Acne Studios quickly changed its policy after being contacted by SVT.
Swedish public broadcasting company SVT (you switch to another service) the program has sent a survey to 20 of Sweden’s largest fashion houses and inquired about the number of trainees they employ.
Only seven of the fashion houses responded. SVT’s Uppdrag granskning program drew attention to the Acne Studios company, which had a considerable number of interns in relation to paid staff.
Acne reported that it had 43 trainees and 220 salaried employees at the time of the survey. When the numbers are added up, it can be stated that around one in six Acne employees was an unpaid intern.
A former intern interviewed by SVT, whom SVT uses the name “Olivia“, says that he worked at Acne as an intern for six months. In his opinion, it was “slave labor”, because he was not paid. However, he had to do tedious tasks, such as shipping products and measuring samples.
Labor rights expert of the Swedish Entrepreneurs’ Association Lise-Lotte Argulander says in an interview with SVT that training should take place in cooperation with the educational institution.
In Sweden, there is no clear legislation on the organization of internships. Swedish companies should follow good labor market practice, where the employer pays the salary and the employee does the work.
– The gray area is whether you are still learning something or doing real work tasks. If you do real work tasks and replace an employee, then you should get paid, Argulander explains.
The only way to get to work?
At Acne, the training of many interns was not connected to school.
Acne employee interviewed by SVT Alison Lilja-Cosson says that you cannot work in the fashion industry without training. Lilja-Cosson got a permanent job after training.
– My duties did not change after I got the position. They were exactly the same, I just started getting paid.
The Acne company did not give SVT an interview. Instead, ten days after SVT’s contact, the company announced that it would remove all trainee job advertisements. The company will no longer hire interns after January 2023.
Acne announces that it will start an apprentice program, where a person will train in the company for six months, but will also receive a salary during that time. The program includes both work tasks and practical exercises.
See SVT’s program here Praktikanterna (you move to another service).