Labor Rights – Women
The US$2.4 trillion garment and footwear industry, employs millions of workers worldwide. Clothes and shoes produced in countries such as these ones (Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe) or other parts find their way into the clothes racks in the (US, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia.) Labor abuses in factories that produce these clothes and shoes are rife. In countries around the world, factory owners and managers often fire pregnant workers or deny maternity leave. They force workers to do overtime work or risk losing their job to turn a blind eye when male managers or workers sexually harass female workers.
Economic Concerns
The economic concerns of fashion means many of the sustainable “solutions” to fashion, such as buying high quality goods to last longer, are not accessible to people with less means. From an economic perspective, sustainability remains a moralizing issue of educated classes teaching the less educated “responsible consumption.” A debate that mainly concerns promoting frugality to those with less means. The distribution of value within the fashion industry is another economic concern, with garment workers and textile farmers and workers receiving low wages and prices.
fashion & social change 