Do you love shopping at the mall, with your favorite and affordable shops all together in one place? Or do you love trendy and cheap online stores like Shein or Romwe? All these fast and affordable clothing stores are brought to you by what is called “Fast Fashion.”
Fast Fashion started in the 1960’s but really became what we know it as today in the mid 1990’s and 2000’s. Before this it would take months for trends in fashion capitals like New York to reach local stores. Brands at this time like Zara and H&M saw the issue with how slow fashion was and decided to implement ways to quickly mass produce clothing to get it in stores at a faster rate than ever before.
At the time and even to this day, this seemed like a good thing for consumers but a deep dark problem was starting in the fashion world. Big companies, which were largely based in America and Europe, found that producing clothes overseas, especially in Asia, was much cheaper than using factories in their own countries. Over time, as more and more brands began seeking routes to faster fashion, textile mills began popping up all over Asia and the Middle East with children as their main workers.
Yes, you read that right. Children. Innocent children are being manipulated into being the backbone of the fashion industry. Small kids are taken out of school and spend hours a day in factories making clothes to export to Europe and the United States for little to no pay. Even worse, it is continuously swept under the rug and hidden from the public by retailers. According to the International Labour Organization, 170 million kids are victims of child labor. For example, Shein, an online fast fashion retailer based in China, allegedly uses children in sweatshops to make their clothing. So, if you’ve ever wondered how clothes from there can be so cheap, now you know. It’s a cruel practice big clothing brands use to make more money faster.
Wondering what you can do to help? The answer is to be an informed shopper and avoid brands you think may be involved in criminal and negligent activity. The main brands I’d say to avoid are Shein, H&M, Forever 21, Zara, Romwe, Urban Outfitters, and Nike. These stores have all been accused of using and covering up the use of child labor. In general, any first-hand clothing item that feels like cheap material or is under $10 was probably made unethically. I’d also say to try to avoid most trendy and cheap mall stores in general.
It might be harder and more expensive, but it’s saving the lives of underprivileged children across the world. Please, think before you shop.
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