How does fast fashion effect the people working in the factories?

The Cambridge English dictionary defines ‘fast fashion’ as ‘clothes that are made and sold cheaply, so that people can buy new clothes often.’ It is a term that is often associated with highly profitable businesses that copy catwalk designs and popular trends, and then mass produce them at low cost. Recently many of the negative impacts of fast fashion have been brought to light, with the negative environmental impacts of fast fashion being the main focus. However, another significant effect is on the factory workers who make clothes for the fast fashion industry.

Companies often manufacture their clothing in countries, such as Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and China, where they can pay their workers much less than in the UK. This is because minimum wages in these countries are significantly lower. Recent statistics have shown that the minimum wage in the UK is five times the minimum wage in China. In these low income countries, workers are working for very low wages because they have no choice but to do so in order to survive. This means that large manufacturers can pay their workers much less than they would have to in the UK, and therefore, they exploit the poverty of those in said countries in order to increase their profit margins further.

Due to the increase in demand for fast fashion, children are often exploited in factories. This is because of the fact that most adults in the low income countries that fast fashion factories are situated in cannot afford to support their families without sending their children to work. This leads to children being forced to work, underpaid, in factories. Not only does this mean that children are exposed to poor working conditions, but it also means that children are do not have access to education. This lack of education within the younger communities in low income countries means that these children do not have the skills to get a higher paying job with better conditions, and therefore, the cycle of exploitation continues.

Finally, fast fashion can also affect the physical health of factory workers. According to an article published by 'sustain your style’, those working in some fast fashion factories can barely breathe when working due to the fact that they are exposed to toxic chemicals. The factories themselves are also a dangerous environment. A key example of this is the Rana Plaza collapse of 2013. This was when a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed. It led to more than 1000 deaths and many more injuries. The collapse was because the building was built with poor materials and constructed improperly. This was not the first factory incident, in fact less than six months before, another fast fashion factory caught fire outside of Dhaka. It is evident that fast fashion can have a negative, and even life threatening impact of its workers.

To conclude, it is clear that fast fashion has a very negative impact on factory workers in low income countries. Fast fashion is a contributing factor as to why it is so difficult for people in countries such as China, to escape poverty. This is due to the low wages that people are given and the child exploitation that occurs in many of these factories creating a cycle of poverty. Moreover, fast fashion can also have life threatening consequences for factory workers. In order to prevent the exploitation of factory workers, awareness must continue to be raised regarding the social impacts of fast fashion.