Fast fashion has taken over our spending habits and wardrobes, hence the fact we may not even be aware that it exists. Fast fashion is the quick and inexpensive mass production of a trend, transferred quickly from cat walk to high street stores and our phone screens. Fast fashion is problematic for many reasons, but one of the most staggering is the connection with race and racial inequality and injustice.
These clothes are produced quickly and in vast volume to meet the demands of the impressionable consumer who wants to fit in and match the current trend, as you know, that’s what matters.
Now for this to be made possible, someone has to be producing these items at a high speed to churn them out, and then replace them in the following days when the winds of trend change.
These items are made in sweatshops, where the workers are not living the same fashionable and trendy life as you will wearing the tie dye sweatpants in their hands. The average garments worker in Bangladesh makes a measly 8,000 taka (£73.85) a month, which in of itself is not enough to live by.
The Western World is happily allowing the exploitation of workers, who are majority people of colour (PoC), endure a life of struggle, hard hours and little pay, at the expense of trendy clothing and churning trends.
The hypocrisy in this is also uncanny. The same high street and online brands that are creating these Black Lives Matter items and ensuring profit will go towards charities to ensure racial equality are perhaps doing the exact opposite, as this offering of help itself was created by the hands of someone living the reality of the racial injustice they are protesting.
Are we so blinded by our own privilege that we are ignoring the signs of long term inequality right in front of our eyes?
Also, the use of these movements to generate traffic towards their outlets and websites is what makes it even more sickening. Fast fashion brands pledging allegiance towards the cause and creating a good social image when the reality is that they are part of the issue.
These movements are more than just a marketing ploy, yet these businesses seem to see them as just the thing. To preach about equality when you’re feeding into the issue and have perfect knowledge of this is completely absurd to me.
These brands should be held accountable, and the people buying from them need to be informed. The tragic conditions these people work in to produce a slogan tee preaching change, for a CEO who earns their life-time’s wage in less than a week, the hours they put in for a dress you will discard after wearing a few times as the trends are ever changing alike the weather.
Think of these people next time you scroll through the what’s new section on PrettyLittleThing or browse the shop floor of Primark, gawking over the low prices of that skirt you don’t particularly need but simply want (because ,well, why not?).
There is a need for change, and the most important thing is that people realise this calls for long term changes in societies shopping habits.
Try to shop sustainably from Depop or Ebay, thrift your clothes or even buy from charity shops where your money also goes to help people. Research brands such as TALA, who source their materials sustainably and don’t feed into the issue.
Sign petitions and call for change and safety regulations put in place for garment workers abroad who are the sole reason we can live the fashion lives we do.
Fight for a higher wage, for these companies to be held accountable for the equality they preach about on social media but fail to apply to their own work.
No one deserves to endure this modern day slavery. A higher price tag is worth someone’s human rights.
