professionals worked at our factory.
What kind of working hours do we have in production?
Portugal has a law on working time. In the textile industry working time is 40 hours per week and overtime is 1 hour per day. The law allows 2 hours per day and overtime is paid as stated in the Portuguese law. Possible overtime is agreed with the employee and overtime compensation is paid.
How are our workers paid?
The wage level in the textile and clothing industry is quite low, even by international standards. Many brands seek the lowest possible prices from Asia and, increasingly, from Africa. However, not everyone can join this price race—especially when employee and environmental well-being are also at stake.
Black Moda Portugal pays its employees wages in accordance with the collective labor agreement, which are slightly above the living wage in Portugal. In addition to the base salary, employees receive meal allowances, overtime compensation, summer and Christmas holiday bonuses, and other production-related bonuses.
In addition to seamstresses, our factory employs production planners, pattern makers, sample makers, cutters, and warehouse staff.
In 2023 our factory employed 68 people. In total Black Moda Portugal, Lda paid 997 231 € in salaries. The figures include overtime compensation, summer and Christmas holiday bonuses, as well as other monetary benefits.
How about holiday and parental leave?
Our own sewing company complies with the obligations of the Portuguese authorities regarding working time laws, holidays and maternity and parental leave. A parent breastfeeding a child may work a reduced six-hour day for a maximum of two years, though the salary is paid for a full eight hours. If the baby is not breastfed, but fed with formula, the other parent can also work shorter hours, but then switch to eight hours when the child reaches the age of one.
Black Moda Portugal works 11 months in a year. The summer holiday is one month’s salary and the holiday pay equals to one month’s salary. In addition, employees receive holiday pay equivalent to one month’s salary during Christmas.
How do we take care of health and job safety in our production?
Private occupational health and safety services guarantee a healthy and safe work environment for our workers. Occupational health and safety services have been outsourced. The services are supplied by Segurihigiene / Viva Mais. There is a solidarity agreement with our sewing company and the company providing occupational health services. In practice, this means that in the event of serious deficiencies in the controls and audits carried out by the authorities, Black Moda Portugal, Lda and Segurihigiene are both responsible for the faults. The occupational physician and the nurse visit the factory once a year and all workers undergo an annual health check-up. The worker will be referred for medical treatment if anything requiring treatment comes up in the health check. Otherwise, if the employees need to see a doctor, they can contact Segurihigiene and make an appointment.
The supervisor at our factory is responsible for ensuring occupational safety. Also the occupational safety technician visits the factory once a year to check and audit the working conditions. The visit shall be the subject of an official report, which is then submitted to the labor inspectorate. Possible shortcomings shall be mentioned in writing and a rectification visit shall be made to rectify the shortcoming. The Portuguese State collects occupational health and safety information from all companies once a year to a database. The information is posted on an official website on the Internet and the disclosure of this information is required by law.
The personnel manager at Black Moda Portugal ensures that each employee has up-to-date information on employment and occupational safety issues. The main points of these are summarized on the notice board of the sewing shop and there are links on the notice board for further information. In addition, a performance review is conducted twice a year with each employee.
Black Moda Ltd also has a legally compliant internal Whistle Blow channel in place, based on the EU Whistleblower directive. The directive requires that reports of potential misconduct can be made safely and in a way that protects the identity of the whistleblower.
