Ever shopped at H&M, Zara, Forever 21, GAP, or even Wal-Mart for clothes?
Maybe you even got a really cheap deal from one of the following stores but did you ever consider that the reason you’re paying so cheap for that clothing item is because someone else is being cheaply paid for their services to create said piece? I introduce to you: fast fashion- getting fashion trends to the market as quickly and cheaply as possible no matter the ethics overshadowed to do so.
Fast fashion has never been in more demand as companies are pushed to find cheaper sources of labour. Luckily for these companies, this cheap labour can be freely available in many of the countries where textile and garment production take place.
Recruiters in Southern India convince parents in impoverished rural areas to send their daughters to spinning mills with promises of a well-paid job, comfortable accommodation, three nutritious meals a day and opportunities for training and schooling. They are also promised a lump sum payment at the end of three. Not surprisingly, field research says otherwise; that, in reality, they are working under appalling conditions that amount to modern day slavery and the worst forms of child labour.
Child labour is especially prominent in fashion because much of the supply chain requires low-skilled labour and some tasks are eve better suited for children than adults. For example, in cotton picking, employers hire children for their small finders, which do not damage the crop. Unfortunately, employers get away with child labour because the fashion supply chain is hugely complex; making it hard for companies to control every stage of production.
Children can be found working at different points of the supply chain and across many third world countries for example; Uzbekistan, India, and Bangladesh. The type of labour can range from cotton picking to yarn spinning to even the sewing of garments towards the end of the chain. In these countries, the parents are so impoverished that the children will be willing to accept any type of work they can find making it easy to assign them to whatever the fashion demand needs at the time.
The Price of Fast Fashion 