[This post is from a series written during the first weeks of the COVID crisis.]
PBS just ran a segment on the plight of Bangladeshi garment workers trying to survive in the midst of the COVID lockdown.*
It seems our ceasing to buy fast fashion in shopping malls throughout the country has something to do with whether these workers have rice on the table.
This means the world’s retailers just stopped making product, shipping product, and in some horrible cases, paying for product, leaving millions of Bangladeshi workers with nowhere to turn.**
Is it necessary for our world to consume fast fashion – garments whose lifespan is limited to as little as 10 wearings – all so workers at the end of the supply chain can eat?***
Is there a balance and can we find it quickly?
Or, is it just a tap: ON, they eat, OFF, they starve?.
This brings up the issue of responsibility, not just in the context of planetary responsibility, but also a consumerist responsibility.
Do I have to exploit someone to have a washing machine or a toaster oven?
Do people have to starve if I suddenly stop buying something?
A Bangladeshi garment worker in the PBS segment sat in the street, eloquently protesting her condition. She said her children’s school expected fees and that her landlord expected rent or he would throw her family out into the street.
These sentiments could have been expressed by a laid-off tech worker in San Francisco.
Globally, we all have the same needs, human needs.
It’s time we started making it possible for everyone to live, especially when everyone is in crisis.
* Densely populated Bangladesh faces immense infection control challenge, PBS NewsHour, May 15, 2020, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/densely-populated-bangladesh-faces-immense-infection-control-challenge
** Covid-19 Tracker: Which Brands Are Acting Responsibly toward Suppliers and Workers?, Worker Rights Consortium, https://www.workersrights.org/issues/covid-19/tracker/
Note that H&M is one of the companies who committed to pay in full for orders completed in production, making them one of the “good guys.”
*** How to buy clothes that are built to last, The New York Times, September 25, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/sustainable-clothing.html