The fashion world, we’re told, is full of feminists. In 2014, Elle magazine ran a feature in which celebrities, from Benedict Cumberbatch to Emma Watson, dressed in t-shirts made by Whistles that proclaimed “this is what a feminist looks like”. Sophia Amoruso, founder of Nasty Gal, is a self-proclaimed “girlboss” while Kylie Jenner, who created the fashion line Kendall + Kylie with her sister Kendall, declared herself a feminist in an interview with Glamour magazine, naming herself an “inspiration for young girls who want to stand on their own”.
These fashion-forward feminists, however, have a darker side. It was later reported that the Whistles’ “feminist” t-shirts were made in a factory in Mauritius, where mostly female workers slept 16 to a room and were paid 62p an hour. One of the factories that supplies Nasty Gal was found to be paying their workers less than £3.50 an hour, also failing to provide them with proper PPE to protect against the coronavirus. Last but not least, Kylie and Kendall recently came under fire for not paying their factory workers in Los Angeles and Bangladesh when the factories closed as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
The truth is, feminism is unsuited to the fast fashion business model. The already problematic “fast fashion” shops Zara, H&M or New Look, come out with four or so collections a year inspired by what’s happening on the runways. Even worse than this are the “ultra-fast fashion” companies of Boohoo, Shein or Fashionova, who are constantly churning out hundreds of new pieces based on social media trends and what influencers are wearing.
Fast fashion companies need to keep their prices low and their labour costs lower, meaning they often outsource labour to factories in South Asia, where millions of workers work long hours in poor conditions for low pay. 80% of these workers are women aged 18-35, and are often the main income providers for their families. What’s more, sexual harassment is a common occurance: 8 out of 10 garment workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, claim to have witnessed some form of sexual harassment at work.
Factories are crowded, unventilated and unstable. The safety of these women is not taken seriously, and tragic disasters are sadly not uncommon. 1132 garment workers died when an eight-storey factory building collapsed in 2013 – 80% of them were women. These women have been vocal about how they are not content to work in these conditions, and hundreds of them have been peacefully protesting for better conditions.
Ultra-fast fashion brands must work closer to home in the UK, to keep up the rapid turnaround and low transport costs that their business models are built on. However, these brands still want cheap costs and high profits; most of the workers in these British factories are women from ethnic minority backgrounds, with around a third of them born outside of the UK. These women are often especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation due to their immigrant status, level of English, and lack of support networks.
As order numbers soared during the pandemic, these factories became more crowded and the work more demanding. Women in UK garment factories were reportedly four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than in any other occupation. Embedded racist and sexist attitudes mean that workforces made up of mostly ethnic minority women, such as garment workers and care jobs, are underpaid, undervalued and under respected.
The move towards a more sustainable fashion industry is inherently a feminist issue. The success of fast fashion brands is just not compatible with sustainable and ethical business models, and relies on the exploitation of ethnic minority women. Feminists should be fighting for all women, not just the white, privileged directors of these fast fashion brands.
To educate yourself on the practices of your favourite clothing brands, I recommend the directories of Remake and Good on You.