Young college student and people from low income families on a low budget are inclined towards Fast fashion clothes from companies like Forever21 and H&M who offer great up-to-date new designs and variety of clothes for low costs. But is there an unseen cost behind that?
These companies are found to be violating the employee rights and ethics. Workers are not paid adequate wages on an hourly basis but are oused to hard to make as many clothes in a shorter time-span and are paid for the number of clothes they make in terrible working conditions. My fellow class fellow Vivian Jung in his blog post also highlights this issue linking it to lack of social responsibility.
This emerging and rapidly growing trend of Fast fashion seems to neglect the corporate social responsibility businesses have and violates labour standards and intellectual properties rights as companies like forever21 have been sued various times for copying designs of other companies. The following blog also analysis the company Forever21’s unjust treatment to their employees in order to produce cheaper clothes at a faster pace.
The consumers enjoy low priced clothes with great designs and are blinded by the effects and consequences of producing those clothes for workers.
This is all very true. The legal ramifications of violating intellectual property rights is a threshold that’s been tested again and again since such a concept came into being back in the late 19th century. Not to dicount that in a world where cheap textile labor is nothing new, it’s a constant battle for human labor rights on a global scale. Especially in many nations throughout Asia and South America, where ridiculously low wages have been forcefully burdened on the native people for as long back as anyone can remember. However, in our current Digital Age, in a time filled with smart phones and space travel, one would think that relief for these poor souls is within our grasp, but it’s a marathon of a conflict. The condition of human labor rights is much improved from what it once was, yet it’s far from perfect. The difference is that now those people have a voice. The discussion of our world’s many remaining problems must continue, for that’s the only way for any and all resolutions to be discovered.