A few months ago I bought a skirt at H&M for $4.95. No discount, that was the sticker price. As an American living in a culture of consumerism, I’m too blinded by low prices to consider how the prices got so low. The marriage of capitalism and consumerism has birthed the fast fashion industry. Fast fashion is stores like H&M, where I bought my $5 skirt, and Forever 21, Gap, Zara, Wal-Mart, you name it. Fast fashion is characterized by cheap, trendy clothes, and though the cuts and patterns might vary, their common thread is poor working conditions in developing nations. The effects of this industry are felt domestically and internationally. First, we must consider how we are neglecting human rights, and, second, how we are fostering a materialistic capitalist society.
The fast fashion industry didn’t happen overnight. In the 1960s, about 95% of clothes the average American bought in a year were made in the United States. Then, in the mid-70s, textile mills started sprouting up in Asia and Latin America. Labor prices were cheaper overseas, but companies were slow to outsource. By 1980, Gap and J.C. Penney had just begun outsourcing some of their labor. A turning point came in 1994, when the North American Foreign Trade Agreement, commonly known as NAFTA, was signed. This tore down the wall separating American businesses from foreign laborers, and outsourcing skyrocketed.
Why do we outsource labor? It all comes down to capital. Put yourself in the shoes of the CEO of Zara, Amancio Ortego. So as the CEO, he tells someone, “Get these clothes made, and make sure I make a profit.” So that person has two options: he can upcharge the clothes, but that risks losing customers with a lower budget; or he could find the cheapest way to make the clothes and keep the price of the clothes low. The risk with this option is human rights.
If you were to check the tag on your clothes right now, chances are the country they were made in is in the Global South. Right now, China and Bangladesh are the largest garment manufacturing outputs in the world. No two factories are the same. Your more intricate clothes, say something with embroidery or lace or a special fabric, probably comes from China, because their factories are more tech savvy. Bangladesh produces your basics, khakis, polos, t-shirts, etc.
On April 24, 2013, laborers in Bangladesh gathered outside of the factory they worked in and refused to enter. They said that it was not safe to work in the building with the large cracks in the wall that management refused to fix. Paid gang members came and beat the workers into going into work. Later that day, the power went out in the factory (not an unusual occurrence in Bangladeshi factories) and the generators kicked on. Within 90 seconds, the eight story building collapsed, killing 1,100 people and injuring 2,500 more. The building was called Rana Plaza. Around 5,000 employees worked there. Rana Plaza owners had ignored the complaints of its employees and now the blood of 1,100 people is on their hands. 41 people were charged with murder in association with the collapse. It is the deadliest accident in the history of garment production.
The most chilling fact is the companies whose clothes were produced there. American Eagle, Nordstrom, Target, and Gap all had clothes manufactured Rana Plaza. I buy from these places, I’m sure you do too, and as consumers of the clothes produced in these conditions, we are no less guilty than the owners of Rana Plaza who face the death penalty for their careless management.
We might be lowering the quality of life overseas, but our lives aren’t being improved either. The fast fashion system has changed how we consume clothes. Before we started outsourcing labor, so up until the 80s and 90s, fashion was on a seasonal schedule. A store would have a Fall/Winter line and then a Spring/Summer line, so the merchandise only had big changes a couple times a year. Lucy Siegle, fast fashion researcher says, “Instead of two seasons a year, we practically have 52 seasons a year, so we have something new coming in every week.” “Trends” are changing. It doesn’t go by season, it goes by weeks. One week it’s fringe, the next it’s velvet, the next it’s blue. And we have these trends thrown in our faces by the clothing companies and the media, so we buy it. We might not look good in it, but we buy it because it’s $10, and we can take comfort in knowing that if we get tired of it, we can always find another one.
I can feed my materialistic need without spending too much, and the profit when the labor prices are taken from what I’ve paid goes straight to the top. We are the reason Stefan Persson, the chairman of H&M, is the richest man in Sweden. We are the reason Zara CEO Amancio Ortega is the 2nd richest man in the world. We might feel like the few dollars we spend here and there is only fortifying our wardrobe, but it adds up, and overtime we lose money, strip more people of human rights, and put company higher ups even higher up.
Fast fashion is making the rich richer and the poor poorer. We are blindly buying into it. Everyday you get an Email about a sale at Gap or put on that H&M dress, you are celebrating the loss of a life in the Rana Plaza collapse. Be a conscious, moral person. You are what you wear. Be a good person.
