Out of Style: A Call for the End of Racism in Fast Fashion – Or Both
So you are worried about going out of style. You are worried about not catching a trend on time and missing the latest drop at your favorite brand. You are worried about not being best dressed, so you go make a quick purchase at the cheapest and most promising store. What a relief! It is too easy! This societal habit of disregard is exactly why fast fashion is one of the leading causes of both the environmental and social justice crises.
While our world is progressively moving toward its end, and society is actively initiating efforts to fight climate change and racialism, a large majority of the population has turned a blind eye to one of the largest causes of both “10% of global carbon emissions” and the exploitation of the BIPOC community. The term “environmental racism” has been coined to refer to “environmental injustice [occurring] within a racialized context”. Racialism stretches far further than derogatory terms. It is found in many steps of the chain of fast fashion supply; from textile factories and water systems, to garbage dumps.
If we begin at the start of the supply chain with the dyeing of textiles, there is clear evidence for the ill-treatment of people of color in the mass-producing factories. Not only are they working in unsafe conditions – take the Rana Plaza collapse that killed well over one thousand workers because of illegal construction and lack of funding for management – but they are also part of a chain of unproportional exploitation. Luci Wilden, founder of the Knots & Vibes brand, claims that the brand, Fashion Nova has mass produced his design “with a retail price of $40”. Therefore, their production price is “around $13”, leaving the workers with a salary of “$1 per hour”. It is important to note that these employees are predominantly low income women of color, being exploited in return for the risk that they may not return home from work every day.
Moving down the chain of production, transportation, distribution, and the discarding of these garments, danger is culminating in the air. International waters are being polluted by microplastics, untreated wastewater, and toxic dyes simply through the shipping process. How then, is this water most prominently affecting marginalized communities? This polluting process is filling our earth with toxins dangerous to the human body and environment, and while many communities have the means necessary to filter through this water and clean the air, many marginalized communities do not have the resources to live in this luxury. When these garments are torn, forgotten, or out of style, the most common response is to discard them into the depths of a sea of garbage, filling landfills with “3.8 billion pounds” of clothing every year as if the colored designs are candy dropping from a piñata. Then a fire is lit, smoke fills the air, and lungs are doomed. The catch is, landfills most commonly exist where “public service provision is scarce”, and marginalization directly affects agency. Therefore, methane gas and other dangerous toxins are left to fill the air of the neighborhoods in proximity to these landfills as blind eyes are turned. How is it fair to subject these people-groups to this disadvantage, exploiting their hands and bodies to labor with no reward, simply to purchase a top that will not last more than a few washes? There is a simple answer that absolutely should not need contemplation: it is not fair. Can we go as far as to call this an epidemic, infiltrating these underprivileged communities with an infection of disregard caused by the click of a purchase button?
This is an issue rooted in the fashion industry’s core. The Council of Fashion Designers of America, has a population that includes “less than four percent” of black members. Yet even as members speak up, disproportionate representation remains. Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue, Lindsay Peoples Wagner even claims that such disproportions are simply a result of “plain old racism”. “Plain old racism”; let that sink in. After generations of rebellion, strong voices, and liberation the words “plain old racism” are being used to refer to an issue pertaining to something included in the fashion industry.
Still worried about going out of style? Instead, worry about being the instigators of the environmental and social justice crises through the click of a button. Shopping sustainably, doing research on ethical brands, and understanding that shopping second hand will never go out of style. Racism is out of style.
xoxo,
Annie
