The Empress's New Clothes

The Empress’s New Clothes

 

We wear clothes, but at what cost?

£90 for Nike - Hooded Printed Quilted Shell Jacket Black.

£225 for Gucci Pursuit 72 Rubber Slides Black.

£17.99 for H&M Rib Knit Jumper Black.

 

Materialism is something that in is inherently in us all, due to the capitalist system in modern day. However fast fashion wasn’t always in our society, as it became popular during the 1800s with fashion brands like Zara, who were able to mass produce clothes rapidly. This fashion haste was supported by the Industrial Revolution, where sewing machines and factories enabled clothes in multiple sizes to be made, making the fashion industry popular and respected.

This continuity of high demand fast fashion, results in some aspects of production being outsourced by “sweaters” who are on criminally low wages working in factories known as “sweatshops.”

Sweaters typically work in cramped, poorly lit, very hot, dangerous environments, with little to no breaks. Sweatshops are most commonly found in South America and Central America, Asia, with others in Europe and the United States.

The appeal of sweatshops enables fast fashion companies to create high profits with little payout.

Existing in a materialistic world enables us to purely see the clothes as they are, without seeing the pain and suffering behind them. Big fashion companies like Gucci, Zara, and H&M can continue to outsource and exploit the poor and “sweaters” as long as these groups are paid, regardless of the low wages. Greed is what controls our world, and money is what fuels it.

 

It is easy to not see the reality behind the fast fashion industry as in the Western World, the struggles and abhorrent conditions of sweatshops can be concealed and disregarded as we have the luxury of not seeing its truth.

However closer to home struggles can be seen within the ‘Nike Identities’ that are prevalent in us all.

Nike identities is a concept derived by Louise Archer et al (2010) from sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s ideology of habitus. Habitus refers to the dispositions or learned ways of thinking that a particular social class share. This includes their life outlook, realistic desires, and their preferences on consumption. A groups habitus is reliant on their position in the class structure.

Nike identities are formed from the brands that individuals wear. For example, ‘Nike’ and ‘Adidas’ clothes will most likely be worn heavily from those who are working class, whereas brands such as ‘Burberry’ and ‘Ralph Lauren’ may be worn by those who are middle class. Brands label us, and inform outsiders on our social class and wealth.

The real evil behind materialism, is the lengths people will go to achieve acceptance from others. For example, in popular culture, Gucci slides are increasing in popularity, edging many to invest in a pair. For the middle class, a £255 purchase may hardly leave a dent in their wallet, whereas a working class individual may have to work overtime or increase their working hours in order to purchase a pair, in an attempt to fit in and be accepted by those around them. For others, purchasing this designer item may leave them in debt due to their unachievable goals of higher class acceptance due to the rigid capitalist class structure.

 

Fast fashion is increasingly responsible for the current climate crisis. The fashion industry uses 10,000 litres of water to make one kilogram of cotton or 3,000 litres of water for one cotton shirt, where approximately 20% of water wastage worldwide is attributed to this process. The excessive consumption of clothing enables 57% of all discarded clothing to amount in landfills, where they await to be incinerated. The process of incineration releases dangerous gases into the air, that although can be somewhat caught in filters, the dangerous gases omitted still contribute to the 21% of greenhouse gas emissions.

 

I conclude by circling back to my opening question, “we wear clothes, but at what cost?”

I think it is important to understand and acknowledge the three created elements of the fashion industry, which are exploitation, emotive consumerism, and the climate crisis. The real cost of fashion isn’t money, but rather life. It is selfish and built upon the capitalist and classist society we reside in. In order to change the industry, society would need to be broken and reassembled by the hands of equity.

Although ignorance is bliss, the lack of education and acknowledgment of fast fashion is truly the crux of our demise.

We must take off our rose-tinted glasses, and see all that is hidden in plain sight.