Updated October 29, 2017 08:49:26

Photo: Fatima earns just 43 cents an hour working in a factory making clothes for brands like Big W and H&M. (Supplied: Oxfam Australia)

The Bangladeshi factory worker who may well have made your t-shirt could be earning as little as 39 cents an hour.

That is the sobering message coming from non-for-profit organisation Oxfam Australia's "What She Makes" report released today.

Deloitte Access Economics was engaged by Oxfam to analyse Australia's garment supply chain and work out what proportion of the cost of a garment ends up in the pocket of the person who made it.

It found in the average Australian supply chain, just 4 per cent of the price of a clothing item is paid to overseas workers.

That is just 40 cents from a $10 t-shirt.

In Bangladesh, where wages are much lower, as little as 2 per cent of the clothing price goes to the workers who made it, the Deloitte research found.

Australian companies like Target Australia, Cotton On, Kmart, Big W, H&M, Pacific Brands and the Just Group all use overseas factories as suppliers, including factories in Bangladesh.

Photo: Most Australian clothing is sourced from China, followed by Bangladesh. (Supplied: Oxfam Australia)

China is the main sourcing destination for Australia, followed by Bangladesh which provides about 9 per cent of the garments sold here.

Twenty-year-old Bangladeshi Fatima earns 43 cents an hour working in a factory making clothes for Big W, H&M and other global brands.

Photo: The Deloitte report found an average worker will make just four cents from a $10 t-shirt. (Supplied: Oxfam Australia)

Oxfam's report said she will often go without food and sleeps on a concrete floor in an apartment with 10 other people.

Oxfam Australia's Chief Executive Helen Szoke said while the cost of living in certain countries is lower, the salaries paid in the garment industry still do not allow a worker to cover basic living costs, like food and housing.

"It's predominantly women who work in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia that can't afford the basics like food and safe homes but are working long hours, often six days a week, producing the garments Australians wear on their back," Ms Szoke said.

She said Australia's biggest retailers should ensure overseas workers have enough to live off.

"Deloitte estimates that if big companies passed the entire cost of living wages to workers, it would only increase the price of clothing sold in Australia by 1 per cent," Ms Szoke said.

She said that should be absorbed by the companies and not passed onto the buyer.

Photo: Oxfam says Fatima sleeps on a concrete floor in an apartment with 10 other people. (Supplied: Oxfam Australia)

In a world of fast fashion, how does one start the process of slowing down? We asked slow fashion advocate Clare Press to give us five tips.

Australia's fashion industry turned over $27 billion last year.

"Brands have the power to ensure workers are paid enough to live with basic dignity," Ms Szoke said.

The minimum wage in Vietnam is the equivalent of 64 cents an hour. In China it's 93 cents and in Bangladesh it is as low as 39 cents an hour.

However, a recent International Labour Organisation report found a large proportion of workers in the garment, footwear and textiles sector in countries exporting to Australia were paid below minimum wage.

Target, Kmart, Woolworths Group, Cotton On and the Just Group all list the locations of their factories on their websites.

Topics: fashion, design, arts-and-entertainment, charities, charities-and-community-organisations, community-and-society, australia, bangladesh, china

First posted October 29, 2017 06:02:40