Hi everyone, it's Justine.
Fast fashion is that business model where apparel brands offer collections every two
weeks (super low turn-around) at incredibly low prices, while saving money
everywhere else.
On production, fabric quality, on the production process, and on the salaries of the
garment workers.
So ethically, it raises many issues.
I've noticed in the comments on the previous videos on my channel, that some of you wonder
how to know, "Is this brand fast fashion, is that brand fast fashion?
How to tell?"
So I decided to dedicate today's video to this discussion.
How to know, how to tell if a brand is part of that fast fashion industry.
And to help you find out I will give you four tips.
Tip number one...
My first tip to get a feeling for who is fast fashion is to follow the path of catastrophe
that has happened in the garment industry in the past.
For example, in 2013, a big garment factory called Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh
on the people working in there.
It was all over the news.
I have talked about this event and it's implications in a TedX Talk in Greece last November.
So if you're interested, I will link that video in the corner and down below in the
description.
Today though, I want to focus on a different angle from that story.
The list of foreign brands that have been producing garments in that factory.
Because it's public information.
The list of the brands has been published.
Here is the list.
You see Wal-Mart in the US, you see Primark, you see Tex in France, Benetton in Italy.
You see Mango in Spain.
You see Joe Fresh.
Just to name probably the most famous ones.
So you see that these brands were from many different countries.
They're not even all super cheap.
Some of them would be considered to be brands with regular prices.
These brands have allowed their clothes to be produced in a factory that was not meant
to be a factory.
The building was not built for that.
The safety rules were not respected and human rights were ignored.
So that's point one.
Tip number two...
Starting from this list, see if a brand in here might also belong to a bigger group,
a bigger company.
For instance Inditex, the Spanish giant that owns Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Pull & Bear,
and more.
These brands are positioned differently, and address a huge width of different style of
consumers.
But the probability that Inditex uses the same supply chain for all it's brands is extremely
high.
In fact Zara was also producing in Bangladesh when the Rana Plaza collapsed, and Gap.
And H&M.
Bangladesh had at that time a salary of 38 dollars (US dollars) a month.
It's the cheapest in the world.
Who goes there?
Brands that want to reduce their costs at any cost.
Tip number three...
Understand the mindset of these apparel companies.
After the Rana Plaza collapsed, brands had to move.
They just had to.
It looked really, really bad for them, and they were in the spotlight.
They had the world's attention after that tragedy.
So they couldn't get away saying "Oops, we didn't know."
or "Oh, but you know it's not us, it was a contractor of a subsidiary of a subsidiary
of ours."
It wouldn't work.
So over 200 brands signed a binding agreement called the Bangladesh Accord, where clear
goals to achieve in terms of safety in the garment factories were set.
Now this year, in 2018, it's five years ago.
In five years, things have evolved.
It looks good.
Hazards have been reduced.
Safety has increased.
Some factories that were too dangerous, too unstable have been shut down completely.
However, can the garment workers in Bangladesh now live from their jobs?
No.
From 2013 to 2016 the minimum wage in Bangladesh has been increased from 38 to 68 US dollars.
It sounds like a lot but in fact it doesn't take inflation in to account, which is a big
factor.
And the living wage would actually be more 177 dollars to 214 dollars, depending on the
region of Bangladesh that you live in.
So in fact, we're still far from paying these workers properly, in Bangladesh, just to take
the example of that country.
Safety has increased.
It's great, and it's much needed, but it's not enough to make the fashion industry humanly
ethical yet.
Tip number four...
My last tip is to simply look at the price tag, and do the math going backwards.
For instance, if you enter Primark and you see a T-shirt for five euros, how do they
make it possible?
Let's do the math.
This calculation is for a large brand which produces high volumes somewhere overseas.
Usually 50 percent will be the margin for the retailer.
The margin for the brand will be around 25 percent, and since, in my example, Primark
is brand and retailer, it gets 75%.
25% are left for the intermediaries, for transportation, factory management, overhead, manufacturing
costs, and at the end, the garment worker.
This gives you an indication or feeling of how much that person will earn from the T-shirt.
One more thing, because I think the question will come.
I took the example of Bangladesh, and the logical consequence would be, as consumers,
to stop buying from the fast fashion brands that produce there.
It is sometimes a concern, because you would think if we stop buying from Bangladesh, the
garment workers would lose their jobs, but in fact, not necessarily.
It's not likely at all, because there is no country cheaper where brands could go instead,
and the share of the profit and the margin that goes to the garment worker is so small
that increasing it would barely make a difference for the brand, and for us, consumers, in the
price tag.
There is a lot more to say about this topic, for sure, but I hope to have given you at
least some insights and thought-starters.
If you found this video, useful/helpful thumbs up.
Thank you so much.
If you're interested in fashion don't forget to subscribe to this channel.
I make new videos every week, and I have fun ones coming up.
I will see you very soon again.
Take care.
Bye.