Fashion Revolution Week 2020: the fast fashion supply chain is endangering lives during a global pandemic

It’s the first day of Fashion Revolution Week 2020, and despite a global pandemic and self-isolation restrictions in many participating countries, this vital week of action is still going ahead, raising awareness of the problems with the fashion industry and encouraging everyone who loves clothes to call for change.

Cheap fashion might seem like a harmless indulgence when the COVID-19 virus has altered our day-to-day life so drastically, but fast fashion brands are needlessly endangering lives in a number of different ways during this health crisis, and Fashion Revolution Week was actually started in response to a tragic loss of life for which the fashion industry was wholly responsible.

On the 24th April 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed, killing 1138 people and injuring around 2500. The factory had been manufacturing clothing for many global fashion brands, and workers had raised concerns about the structural integrity of the building but were ordered to continue working or face losing a month’s salary. Most major fashion brands have outsourced production of their clothing to middle- or low-income countries: that's what makes fast fashion so cheap. But workers are barely paid enough to live on, and as well as dangerous working conditions they also face harassment and bullying from managers, who are under pressure from big brands to deliver garments faster and cheaper than ever before. 

Another danger they face is the insecure and precarious nature of their employment, and without union recognition every garment worker is vulnerable to losing their job at short notice. And that’s exactly what’s happened as a result of COVID-19; as non-essential businesses across the US and Europe were ordered to close to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, fast fashion brands started cancelling orders, without paying their suppliers. Many factories had finished making the garments, but with brands refusing to pay and no new orders coming in, factory bosses had to start laying off their workers. Garment work offers no opportunities for saving money, and without the safety net of a welfare state many garment workers now face starvation. 

Even here in the UK fast fashion brands are putting their employees at risk. Many brands are still trading online, but their fulfilment warehouses are not being run in a way that makes it possible for workers to remain an appropriate distance apart. This non-essential service is potentially increasing transmission of the virus. Again, workers are being forced to choose between their jobs (and the money they need to pay their bills and feed their families) and their health and safety. 

None of this is acceptable. The pursuit of profit at any cost during a global pandemic is a new low even for the fashion industry, which tends to treat its employees as expendable at the best of times. Fashion Revolution is calling on everyone who loves clothes but finds this behaviour appalling to act with them: to demand transparency from their favourite brands and a better life for all our fellow humans who make our clothes. 

You can join in by taking a photo of your favourite clothes with the label showing, then post it on social media, tagging the brand and asking #WhoMadeMyClothes ? The more pressure from customers, the more brands are likely to feel compelled to change. You can also send a letter to a brand expressing your concerns - Fashion Revolution has a template on their website.

I was looking forward to attending as many Fashion Revolution Week events as I could, but self-isolation rules mean I’m staying at home, with nothing but a huge haberdashery cabinet of fabrics and old clothes to keep me company. Since I can’t go to any exhibitions, I decided to create my own, in my hallway. I’ve created five works of wearable art, each of them illustrating problems with the fashion industry. The first, Supply Chain, is the garment illustrating this blog post. I wanted to name (some of) the problems with fast fashion and their consequences - the outsourcing and cost-cutting that has led to exploitation and misery for workers. These problems link together to trap garment workers in modern slavery - it’s impossible to simply “find a better job” if you have no savings, are dependent on your place of employment for accommodation and food, or if the only jobs going are the same, or worse, than the one you have. Currently, garment workers only receive 1-4% of the total cost of a garment, and the owners of several fast fashion brands are billionaires. The fashion industry can afford to pay its workers a fair wage, but it’s up to us to demand that it does.

Supply Chain is made from leftover fabric from one of the layers of my sister’s wedding dress, secondhand embroidery thread, and an unraveled sweater.