FAST FASHION & THE RANA PLAZA DISASTER
Fast fashion has transformed the fashion industry, the growing demand for fast fashion has created dangerous and inhumane working environments for garment workers. It caused the death of over 1,000 garment workers in the Rana Plaza disaster in April 2013, when a garment factory collapsed with thousands of people inside. The garment workers were forced inside by supervisors that morning in order to meet tight deadlines, despite warnings and obvious cracks forming in the walls of the building.
Fashion is now faster and cheaper then ever before. Our constant buying and then throwing away of our clothes are driving the dangerous, inhumane working conditions of garment workers all over the world. Large corporations are putting pressures on factories to deliver large orders in much tighter deadlines and at even cheaper costs, usually with no concerns for safety.
Many shoppers never consider where their clothes come from or who makes their clothes. I wanted to make the viewer stop and think about this and also how our actions here in the western world are negatively impacting the lives of garment workers. The editorial is particularly aimed at those who shop online and is posted to their homes, disguised as yet another online order delivery.
I used the language of clothing labels to communicate with the reader. Cost and price underpin the book. Each chapter communicates a hidden cost in fast fashion, for example the Rana Plaza disaster cost 1,333 lives. Our clothes are now cheap and disposable – we don’t expect our purchases to last long. I wanted to communicate this cheap, disposable and wasteful nature through the light stock used. Also, the viewer is required to pull and tear the pages from a label tie, in order to view them, making the book a 'throw away', much like fast fashion clothing.
I used the language of clothing labels to communicate with the reader. Cost and price underpin the book. Each chapter communicates a hidden cost in fast fashion, for example the Rana Plaza disaster cost 1,333 lives. Our clothes are now cheap and disposable – we don’t expect our purchases to last long. I wanted to communicate this cheap, disposable and wasteful nature through the light stock used. Also, the viewer is required to pull and tear the pages from a label tie, in order to view them, making the book a 'throw away', much like fast fashion clothing.
