Fast-Fashion: Controversies & Performative Activism
A case study examining one of the world’s largest fast-fashion brands, Zara, and why their founder’s charitable donations are simply performative.
If you love fashion, you are probably guilty of owning something from a fast fashion brand. These fast-fashion brands are embroiled in controversies and accusations and consumers have been demanding more transparency. In the past weeks, we have seen how some fashion companies, when supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement, have been called out for performative activism. However, this is not the first time fast-fashion brands have been called out. The aim of this article is to examine how one of the world’s largest fast fashion retailers, INDITEX, has tried to mask controversies surrounding their working conditions with performative acts.
Background
Fast fashion is the phenomenon by which clothing collections are introduced that follow the latest fashion trends and that have been designed and manufactured at an accelerated low cost. Thus, the industry offers the consumer the possibility of accessing innovative garments at affordable prices and continuously, with nearly 50 collections a year. This has drastically changed our traditional fashion calendar, from 4 collections a year to up to 50–52 collections a year, meaning a new collection per week. Some of the most known fast fashion brands are Zara, H&M, Forever 21, Nike, TopShop, Gap, Primark, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie. The majority of fast-fashion brands have been involved in many controversies, especially regarding their production cycles. So, are performative acts such as big donations from fast-fashion brands working to convince consumers they are ethical, or do people just care more about cheap, trendy clothing regardless of how it’s made?
History
Over the past ten years it has been brought to consumers’ attention just how much damage fast-fashion companies are doing to our environment. Additionally, consumers have heard fast-fashion companies move their factories around the world, to countries where manufacturing costs are lower.
For fast fashion companies, invoicing at a cheaper price was more profitable. The problem is that in the countries where they have set up their factories such as China and Bangladesh, there are no labor laws, and the production of cheap, low-quality clothing has caused environmental damage to many of the villages where these factories are located.
A Greenpeace report showed that wastewater in textile industry zones in Guangdong and Zhejiang (China) contained chemicals that cause cancer or are harmful to reproduction. It is important to note that in China, they are implementing policies to reduce environmental and social damages. However, other countries where women’s, workers’ rights, and environmental laws are almost non-existent and it is hard to control the damage they are doing to the environment.
A highly recommended and informative documentary; ‘The True Cost’, which explores the damage of fast fashion, reveals that there are around 40 million textile workers in the world, of which 85% are women, many of them minors, earning two dollars a day and under inhumane working conditions. “Today we are putting together more clothes, consuming more, using more resources and paying less than in any other time,” says Andrew Morgan, director of the documentary.
Case Study
Zara, part of the Inditex group, is a worldwide clothing brand that has made its founder, Amancio Ortega, one of the richest men in the world. Ortega, who is also the maximum shareholder, has made many donations throughout its foundation. Three of the main donations that the Amancio Ortega Foundation has made to Spain are;
- The Amancio Ortega Foundation donated to Cáritas (Caritas is a body of the Catholic Church dedicated to coordinating humanitarian charity) in 2012 and 2014, in which the group contributed a total of 40 million euros. To this, we must add the contribution that Ortega made to the Spanish Federation of Food Banks, which was valued at four million euros.
- Another important donation that Amancio Ortega has made through his foundation was a donation of 320 million euros in cancer treatment and diagnosis equipment to Spanish hospitals.
- Finally, the most recent donation of the foundation was the purchase of medical supplies to fight the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic valued at 63 million euros, which has been donated to the National Health System of Spain.
Some people have seen these donations as a way to cover up bad press and accusations towards the company. Inditex has faced many controversies over the years, primarily related to the working conditions and ethical practices of its factories.
One of the serious accusations that stained Inditex’s image was when Zara was accused of alleged ‘slave labor’ in Brazil. In response, the company tried to blame the firm AHA, one of its more than 50 suppliers in Brazil, for having subcontracted an “unauthorized” manufacture of Zara garments. However, the Ministry of Labor rejected these arguments and said: “If we can trace the production chain, Inditex can also do it”. The company had to pay 1.5 million dollars to Brazil prosecutor’s office.
Even though Ortega’s donations have been praised by a large part of the Spanish population they have also been criticized. Praising Ortega for his activism can detract from the controversies seen within his company. Even though he is helping communities in his home country, Spain, the garment workers who produce for INDITEX are continuously harmed and unhelped. Their advertising campaigns and donations have created a positive image, yet the company still refuses to abolish exploitation and malpractice occurring in their factories which are mostly situated in Asia and South America.
