In my Fashion 1 course, one of the first three units in the curriculum was about fast fashion and how it affects the people in the clothing industry. We watched a fifty-minute documentary on the subject and did a report. Now that I am hyper aware of this difficult situation, it’s hard to unsee it. What is fast fashion and why is it relevant to our generation, and even to our world?
Allow me to give a brief rundown. The article by Molly Flanagan published using the website Environmental Innovations Initiative from the University of Pennsylvania defines fast fashion as “…fashion brands [that] can rapidly manufacture massive amounts of clothing at the lowest and most competitive prices, all while keeping up with the latest trends.” For consumers, especially in the US, this sounds like a good deal, right? You can get cool, culturally relevant, and currently trending garments whenever you want for next to nothing. However, for the people who have to produce said garments, the consequences can be deadly.
In November of 2012, a garment sweatshop-factory by the name of Tazreen Fashion located in Dhaka, Bangladesh, caught fire, collapsed, killed 112 workers, and injured around 200 more. This factory produced clothing for many companies such as Walmart, Sears, KiK, and even Disney. The victims were mostly young, poverty-stricken women who had to work either for their parents or for their children. How did this happen, you may ask? For now, we can only theorize. The most widely accepted story was faulty wiring, which is the common cause of factory fires in the country, but others however, think of more sinister explanations: sabotage. Unfortunately, no one can confirm or deny any of this, because of the lack of security footage systems. Could this have been avoided? Absolutely… if the right safety measures were taken into consideration. According to recent visits from quality inspectors a year prior, the lack of emergency exits and proper maintenance of the building eventually led to the fateful arrival of disaster.
Those who counter-argue the situation say that the young women knew what they were signing up for and that they needed the money. In one interview done by the Seed documentary crew, who in fact inspired me to write this story, a woman said close to the same thing. Those who wish to counter-argue the backlash of fast fashion as a whole say that it provides more jobs, more money, and more opportunities. Are they wrong? Legally and ethically, it’s a grey area. Morally, yes. No one in this world should have to work in horrible conditions, doing strenuous labor, with little to no pay, be expected to be grateful for it, and be expected to follow through the next morning. No one. Period. It is disgusting and inhumane, and gives me no hope for our future whatsoever.
“But why should I care when I or the people around me are not the ones being affected?” Listen to yourself for a second. What did you just say? Think about it, and think hard. Why is it that we as a generation are so apathetic and desensitized to the worldly problems around us? Why is it that we cannot fathom helping and supporting other lives besides our own? Is it an issue passed down or sometimes even hammered into us from previous generations? Think about it. Think, learn, adapt, and grow. It’s time we take over the world in our own stylish way.
