By Alexis Jones, Guest Columnist
Editor’s Note: The Gettysburgian hosts guest columnists from the Fashion Initiative organization at Gettysburg College. The opinions published in this section are those of the individual writers and are in no way representative of the views of The Gettysburgian staff, The Gettysburgian or Gettysburg College.
How do you feel about $7.25 minimum wage? If I were to ask any college student on our campus, they’d express their dissatisfaction because students want the salary to be higher. They prefer to have jobs that pay more, often then finding jobs that provide a higher salary.
It is impossible to live off of the minimum wage. If you have a full time job, working 40 hours per week with minimum wage, your weekly income is $290 (without taxes taken out). You have to pay for housing, food, water, electricity, which is the bare minimum. This calculation doesn’t factor in clothing, medical expenses or other “extra” items you want to purchase. The idea of surviving on a salary this low sounds ridiculous, right?
Now imagine that you are a garment worker in Bangladesh and your boss tells you that he will pay you 8,000 taka a month or $2.43 a day. Are you going to take the job?
Non-Livable Wages and Slave Labor
Your answer is most certainly “absolutely not,” but that wage is the reality for garment workers universally, including particular places in the United States. Fast fashion is the growing business of trendy clothing that is rapidly made and cheap for the consumer. These clothing items keep up with the steady changing clothing demand. These products are designed to look like trendy or high-end designer pieces. In order to keep up with this demand, garment workers (mainly women) are working in overcrowded, decrepit buildings where labor laws are not followed. These conditions result in women who are often in such dire circumstances that they pursue this route despite the fear of murder in order to generate income, but they are severely underpaid and overworked.
This is the stark reality of fast fashion, which many consumers are buying into. Brands like H&M, Zara and Shein perpetuate this inhumane practice. These companies are fully aware of the result of fast fashion yet carelessly continuing to outsource work in the name of monetary gain. Think about yourself being excited that you only spent five dollars on a top, not even considering transportation, material, building, electricity costs and the like; these aspects are in addition to the payment of the boss and the person who made it. When you buy that cheap t-shirt, for the sake of following a trend or attempting to look cute, you are contributing to modern day slave labor.
Tannery wastewater dumped in the street. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters/Independent)
Environmental Damages
The Impacts extend beyond labor violations to environmental violations, which includes:
- Contaminating fresh water by dumping fabric dyes in the water for easy and cheap disposal
- Air pollution through factory emissions
- Ocean damage through microplastics that end up in the ocean when washing synthetic material
- Depletion of natural resources like palm oil for synthetic material such as polyester
- Landfill contributions: when that cheap clothing does not last or you get tired of it and throw it away, it ends up in the landfill
Fast fashion landfill in 2021. (Photo Courtesy of Martin Bernetti/Getty Images)
So What Can You Do?
Yes, part of the problem is the system design and advertisement. It is easy to get sucked into the trap of mindless consumption, but you can say no and spend money to support a livable and fair wage because this is a human rights issue:
- Buy from brands that pay a fair wage and provide labor protections
- Thrift your clothing: contribution to the cultivation of a style unique to you
- Go to clothing swaps: get new pieces without clothes going to the landfill
Stay tuned for our next article to find out in more detail what you can do to be a responsible consumer and still be fashionable!
