Social Impact
(Image from How fast fashion hurts the planet through pollution and waste - Business Insider )
Who are the Workers?
80% of apparel is made by young women between the ages of 18 and 24. Where is this happening? A lot of the time, clothing companies take advantage of looser labor laws and lack of enforcement to use cheap labor in less developed countries like Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam, as well as others. In underdeveloped countries, companies can often get away with paying workers very little, making them work unreasonable hours, not giving breaks and neglecting the factory spaces. Many of the female workers are single mothers who have no other way to support their children. This is because they lack access to education or other opportunities. They work in poor conditions because they want their children to have opportunities.
We need to remember that no matter where we live or who we are, we are all people. And all people deserve rights.
(Image from How fast fashion hurts the planet through pollution and waste - Business Insider )
Pay and Working Conditions
How can companies reduce the retail price of their products? By paying the people who make them shockingly little. Overseas, workers can be paid as little as 50 cents an hour for their work. Wages as low as these are unfair for workers who work very long hours in dangerous workplaces. When people are paid so little, they need to work more hours to earn enough to survive, thus making more garments for companies to sell. Not only do companies pay their workers very little, but the US department of labor found evidence of forced child labor in many countries with looser labor laws. Many of these factories fire workers for "offenses" like getting sick or getting pregnant.
This isn't just happening overseas, though. Even in the US, people who do not have many other opportunities, like illegal immigrants, work unreasonable hours in horrendous conditions to survive. They cannot report this exploitation because the law refuses them.
Health and Safety Risks
In 2013, an eight-floor factory building that housed several garment factories collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 workers and injuring more than 2,500. People who work in these factories often have no other choice because they have families to support.
Being in spaces with mold can cause respiratory issues
Working with vats of toxic chemicals without masks (like in tanneries) can cause skin and stomach problems as well as limb numbness
Working on fine details (like sewing) in low light for prolonged periods of time can cause sight degradation.
When companies take advantage of cheap labor without looking at the consequences, people are harmed.
The chemical waste from the clothing-making process is often dumped into water that people in the area use.
Drinking or bathing in this water can cause many problems including skin diseases, cancer, and lung diseases. When water sources are polluted, many people die from diseases or conditions that could be avoided through proper waste disposal. When water is used to process or grow materials for clothes, the people who depend on that water have to travel farther to get water. They lose a lot of time travelling to get a small amount of water, that often isn't clean. Drinkable water is a finite resource, meaning that it isn't unlimited. People rely on water to survive, and it is not fair to compromise their access to water for clothes we don't really need.
(Image from How fast fashion hurts the planet through pollution and waste - Business Insider )