Inside the Fast Fashion Industry | Workers Rights and Conditions — Transcript

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1. 0:00foreign
2. 0:15[Music]
3. 0:18originated in the 1980s in the United
4. 0:21States garment makers started producing
5. 0:23low-cost clothes at record speeds to
6. 0:25keep up with the latest fashion trends
7. 0:27the idea was to open trendy fashion to
8. 0:30the average consumer who would not be
9. 0:31able to afford the latest trends in
10. 0:33fashion otherwise by producing cheap low
11. 0:36quality items anyone could look stylish
12. 0:38and on Trend this new segment of the
13. 0:41fashion industry opened the world of
14. 0:42fashion to those who had been
15. 0:43historically excluded which eventually
16. 0:45turned into a global phenomenon
17. 0:48since then multiple companies like
18. 0:51Sheehan Zara and H M have boom to where
19. 0:54now the fast fashion Market is worth a
20. 0:56little under 100 billion dollars a year
21. 1:00fast fashion is usually at a much more
22. 1:02financially accessible price because the
23. 1:05garments are made so cheaply and so
24. 1:07quickly if you're selling a t-shirt at
25. 1:10like four dollars at h m you have to
26. 1:12think about how much did they pay to
27. 1:14make that t-shirt the textile industry
28. 1:16is one of the most labor-intensive
29. 1:18Industries in the world and it employs
30. 1:20more than 60 million people in fact it
31. 1:23is the world's second largest employer
32. 1:25there are benefits to Outsourcing
33. 1:27manufacturing processes to developing
34. 1:29nations including reduced production
35. 1:31costs increased productivity and
36. 1:33providing jobs for people in these
37. 1:35countries
38. 1:37however this process has also had many
39. 1:40negative consequences on the environment
40. 1:42and workers rights fast fashion
41. 1:44companies are Outsourcing their
42. 1:45manufacturing processes to developing
43. 1:47nations including China India Cambodia
44. 1:50and Bangladesh for their cheap labor and
45. 1:52lacks labor rights laws
46. 1:55there is a huge crash in a Bangladeshi
47. 1:58like Factory it was called Rondo Plaza
48. 2:01and these these factories are not
49. 2:03regulated they don't have like
50. 2:05maintained infrastructure there's not
51. 2:07like an enforced minimum wage they're
52. 2:10not safe working conditions equipment or
53. 2:12gear or even training for some of these
54. 2:14women less than two percent of them make
55. 2:16the living wage when all of that is
56. 2:18coupled with insufficient labor laws it
57. 2:21creates an unjust and unsafe landscape
58. 2:22for workers
59. 2:25so when you're thinking about major
60. 2:28brands that are known for fast fashion
61. 2:30they're buying a lot of quantity and and
62. 2:33they want to work with vendors that they
63. 2:35know can produce a lot of quantity and
64. 2:38that they're going to produce it
65. 2:39consistently to learn more about it we
66. 2:41went to duravi deravi is a slum located
67. 2:44in the heart of India's Financial
68. 2:46Capital Mumbai
69. 2:48daravi is the third largest slum in the
70. 2:50world
71. 2:51the region has an estimated 5 000
72. 2:53businesses and 15 000 single room
73. 2:55factories with an annual revenue
74. 2:57generation of between 650 million
75. 3:00dollars and one billion dollars most of
76. 3:03the businesses here focus on leather
77. 3:04textile and pottery products
78. 3:20these small scale factories generate
79. 3:22textiles that are globally sold through
80. 3:23e-commercial websites are exported to
81. 3:26First World Nations
82. 3:29although paid for their work employees
83. 3:31are given low wages and there is still
84. 3:33rampant modern slavery in the textile
85. 3:35industry
86. 3:41[Music]
87. 3:44Sunday
88. 3:46the conflict between ethics and profit
89. 3:48is not new to the fashion industry fast
90. 3:51fashion brands are known for their low
91. 3:53prices High turnover rates and
92. 3:55disposable products
93. 3:56additionally due to the very complex
94. 3:58Supply chains within the textile
95. 4:00businesses it's very hard to track
96. 4:02whether a garment is made ethically or
97. 4:04sustainably
98. 4:05from Forced labor and debt bondage to
99. 4:07child labor and human trafficking there
100. 4:10are many forms of modern slavery and all
101. 4:12are used to fuel the fast fashion
102. 4:13industry Solutions
103. 4:24foreign
104. 4:53awesome
105. 4:55this type of business model leaves
106. 4:57little room for sustainability or any
107. 4:59ethical considerations throughout the
108. 5:00production process in order to survive
109. 5:03in the competitive worlds of fast
110. 5:04fashion many companies have chosen
111. 5:06profit over ethics
112. 5:08on the other hand some self-proclaimed
113. 5:11ethical clothing brands have emerged in
114. 5:13recent years the clothes from these
115. 5:15Brands tend to be more expensive because
116. 5:16they are made from higher quality
117. 5:18materials sourced from sustainable and
118. 5:19ethical producers
119. 5:21these companies also pay their employees
120. 5:23a living wage and are more transparent
121. 5:25about their products with their
122. 5:26consumers
123. 5:27foreign
124. 5:30try to avoid buying fast fashion and
125. 5:33instead opt to buy used or do some
126. 5:35research before sourcing sustainable
127. 5:36clothes
128. 5:38there's something for everyone at
129. 5:39sustainable Earth for educators we have
130. 5:42games classroom activities and teacher
131. 5:45Awards for small businesses we have
132. 5:47small Business Awards courses and
133. 5:50articles
134. 5:52feeling competitive want to become more
135. 5:54sustainable get involved with our
136. 5:56sustainability challenges
137. 5:58head on over to sustainable
138. 6:00dashearth.org and join the movement for
139. 6:03a more sustainable Earth act now Build A
140. 6:06Better Tomorrow