Kate Dillard

Online shopping is a sport. Scouring the internet for hours and frantically “adding to cart” to lock in those limited-time deals requires stamina and leaves you with a dopamine rush. But in this sport, there are no winners. Behind every trendy top and cheap price tag is a dark backstory. The garment industry has a long history of worker abuse and exploitation, from hazardous working conditions to unjust compensation structures. In today’s capitalist society, demands for faster, cheaper labor have reached an all-time high. However, while the fast fashion industry has taken factory work to new extremes, the shameless exploitation of the working class under global capitalism is not new by any means.

By recent standards, the term “fast fashion” is outdated; “ultra-fast fashion” is what sociologists are calling the rapid consumer habits of today. One company in particular, SHEIN, is the poster child of ultra-fast fashion. This multibillion dollar clothing retailer is online-only and adds thousands of new styles of clothing to its app each day. Founded in 2008 in Nanjing, China, SHEIN has garnered monumental popularity amongst young women and the social media influencer community on TikTok because it allows people to keep up with the newest trends for extremely low prices.

I have seen many of these “SHEIN hauls” on my own social media feed, the algorithm recognizing my fashion addiction. TikTok influencers boast large packages of clothes and unbox them on camera, doing reviews and advertising discount codes for a commission. The comments sections are flooded with praise, some asking for the links to specific items and others marveling at the sheer volume of clothes. Few comments mention the obvious harms of overconsumption, and even fewer bring up fast fashion’s use of unethical labor. Although the fast fashion industry has been critiqued by scholars for both its unsustainable production cycles and unjust labor practices, there seems to be a disconnect in the general public’s understanding of these harms and perceptions of companies like SHEIN.

Whether or not consumers recognize fast fashion and its pervasiveness, its existence is deeply rooted in history. In the United States, key markers of fast fashion, from disposable fabrics to standard sizing, can be traced back to enslaved persons’ clothing and labor in the eighteenth century. In her book Black Designers in American Fashion, historian Katie Knowles reveals that “limited access to quality apparel inspired enslaved people to design new methods of expressing fashionability,” with low-quality fabrics being a trademark of this distinct style. Later, in the nineteenth century, the new development of industrial textile processing gave way to “ready-to-wear” clothing, shifting the goal of production from high quality to high quantity. Knowles writes that it was this transition in the textile industry that “created the modern American fashion system.” Since then, the fast fashion industry has continued to spiral out of control.

While the transition from fast fashion to ultra-fast fashion trends is a relatively new phenomenon, labor injustices in the garment industry are not. In her book Sweatshop Warriors, Mirian Ching Yoon Louie describes garment laborers’ workplace environments in the late twentieth century as “poorly ventilated sweatshops” where workers were “engulfed by dust, threads, chemical dyes and sprays.” The labor itself was also grueling and time-consuming, with many workers performing repetitive tasks in subpar environments for over 12 hours at a time. Many employees eventually organized labor unions to fight against the horrific workplace conditions. Yoon Hae Ryun, who helped organize the Korean Women Workers Association (KWWA) in 1987, started her first job in a garment factory when she was only 14 years old, working from 8 am to 2 am every single day. In addition to poor working conditions, grueling tasks, and long hours, garment workers have been historically underpaid. An interview with Sue Ko Lee, a garment worker who participated in the 1938 National Dollar Store Strike, revealed that wages were the main source of frustration that led to the strike. She recalled that “the depression was over and the hour wage laws were in effect and [workers] weren’t getting the thirty-three-and-a-third cents an hour. They were cheating… the hours were not kept legally.” These stories from the past illustrate just a fraction of the violations that have made the garment industry notorious today.

Unfortunately, the fight for better conditions often comes at an immense cost to workers. On November 13, 1970, 22-year-old garment worker Chun Tae Il set himself on fire holding a copy of Korea’s Labor Standards Act, screaming, “Obey the Labor Standards Act! Don’t mistreat young girls!” Tragic deaths like this are a result of the repeated suffering, oppression, and built-up frustration that the garment industry and capitalist consumer culture breed. Oftentimes, garment workers felt unheard and helpless when trying to achieve better conditions. A letter to the public from the striking workers of the National Dollar Stores reads “we have tried repeatedly through peaceful methods to negotiate with the owner, but he has consistently used oppressive tactics of the capitalist to stall for time.” These excerpts make today’s ultra-fast fashion conditions all the more troubling. As long as ultra-fast fashion giants like SHEIN continue to thrive, garment workers will continue to suffer. 

Laborers of the past did lack an important tool of resistance that today’s workers readily have access to: social media. Although social media is in large part to blame for the perpetuation of consumer culture and quick trend changes, it can also serve as an outlet for workers to express frustrations and share information about their working conditions with the world. Posts from several SHEIN employees’ social media pages provide a glimpse into the day-to-day lives of modern garment workers. One employee said that he successfully picked and packed over 600 articles of clothing in one shift by not taking a single bathroom break. Another said that she was “having trouble lifting her hand” after an 11-and-a-half-hour shift at a warehouse. These testimonies echo those of garment workers of the past and pull back the curtain of the ultra-fast fashion industry.

Social media has also provided a platform for those concerned about the rampant consumerism that allows companies like SHEIN to thrive. On TikTok, some users are trying to convince viewers not to buy something that is currently trending, a movement known as “deinfluencing.” Contrary to influencers who post SHEIN hauls and push new products, deinfluencers encourage their followers to resist the urge to buy, whether that is for practical or ethical reasons. Venetia La Manna, co-founder of Remember Who Made Them, an online resource that shines a light on the struggles of modern garment workers, says that the question of deinfluencing is “How can we be buying less and instead educating ourselves more?” This question is essential to fighting the pervasive problem of worker exploitation.

Deinfluencing gives me hope that we can finally break the cycle of consumerism perpetuated by capitalist structures. If enough people do their part to combat fast fashion trends and speak out against unethical practices in the fashion industry, we will be closer to a society in which garment workers have healthy working conditions, reasonable hours, and fair compensation. As consumers, we should stop to consider the effects of our actions before rushing to participate in the next big trend. Turning a blind eye for a good deal may seem like a minor offense, but the problematic history of the garment industry shows that every purchase comes at the cost of garment workers’ rights. It’s time to stop supporting unethical companies and start supporting workers. It’s time to break the ultra-fast fashion cycle.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Kate Dillard is a third-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University. She is pursuing double majors in English and psychology. In her spare time, Kate enjoys exploring new museums, galleries, and theatres.