When thinking about the fashion industry, most minds may instantly go to our favorite celebrities adorned in exquisite designs at the Met Gala or to our favorite supermodel catwalking in the latest launch of a famous designer brand on the runway. But fashion is a facade.
Beneath those expensive creations that took months to make and those elegant runway shows that took almost as long to plan is the dark, not-so-glamorous side of fashion; the current unfortunate status quo of how the industry is actually run. Hiding behind the luxury sector, though actually dominating it, is the concept of fast fashion; a system where merchandise is quickly and heavily mass-produced through social and environmental malpractice to meet the greed and materialism of impulsive consumers.Â
Believe it or not, the primary production of this merchandise doesn’t come from machines. It comes from real people. Every day, garment and factory workers across the globe face similar struggles, whether it’s the long hours they’re exposed to safety hazards and other harsh conditions or the unreasonably low wages they’re paid that barely cover any of their necessities. The fashion industry treats its workforce like absolute garbage, and it’s not a good look.
Fast fashion is now one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world, making the fashion industry environmentally unsustainable like never before. Overconsumption has resulted in overproduction, which is a problem because it requires an enormous number of energy and resources that end up creating an environmental footprint that threatens biodiversity.
The worst part is that overproduction is counterproductive as it leads to more waste. In fact, around 60% of clothing that’s produced in a year is not even worn and gets thrown away. While people are enjoying splurging on cheap clothing, the moment they feel like switching up their closet forces garment and factory workers to partake in a cruel system to unwillingly feed and satisfy people’s fashion fever.Â
You may think that these workers have a choice, that they’re not forced to work at factories and can just quit and find a better job. This isn’t the case for people facing poverty in the third-world countries responsible for producing so much of our clothing, especially women. According to Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, women make up about 80% of the workforce in the clothing industry. It’s much more difficult to find a job when a lower number of opportunities are present and in the case of women and children, gender discrimination and age also play a role.
A job is more beneficial than no job because any source of income is better than none, which is why workers choose to stay in the textile industry, even with horrendous conditions and wages that can’t support their livelihoods.Â
Going in-depth beyond the long hours and low wages, workers report feeling unsafe because of the health hazards they face. They are routinely exposed to harmful chemical substances, insane temperatures, and repetitive noise and motion from machines in dangerous factory buildings.
Additionally, due to improper ventilation and a lack of proper food, water, and sleep, fainting is a common occurrence, not to mention a large variety of illnesses and injuries. Workers are also faced with too many tasks to simultaneously complete in a short period of time. They’re met with verbal, physical, and sexual violence and harassment. They cannot retaliate or protest in any way, even if in peaceful unions amongst themselves, because that will end with them getting fired, and they need the job to support themselves and their families.Â
Three devastating incidents that started to give people an insight into how bad the conditions of these workers include the 2012 factory fires of Ali Enterprises in Pakistan, the Tazreen Fashions in Bangladesh and the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh. These tragic events injured and killed thousands of workers, creating a public outcry.
Though worldwide attention on worker safety in the garment industry has increased, the impact these incidents have made on the public has not been made on the industry itself. Everyone needs to be held accountable and take action in order to come to a solution. People should start consuming fewer products and should avoid purchasing from fast fashion brands, especially those known to treat their workers unfairly. Companies should develop health and safety regulations and implement higher wages and reasonable hours for their workers. The biggest change we can make as a community of global citizens is to save our workers and kill fast fashion.Â
Low production costs come at a significantly high price. Fast fashion is an epidemic, making the overall industry of fashion an extremely unsustainable and unethical one. This is a major issue that needs to be addressed immediately, starting with the rights of workers around the world. That’s the least we can do, after all, we’re the ones who flaunt the fruits of their labor on a daily basis.Â
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