Fast fashion, social impact, worker exploitation, child labor, poor working conditions, textile industry, sustainable fashion, labor rights, supply chain transparency
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Abstract
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Abstract
The fast fashion industry has severe social consequences, including exploitation of workers, child labor, and poor working conditions, highlighting the need for responsible consumption.
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[...] According to the World Health Organization of children ageds of 6 from the slums of Dhaka, in Bangladesh, work full-time in the textile industry at the age of 14, Passat 14 years old, this proportion rises to 50%. Déscolarisés, these children sometimes work 64 hours a week for 30 euros a month.10 The working conditions of the children here arewritten by Oxfam, are approaching a form of modern slavery, especially when we learn that the salary of workers represents about 0.6% of the price of a garment while the brand and store pocket 68% of the final price11. The work of children raises real ethical questions. [...]
[...] V. Consumers and the 'social washing' You couldThe impact of consumers today: how to envision these social impacts? The highlighting of the inhumane working conditions of fast fashion workers tends to raise awareness among consumers with the growth of socially responsible consumption behaviors: 'Responsible buyers therefore act beyond their simple interests and take into account the impact of their consumption on the physical environment and/or on differentdifferent categoriescategories of people (employees, disadvantaged people?) 15. NHowever, this awareness is itself instrumentalized. [...]
[...] : this is the 'social washing'. This expression refers to 'the use of ',arguments socials in a communication and marketing objective rather than a real engagement,el or vverifiable »16. Brands then play with words or laws. Companies say they respect the laws of the countries in which the clothes are produced, but choose production locations where workers' rights are almost non-existent. They take advantage of the extreme precariousness of the populations to pay a workforce at a derisory price. Suppliers fight to get textile orders and to do so, they always exploit workers (who include children) more. [...]
[...] Unacceptable working conditions: the phenomenon of subcontracting All of'First, let's look at the production and the negative social impacts of fast fashion. If fast fashion is a social danger, it's mainly because of the deplorable working conditions of workers. In fact, in order to offer very attractive prices for clothing, companies use cheap labor that sometimes amounts to exploitation. The living standard of textile factory workers is more than precarious.3. Marie Flourens explains this phenomenon by identifying the wages of workers as the adjustable part of production costs. [...]
[...] Yet, it is indeed people who make these clothes and the fast fashion and its system has no consequences on their health. II. Concrete health consequences In fact, the working conditions deplorable working conditions caused by the fast fashion have concrete consequences on the health of workers. It has been demonstrated, for example, that the use of potassium permanganate which is 'used in 90% of the processes to create the whitened appearance of denim products'7 is considered 'hazardous' by the European Chemicals Agency, it is a product that affects the lungs. [...]
