During the sale season, I walked into Zara to see how customers were buying. More than 80% customers were female. Almost every woman is carrying five to ten items of clothing. Including myself.
The design is good, and the price is low, each top cost 19.99 pounds, and bottoms are cost 12.99 after discount, the original price was 29.99 which is also cheap.
Let’s take a look where these clothes made from?
India, Burma, Morocco, Turkey.
How much the fashion makers be paid for making one piece of cloth?
“Workers cut, sew and finish garments locally, a workforce comprised primarily of Latino/a and Chinese immigrants, mostly women. Approximately 85% of garment workers do not earn the minimum wage and are instead paid a piece rate of between 2-6 cents per piece. Most garment workers work 60-70 hour weeks with a take home pay of about $300 dollars. Workers are not paid overtime and toil in unsafe, cramped, dirty, and poorly ventilated factories. They frequently develop physical ailments due to the fast-paced, strenuous requirements of the work, which stem from trying to earn a living wage while being paid mere cents per garment produced.”(Get Informed, 2021)
As we can see the price tag, a worker only can take 0.14–0.43 pounds per piece. This is pure exploitation.
Fast fashion releases 52 seasons of clothes every year, and the design is based on the fashion trend of top brands, coupled with the low price, so consumers can’t resist it.
As a participant of Ethical Fashion Project, when I see the beautiful clothes of 12.99 pounds, I can’t resist them. I even have doubts about whether the business model of fast fashion can be changed.
Bibliography
EITGEIST. 2021. The 15 Worst Fast Fashion Brands to Avoid in 2021 — ZEITGEIST. [online] Available at: <https://wearzeitgeist.com/fashion-sustainability-ethics/worst-fast-fashion-brands-to-avoid> [Accessed 5 July 2021].