
If you follow luxury fashion in any capacity, I'm sure you've seen the headlines about the Dior and Armani Italian Maker raid. I've read the articles, watched YouTube's opinions, and even seen social media's take on what has happened, and as I take in the information, one word keeps popping into my head: "ethics."
When the story broke from the Wall Street Journal about the alleged $57 manufacturing cost and $2,780 retail price, wasn't surprising. In my early fashion design career, I remember seeing the cost sheets from the merchandising department. My mouth fell open as I compared the manufacturing costs to the retail prices. At that moment, I vowed only to buy things on sale or at an outlet. This decision was based on my surface-level understanding of the fashion industry.
What bothered me most were the wages and working conditions of the workers. Without standing on my soapbox and spilling lines about consumerism, ethics, and outsourcing, I want to take a different approach.
Let's use an e-commerce giant everyone knows intimately, Shein. Many headlines have been written about this popular online store, and documentaries have been made on popular streaming networks investigating its conditions and brand history. Despite all this information, what has happened to Shein?
You know the answer without me stating it. As consumers, we have the right to decide where our hard-earned money goes. Once a business's curtain is pulled back and its secrets are revealed, we have a choice.
Over the years, I believe the ethical injustices we see are fueled by what is now known as "hyperconsumerism." If this term is new to you, here's Wikipedia's definition:
"Hyperconsumerism, hyper-consumerism, hyperconsumption, or hyper-consumption is the consumption of goods beyond one's necessities and the associated significant pressure to consume those goods, exerted by social media and other outlets as those goods are perceived to shape one's identity."
Like everything in this world that we discover as painful to our society, it took us years to get here. Unfortunately, it will take years to fix it. What's happening in our fashion space is disheartening, and today's news will be overshadowed by tomorrow's, eventually forgotten.
To close this article on a more upbeat note, let's discuss in the comments section what you, as a consumer, can do to try and micro-shift what's happening in our fashion space. For me, I plan to make a note of these brands and choose not to support them with my hard-earned money. Right now, earning takes skill, and blowing it all away to wear what the latest celebrity or influencer has been gifted is not the road I plan to drive on.
Here are some articles to dive deeper into what’s happening:

Comments