Whose Expense Are You Shopping At?
Fast Fashion and its Effects on the Global South
Fury Basso-Davis | January 28, 2025
Fast fashion is the cheap, quick mass production of current clothing trends. Popular fast fashion brands include ZARA, H&M, Shein, Forever 21 and Primark. Many fast fashion companies utilize exploitative labor practices in the Global South which create unequal human health impacts on communities of color. Fast fashion is one of the most labor-intensive industries with supply chains stretching across countries of the global south such as Bangladesh, India, China, Vietnam, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Every year, 34 billion pounds of used textiles in the United States alone get thrown out due to cheap production. An article from Business Waste says clothing items that are produced in large amounts and cheaply made allow consumers to buy more, wear the items a few times and then throw them away when the next trends roll around.
The monthly minimum wage for a Bangladeshi fast fashion worker is equivalent to $75 a month, less than $3 a day, and it is estimated that only two percent of workers earn a livable wage. Many are left unable to afford food says Nicole Reeve-Parker from the University of Washington’s Social Justice Department. The University of Washington also states that about 85% of garment workers are young, female and from poor or rural backgrounds.
Earthday.org says the fast fashion industry has changed. Brands have shifted their supply chain model from being built on trust and innovation to mistrust and punishment, using punitive tactics to meet quotas. According to Earthday.org, the fashion supply chain is designed for efficiency over anything else which dribed huge margins for profit at the expense of workers. The coercive practices that are used demand the lowest prices which allows large orders to be placed, causing unrealistic turnaround times.
A 2018 report from Global Labor Justice states that “forms of gender-based violence include acts that inflict physical harm, mental harm, sexual harm or suffering, threats of any of these acts, coercion, and deprivations of liberty.” Women make up 80% of garment workers aged 18-35, the clothes we wear from these fast fashion industries come at the cost of women’s safety. The Clen Clothes campaign reported that Indonesian women who work in these factories are often subjected to harassment by male managers who pressure them into performing sexual favors to keep their jobs.
In an article written by Seaside Sustainability, the author Sheila Venkat writes that the quick turnover of fast fashion contributes to vast amounts of environmental issues in the Global South. Articles of clothing are often discarded into landfills or incinerators. The excess dumping also contributes to soil and water pollution which can have long-term health hazards to people and the surrounding ecosystems.
By shopping locally and thrifting, the individual can work to downsize their eco footprint and reduce the demand for fast fashion garments. Taking up these more sustainable wardrobe practices can help move away from the need for fast fashion.