I write a lot about ethical and sustainable fashion. To be honest, before coming to The Wellness Feed, I was much more interested in the world of ethical consumption and ethical practices than sustainability. Back in college I campaigned for a living wage for our university staff and it felt radical, which is almost hard to reconcile with today.
Now that I’m here, writing articles on fashion and lifestyle, caring about ethical fashion feels like a given. But why? Why does ethical fashion matter? What does it even mean? When I think about ethical fashion, I generally think about labor practices–living wages, equitable compensation, fair treatment, and the general wellbeing of all employees.
Wages in Fashion
If you couldn’t tell, I’m deeply invested in the idea of a living wage. Or rather, the idea that any person’s wages (what they’re paid) should be enough for them to live on based on the cost of living of where they live. When compared to the minimum wage, the living wage is complicated (you can read this New York Times explainer if you want more information). There’s no perfect number that can satisfy the requirements of a living wage for every corner of the world. It doesn’t help that the cost of living in an area can change yearly, or even more frequently.
However complex it may be, though, a living wage is a pretty basic way to ensure the ethical treatment of workers. If we believe that those who have to work should be able to live off of the work they do, the living wage is a pretty clear solution. And while this concept may sound radical, at its core, it’s a low bar for treating workers respectfully and fairly.
The difference between minimum wages, the wages many workers are paid, and real living wages can be stark in some fields and not in others. Unfortunately, the fashion industry is pretty notorious for having low wages.
- The Garment Worker Center estimates that in Los Angeles 85% of garment workers earn “per piece” rates of 2-6 cents rather than the minimum wage.
- The Clean Clothes Campaign estimates that in countries like Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Ukraine, workers are only paid between a fifth and a third of what their living wage would be
- The Clean Clothes Campaign also estimates that workers in India and Bangladesh are paid “2-5 times lower than the amount a worker and her family need to live with dignity”
Generally speaking, the wages in fashion are low and this is one of fashion’s dirty secrets. While writers and advocates have been talking about this for years, workers continue to work under the same low wages to this day.
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Unfair and Dangerous Practices in Fashion
Ethical fashion also means dismantling other unfair employment practices within fashion. And unfortunately, low wages are only the beginning of the problems for many garment workers. Some other unfair and unethical employment practices revolve around money. You might be familiar with the term “wage theft.” This is a fancy way of saying that a company isn’t paying its workers at all or unlawfully withholding part of the wages their workers are legally entitled to. This is a particular concern within the fashion world.
Back in 2019, a New York Times piece revealed that Fashion Nova owed its garment workers 8 million dollars in wages. This was pretty big news at the time, but Fashion Nova remains in business. Maybe you’ll remember the factory workers in Bangladesh who alleged that Kendall and Kylie Jenner hadn’t paid them for their part in the production of their makeup line. And now, a recent study by the Business & Human Rights Resource Center reports that during the COVID-19 pandemic, 9,800 garment workers across 8 factories are fighting against wage theft.
Another key set of issues revolve around the working conditions and hours. In many cases, workers are subjected to impossibly long hours with little breaks. Back in 2018, an industry network called Common Objective reported that garment workers in Bangladesh work as much as 17.4 hours a day. And in June of 2020, Remake reported that many garment workers in Los Angeles work between 60 and 70 hours a week.
How is ethical fashion different?
When I talk to friends about the problems with the fashion industry, many of them respond by saying “yeah it’s all bad but my purchase doesn’t change anything.” While I appreciate the idea that it is the responsibility of each company to engage in ethical practices and in government bodies to regulate companies, I reject the idea that I’m far enough removed from the problem to ignore it and shop in spite of it.
Now in all fairness, I understand that ethical fashion brands are expensive. At The Wellness Feed, we always try to feature affordable brands and even still I find myself second-guessing the prices of items that I really love. When I find it hard to justify a price, I like to do some digging. I like to see if there’s any explanation of the price–sometimes there’s a chart that breaks down all of the associated costs. (This is something Christy Dawn does). More often than not, the reason sustainable and ethical fashion brands cost more is because they pay their workers fairly and they use sustainably and ethically sourced materials. This goes above and beyond the standard practice, so there’s a higher cost associated with it.
To me, ensuring that workers are properly and fairly compensated and free from physical harm while working is worth the cost of ethical fashion brands. That’s what ethical fashion is all about. (And for the record, it doesn’t have to be expensive. When ethical fashion is no longer a niche, it will be much more affordable.)
And supporting ethical fashion also means getting involved. Spread awareness; take a look at movements like #WhoMadeMyClothes and the Clean Clothes Campaign. It’s great to support the brands that are getting things right. But it’s even better to offer support to the workers who are still being underpaid and overworked, who are still facing toxicity in the workplace, and who are still putting their lives at risk to make the clothes on our backs.
And if you need another reason–a more pragmatic reason–here’s something to think about. According to a 2019 study from researchers at Oxford, happy workers are more productive. As a consumer, you should be interested in promoting productivity as that will help you get a better end product. While I haven’t found research that links ethical fashion with productivity specifically, there just might be something there. And while this isn’t really an argument for ethical fashion that excites me, I want to put it out there as something for others to hang onto.
Ethical fashion is important. Ethical fashion is necessary. Ethical fashion is life-saving. I know it sounds simple, perhaps even too simple, but it’s true. At the end of the day, ethical fashion is about humanity. It’s about treating the people behind our clothes with humanity. From a purely moral standpoint, that’s why ethical fashion matters.
If you have your own reasons as to why ethical fashion matters, feel free to engage. I’d be happy to keep the discussion going, rethink what I’ve written here, and maybe even write about this again. The more we talk about ethical fashion, the more attention we bring to it.