The mass production of cheap clothes is something that has always been on my mind. I'm sure I'm not the first blogger to address this issue and I'm also sure I won't be the last. The mass production of cheap clothes, usually takes place within a sweatshop, a factory which violates 2 or more labor laws. These sweatshops can be horrendous; having unfair wages, using child labor, with exhausting hours, all for an unfair wage. In some cases, if a parent is unable to find a well paid job, the child, with an average age between 5-14 becomes the breadwinner for the family.
In 2013, we saw the collapse of a Bangladesh sweatshop before our eyes, with a death toll reaching nearly 400. Despite a large crack in the building, around 3, 000 workers continued into the building to begin their day, making clothes for Primark and Matalan. What saddens me is that even though there was a huge warning, cracked across several parts of the building, the workers still continued, trying to earn what they could for their families. The owner of he building, Mohammed Sohel Rana, was arrested as he attempted to flee to India. He is held for illegal construction, forcing employees to work and for his negligence. It was later reported that Rana had goals for adding an additional 5 stories, on top of an already weak 8 story building.
After this gruesome disaster, many fashion brands decided to either adopt or reinforce their already existing ethical collections. The biggest example, comes from the world's second largest retailer, H&M. H&M is one of the most influential brands across the world, having done several collaborations with designers such as Lanvin, Versace, Karl Lagerfeld and most recently Alexander Wang, to be released in November. CEO of H&M, Karl-Johan Persson aims to "Set ourselves the challenge of ultimately making fashion sustainable and sustainability fashionable." The Swedish retailer has 7 commitments which they swear by, which can be read here.
Hopefully, with the help of major fashion retailers and designers, ethical and sustainable fashion will be more prominent in stores. We need to commercialise sustainable fashion, with more obvious store-fronts and displays for customers to see what they're buying. I think we have all unintentionally bought unethical clothes, at least once, which was produced in a sweatshop. For example, if just we need a simple t-shirt, we pick up a cheap one from an inexpensive store, without realising the hard-work behind it. Multinational food and beverage company, Nestlé, has fiercely promoted their 'Fair Trade' ingredients, which has now become ubiquitous. Fashion stores need to adopt and promote their concious collections more widely, so that customers can purchase the items and support to sustainable and ethical fashion.
