Fast Fashion
Every day, thousands of young children and adults work tirelessly in horrible conditions while being paid close to nothing leaving them unable to provide for their families and themselves. Unethical clothing manufactures are a huge problem especially in third world countries. From growing the cotton to making it into a T-shirt, it can take up to 2,700 liters. The amount of water wasted in the clothing process is excessive and costly, however the workers don’t make nearly as close to as the distributors and designers.
My first article of clothing is a white Hollister long sleeved t-shirt made in India. It is made up of 95% cotton and 5% polyester. With that information, I have discovered that these workers have no living wage, and most workers are forced to work overtime and do not get a pay for it. I have also discovered that due to the high demand, workers have a great amount of stress on them to complete more garments or else there can be punishment. Most factories in India are not a part of a Union so fair pay and if there is a problem and they report it; the outcome is usually counterproductive for the one who reported it. If a worker is found in a Union, they usually will be harassed and punished.
My second article of clothing is a sweater that was made in china. It is made up of 55% Cotton, 25% Acrylic, 15% Nylon and 5% Wool. My third article of clothing is an American Eagle crop top made up of 100% cotton that was also made in China. My fourth article of clothing was also made in china and that is a Nike parka, which is made up of 100% polyester. According to an article on the Washington Post, Chinese garment workers work nearly 60 hours a week, earning less than 62 dollars a day. Inspections with the fair labor association had found that workers endured long hours, pay below the minimum wage and had a huge turnover in production. It was found that the average workers make around 3.30 dollars an hour, while the distributor and designer is making over millions and sometimes billions of dollars from the product.
My fifth and final piece of clothing is a Forever 21 skirt which was made in Vietnam. It is made up of 64% cotton, 35% polyester and 1% spandex. In Vietnam, labor laws are put in place to regulate their working conditions, however they are not always followed. In Vietnam, there are over 6,000 textile companies attracting over 3.5 million workers and reaching a whopping 24 billion dollars from exportation. The average worker works around 9.45 hours a day with a wage of 4.5 dollars and hour and if a female, then they only make 3.72 dollars an hour. Caring for a family on this type of wage must be difficult, especially if there are a lot of children or if a family member is to get sick or injured.
What I have found during my research is that most brand name and designer clothing companies are based out of different countries. That saying, each one sells their products for an extensive amount of money when, these articles of clothing are being made dirt cheap. And when these brands sell their products, they are making an enormous profit from them when the workers who made them are making close to nothing. The clothing Manufactuing business is very unethical in the fact that workers are under paid, their working conditions are immoral, and they don’t nearly make enough to provide for a whole family. In an article on the Washington Post, they talked about Ivanka Trump and how her clothing line was being produced in poor working conditions in China. The factory only had five days of leave each year and were not a part of a union. The workers made close to $255 a month which is below their minimum wage. Part of Trumps campaign was “Buy American, hire American” this is ironic because his daughter’s clothing company is based out of China and Ivanka complete stood behind her father’s words. According to the article, Ivanka’s brand is worth around 50 million dollars and in order for a Chinese garment worker to equal that value on 62 dollars a week salary, it would take them roughly 15,500 years.
Citations
“The Impact Of A Cotton T-Shirt | Stories | WWF”. World Wildlife Fund, 2018, https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/the-impact-of-a-cotton-t-shirt. Accessed 6 Nov 2018.
Indian Garment Workers Face Harsh Working Conditions – SOMO”. SOMO, 2018, https://www.somo.nl/indian-garment-workers-face-harsh-working-conditions/. Accessed 6 Nov 2018.
Unescap.Org, 2018, https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/DA9%20Viet%20Nam%20Session%207%20-%20textile%20and%20apparel%20industry.pdf. Accessed 6 Nov 2018.
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