The fast fashion industry has revolutionised how we shop in the West. Low cost pieces are constantly flooding the market as consumers scramble to keep up with rapidly changing styles and trends. But as consumers, we often don’t consider the effects of our spending habits. As the industry continues to boom, it’s becoming more and more destructive, and the Global South is bearing the brunt of the Global North’s rampant consumerism. As the industry continues to destroy lives, livelihoods, and the environment of developing countries, it’s becoming difficult for the world to continue ignoring it.
The Exploitation of Garment Workers
Fashion is one of the most labour intensive industries in the world, given the long complicated supply chain and the need for handmade goods. However, fast fashion produces low quality, low cost, and short lasting pieces, transforming clothes into disposable items. While consumers pay low prices for their latest pieces, fast fashion and mass production extracts a hefty price from both the planet and the workers who make these garments.
To keep prices low, most fast fashion brands rely on cheap labour, most of which is found in the global south, with China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and India being the main exporters. The fashion industry plays a significant role in the cycle of poverty and suffering of garment workers in the global south. Working conditions often violate labour codes, with garment workers being underpaid and underworked. This affects women of colour in particular who make up around 80% of garment workers in the Global South. Additionally, in some countries, women’s rights are diminished by legislations and norms, putting them at risk for physical and sexual abuse in the work place. However, financial instability prevents most women from filing complaints.
Fast Fashion and the Environment
Developing countries are often dependent on these industries for income, which makes it difficult for governments to address the social and environmental consequences.As fashion trends race ahead, consumers often find themselves caught in the sprint, especially enticed by the allure of affordably priced garments. The speed of consumption has a detrimental impact on the environment from production to disposal, but countries in the global south are forced to destroy their environment for the sake of economic gain.
To keep prices low, fast fashion pieces are often made with low quality inexpensive materials. This can cause environmental damage in many ways as these fabrics shed microfibres and require toxins to produce. Additionally, the disposal of wastewater into bodies of water near production factories and the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere due to outdated technologies used in the industry all lead to environmental destruction
This is compounded by the fact that these clothes often cannot be donated or resold due to the low quality of manufacturing material. Furthermore, despite consumers’ intentions to donate their used clothes for resale, only a fraction of clothes are actually reused in the countries in which they are sold. Instead, the Global North seems have found a backdoor to get rid of its textile waste problem by exporting clothes to countries in the Global South – specifically in East and West Africa, and Eastern Europe.This system relies on a huge assumption that these countries want the clothes, which is not the case for many countries. The issue being that there are just too many pieces being shipped at such low quality and most items have to be disposed of.
Increasing overproduction means that countries in the Global South are burdened with unwanted clothing. These countries often have less advanced municipal waste systems, meaning that the environmental damage and health impacts of decomposing textiles will be much greater. Cheap garments end up in huge dump sites, burnt in open air fires, along riverbeds, and washed out to sea in developing countries.
Unwanted used clothing often clogs the gutters, preventing water from flowing properly which exacerbates flooding and leads to water-borne disease. This is particularly problematic as climate change has increased the incidence of flooding in many parts of the global south. Due to lack of space, people often burn unwanted clothes, resulting in significant air pollution which impacts respiratory and cardiovascular health. Additionally in open air dumps or landfills, the gas and chemical leachates that emerge during the decomposition process pollute the air, soil, and groundwater and negatively impact the environment and health of people and animals.
Conclusion
While fast fashion produces low cost pieces for western consumers, the cost is high for the people and environment of the global south. Harmful neocolonial attitudes of the Global North amount to trading practices that are mainly beneficial for the Global North, effectively turning the Global South into dumping grounds. The responsibility lies in the hands of production facilities, transnational corporations and consumers to consider the impact of their decisions on the environment and the people that produce their garments.
While more needs to be done to ensure that fashion brands clean their supply chains, consumers must also be aware of the origins of their garments. Advocating for garment workers in the Global South means advocating for equality between race, gender, and the environment- this takes everyone from producers to consumers. Aligning apparel production with human rights necessitates a concerted effort to shed light on the genuine repercussions of inexpensive clothing. Raising awareness about the true cost of cheap clothes has the potential to cultivate a safer and more fulfilling working environment for industry workers while concurrently prioritising environmental safety. Additionally, to effectively stop the increasing damage of fast fashion on people and the environment, a global agreement needs to be established to regulate the industry for good. In the pursuit of a fair fashion industry that respects human rights and the environment, let us not merely follow trends, but become trendsetters of positive change.
Sources
https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2022/the-aftermath-of-fast-fashion-how-discarded-clothes-impact-public-health-and-the-environment/#:~:text=Unwanted%20used%20clothing%20often%20clogs,parts%20of%20the%20Global%20South.
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/53333/how-fast-fashion-is-using-global-south-as-dumping-ground-for-textile-waste/
https://www.attiremedia.com/popular-brands/fast-fashion-global-south
https://catalystmcgill.com/the-consequences-of-fast-fashion-in-the-global-south/