Third-party manufacturing and cottage industries in the garment manufacturing business

Dimitra, the interviewee in this audio recording, is 47 years old and now works as an accountant. Her narrative, however, focuses on the time when she ran a third-party (contract) manufacturing business collaborating with shirt manufacturers in Thessaloniki. She had already worked at a manufacturing business as an office worker when, along with her husband and another woman, they decided to operate a third-party manufacturing workshop. The sector of garment manufacturing in Thessaloniki and Northern Greece was significantly expanding at the time, supplying clothing stores throughout Greece and Europe, a trend which continued until the end of the 1990s. Dimitra’s narrative focuses on the time right before the equally dramatic contraction of the sector and the ensuing mass closures of third-party manufacturing businesses and workshops in Thessaloniki [see also EKT020, EKT026].

18.25-19.23

‘At first, we started a third-party manufacturing business with a colleague we met by chance, through common friends. She was involved in third-party manufacturing and wanted to start her own shirt finishing business. A shirt finishing business takes shirts that have already been constructed, puts in buttons and button holes, irons them, packages them in individual bags and sends them back to the manufacturer for sale. So, along with my husband at the time, we started a shirt finishing business, a third-party manufacturing unit which put buttons and button holes on shirts, ironed them and packaged them’.

20.40-22.35

‘This went on from ’96 until 2000. We had to rent a space of our own because this job requires machinery that takes up a lot of space. Two of us knew the job and the other one, that’s me, originally learned the job just to help around, but then I believe I became as good as them. The job itself is very hard. First of all, there is no schedule, no weekends or holidays. Depending on who you work with, there is also a lot of pressure and stress in manufacturing. People bring things over and want them ready yesterday. There are also occupational hazards. When you work with needles and threads, you can cut yourself, prick yourself. You work with a steam press which means you work in intense heat all day. It’s a very hard job because there is constant pressure to deliver and the more you deliver, the more you get paid. The less you work, the less you make. And it’s an underpaid job. People say, “All she does is take a shirt, put it through a machine and throw five buttons on”, but that’s not how it works.’ 

According to Vaiou and Chatzimichali, the term ‘φασόν’ (pronounced ‘fason’, from the French façon) has been used in Greece since 1923. It was probably used by refugee carpet makers who settled in Greece after the Greco-Turkish war and the ensuing population exchange. The word describes the situation where the customer provides the necessary materials to contractors working in their own space, namely their house or a workshop. The project assigned by the customer to the contractors must be completed by a specific deadline. From the 1970s until the 1990s, it became a common work practice in Northern Greece, especially in Thessaloniki. During this time, the items that were commonly manufactured at home by such contractors were parts of ready-made garments and knitwear, parts of footwear, embroideries, packaging, plastic flowers, and belts. Electrical goods were also often assembled by contractors in their homes.

This form of work is often invisible, since contract (third-party) manufacturing is typically associated with informal labour, hence the people employed in such manner do not receive the wages and welfare benefits a regular worker does. However, this type of informal and flexible labour became linked with Thessaloniki’s ‘dynamic urban growth’ during the period 1970-1990, as it improved the operation and boosted the profits of clothing manufacturing and trading companies.