CHEAP FASHION IS EXPLOITATION
The collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh in 2013 – which killed over 1000 workers, many of them young women – is a tragedy that needn’t have happened.
So what role did retailers that source from overseas play in this tragedy? Is there a price to pay for cheap fashion? How can anyone sell a pair of jeans for less than what it cost 10 years ago?
Well the answer is, it’s not about efficiency it’s simply exploitation. That is, the exploitation of vulnerable garment workers in developing countries. The use of sweatshop labour is systemic throughout Asia and in most developing countries where clothes are made.
So the question that responsible clothing retailers should be asking is how we can prevent another tragedy, such as that in Bangladesh, from happening again. For Australian retailers and designers, the answer is ethical supply chain management or ethical sourcing.