We all wear clothes–maybe because it’s illegal not to wear clothes in public!? Maybe you don’t give much thought to your clothes at all. But everyone really should because it’s important to our environment and our future and because people are being hurt in the manufacture of our clothing.
Many of the clothes we wear are made in Asia–1 in 2 textiles are manufactured in Asia according to the International Labour Organization. “The Asian region is still the main garment manufacturer of the world. In 2019, the region accounted for approximately 55 per cent of global textiles and clothing exports.”
Child and labor exploitation are the key reasons for this. According to Mehreen Tariq Ghani of Medium, “A 2010 report, Taking Liberties, shows that the garment industry in India is deeply reliant on the sweatshop model of production and exploitation.” Ghani goes into more detail in this article discussing how people in India can work 140 hours a month in overtime, making 20 shirts an hour. But the problem doesn’t end there.
In most cases, the labor starts with children. According to Hemna Chaudry of The Wellness Feed, “Child labor has become one of fast fashion’s major problems. Children under the age of 18 make up 60% of those who labor in the global fashion industry.” So not only are people working a ridiculous number of hours on average, but also they might be the same age as me and possibly even younger. And they are doing it for less than half a livable wage in unsafe conditions. There are few concerns for safety in these places, insted focusing on maximizing profit.
From Medium, on a morning in April 2013, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a factory collapsed, killing over 1,000 garment workers. A 400-page report was written about the building cracking and then crumbling on the workers below with many running for their lives, and the people who owned it knew it could occur.
“An engineer who had been called to inspect the structure warned that it was unsafe. Yet Mr. Rana and the factory bosses discounted any concerns and ordered their workers into the building the next morning, the report concluded. A generator soon switched on, and the building buckled and collapsed. Out of the 29 brands which were identified as using products from these unsafe factories, only nine attended meetings to agree compensation for the victims.”
While hundreds died, 10s of thousands of family members were affected, all from just hustling and working hard to live. They work unbearable hours in terrible conditions, and, honestly, nobody cares. Factory owners just build new factories. Clothing brands move to new factories and the cycle continues with nobody fighting for the workers or helping them. .
Beyond the tragic and unnecessary worker deaths, the textile waste that is formed from the production of these textile products is dangerous to everyone.
According to “The Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion on Water Quality: A Systematic Review,” the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry today and contributes to 8% of all carbon emissions–more carbon emission than international flights and shipping, and 20% of all global wastewater–93 billion cubic meters of water annually, with a 50% increase in greenhouse emissions expected by 2030.
Unfortunately, the problem with trying to make these countries do something about these issues is that they directly benefit from fewer regulations because they make a lot of money exporting these products at a reduced price.
These issues will continue as corruption and profit-driven policies continue in these places. We might not be able to control other countries, but we can control the market from our end by paying attention to what we buy and consume and how we view it.
We can impact this by actively looking for good ethical products and purchasing from those brands–sending a message that this is important to us as consumers. We can also create new ways to produce products to fix these issues. I know that sometimes a more ethical solution may lead to higher prices and that might not be a choice you can make.
We can still help lesson our impact by repairing and reusing clothes and shoes, and stopping impulse purchases by asking, “Do I really need this?” This will save you money in the long run, but another way to buy better is to buy sustainably.
The real question of sustainability is a hard balance between price points and better, more ethical consumption and production. I have a few ideas for the production and ethical consumption that require automation. The reason for automation is that even in the U.S. we struggle with extorting immigrants in sweatshops.
A solution I discovered was in this automation of clothing. When I looked for companies showing promise in making this a future, I landed on Softwear, a company focused on developing their SewBots to be able to sew better and better. Automation like this can change the world by automating the process from printing textiles to cutting fabric and folding and packaging it.
Another thing to consider in manufacturing is the complexity of creating certain clothes. For example, jeans are harder to make than basic pants due to different sewing and processing techniques.
I have been trying to design for a while, but the problem is that we are so obsessed with a present style that it is hard to innovate. But even if we commit to repairing and buying a little more conservatively, we will definitely make a dent in the issue.
Right now the state of the clothing market is almost all in the consumer’s hands and it affects and afflicts the world negatively. All the solutions start with us deciding to do something different instead of waiting for anyone else to change the future. So, next time you get dressed, think about how those clothes ended up in your closet and think about the people who made them.
