Outside a clothing factory in Calafat in southern Romania early one morning, hundreds of workers crowd around makeshift stalls to stock up on snacks and drinks for their shift.
The Italian-owned knitwear factory, Maglierie Cristian Impex, is the largest employer in the area and one of the largest clothing factories in Romania, with about 1,000 staff.
It has produced clothes since 1997 for big names such as the highly fashionable Kenzo, Escada, Marc O'Polo, Faconnable and Inditex, the Spanish-based giant whose brands include Zara and Massimo Dutti.
But some workers mutter they have not been paid while others say they received wages only once every two or three months last year.
"Work, work, work -- but no pay," complains one worker, 34-year-old Cristina.
Activists have railed against the plight of garment workers in recent years but their focus has often been on Asia, traditionally home to sweat shops.
But even inside the European Union -- in Romania and Bulgaria particularly -- workers can endure poverty-level wages, long hours and arduous conditions to make clothes for major brands.
Campaigners are demanding that clothing brands take full responsibility for their production chains, with decent pay and conditions for all the workers involved.
Some 345,000 people work in more than 10,000 factories in the clothing, textile and leather industries in Romania and Bulgaria, according to government statistics.
The sector is among the top exporters in both countries. Factory owners say they face intense pressure from brands to keep costs low.
Workers, who are overwhelmingly women, are often hired on the legal minimum wage of less than 200 euros (about 8000 baht) a month net and may earn even less, say workers and campaigners such as the Fair Wear Foundation and Clean Clothes Campaign.
From late January to mid-July last year, Cristina says she was paid twice, receiving a total of around 1500 lei (about 13,300 baht) from the factory that has received European Union funding to "enhance economical competitiveness".
"Women go and start crying in front of the chief, saying 'please give me my money, because I can't feed my children'," says Cristina, the only person in her family with a full-time job.
In April 2014, more than 300 employees at the Maglierie Cristian factory staged a wildcat strike over late wages.
Cristi Deseanu, 29, a mechanic at the plant, says people were eventually paid but he and other vocal protesters were fired and he lost his job that paid 250 euros a month.
Mr Deseanu provided documents to back up his claim that he was dismissed because he took part in the strike.
But, in a telephone conversation, a senior company official said Mr Deseanu quit his job.
"My salary there didn't offer me the chance to start a family of my own," said Mr Deseanu.
The Calafat factory is majority-owned by Enzo Mantovani, founder of a luxury cashmere brand, and his sons.
The Romanian business posted a turnover of more than 8.3 million euros in 2014, according to the Romanian Ministry of Finance. On its website, it boasts of "a good reputation at home and abroad" and a philosophy of "absolute customer satisfaction".
Despite numerous attempts by phone, email and visiting the factory to obtain comment from the company, including responses to the specific allegations in this story, the firm has offered nothing beyond a few words on Mr Deseanu's departure.
Inditex said last September that its social audits had found the plant complied with its Code of Conduct. In January this year, however, Inditex said the factory was now "under a correction plan".
It did not specify details of the plan.
"In the following weeks, the audit teams will carry out another social audit of this supplier. The supplier will then receive either an authorisation to continue supplying Inditex or it will be definitely blocked," the company said in a statement.
The other brands mentioned in connection with the factory did not respond to email or telephone requests for comment or did not answer the questions they were asked.
Catalin Mohora, a local labour inspector, said it can be legal for an employer to pay less than the minimum wage if, for example, demand for its products was low. An employer could cut working hours and decrease pay accordingly.
If salaries are late, inspectors first ask the employer to pay up and can only impose fines if the firm does not fully comply.
Mr Mohora says Maglierie Cristian is one of the better local employers. Some companies, he said, try to avoid paying wages and taxes by modifying contracts after they have been signed and get employees to work overtime without extra pay.
Calafat's deputy mayor, Dorel Mituletu, said the town of around 17,000 people on the banks of the Danube struggles to attract investors and the Maglierie Cristian factory is its "breath of life".
"No one can afford to get on the wrong side of someone who, one way or another, provides jobs to 1,000 people," he said.
Reports from workers from other factories can be worse.
Romania's Labour Inspectorate said inspections between 2013 and 2015 found the Zendoo Style factory in Calarasi did not respect the law on salary payments, working hours, overtime and rest time for workers.
The company, which employed about 80 people, was fined for failing to rectify these issues, the inspectorate said.
Asked on the phone about this, the factory's managing director, Vasilica Sterschi, said she would comment via email on the Labour Inspectorate's statement but has not done so. Zendoo Style was declared bankrupt in September 2015.
A report on 10 eastern Europe countries and Turkey in 2014 by the Clean Clothes Campaign, a group that lobbies to improve conditions for workers in the sector, found poverty-level wages, dangerous working conditions and forced overtime were "endemic throughout the garment industry".
It noted that the minimum wages in some of the countries it surveyed were lower than in China and Indonesia and other parts of the Far East.