How the garment industry has been impacted by COVID-19
Until just under a year ago, the fashion industry was booming. Overconsumption was the name of the game, and fast fashion was rising to meet the demand. But when COVID-19 hit, everything changed. Fast fashion companies and their workers, who are often trafficked, have suffered huge losses.
According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, this year’s fashion industry revenue “could drop by more than one-third, the equivalent of up to $640 billion in lost sales.” Due to economic uncertainty and quarantine regulations, people simply have not been shopping as much. Most companies had to downsize significantly. The fashion industry slowed down, profits dropping precipitously, which left workers trafficked for labor in the lurch.
Labor trafficking is a hidden but horrifyingly common practice in the United States and around the world. The National Human Trafficking Hotline by the Polaris Project notes that disadvantaged people are regularly “trafficked into garment industry jobs such as sewing, assembling, pressing, or packing apparel.” These victims, “both men and women, have been forced to work 10-12 hour days, 6-7 days per week with little or no break time.” Some of these workers are brought onboard with the (ultimately false) promise of fair wages and good working conditions. They are often forced to stay with threats of deportation, violence against their families or the endangerment of their own lives. According to the Global Slavery Index, another 55 percent of victims are coerced into working to pay off exploitative debts imposed upon them by their traffickers.
“Victims, both men and women, have been forced to work 10-12 hour days, 6-7 days per week with little or no break time.”
The spring report from Anti-Slavery International details the complex effects of COVID-19 on fashion companies and trafficked workers in the garment industry. Many companies have been forced to downsize quickly, firing workers left and right while maintaining control with threats of continued debt bondage. Some brands defaulted on payments to manufacturers, backing out of their orders because of the lack of demand. Because of this, workers are now “owed at least $3.19 to $5.79 billion for the first three months of the pandemic alone.”
These layoffs have also left trafficked individuals “without accommodation or work,” vulnerable to other risky, inequitable work situations. As COVID-19 restrictions continue to loosen up, ASI is concerned that garment companies are likely to “cover financial losses suffered during the crisis by exploiting the cheap labour of people who have suffered sudden unemployment.” Other garment companies have kept workers but have adjusted production methods to accommodate the economic decline, leveraging the desperation of disadvantaged workers to force them to accept more “exploitative, hazardous or high risk working conditions.”
“Garment workers have been left unpaid, jobless, or received only a percentage of their usual poverty wages after global fashion brands refused to pay for over $16 billion worth of goods.”
Victims of labor trafficking—particularly migrant or undocumented workers—are often housed through the corporations they are forced to work for, living in large, overcrowded dormitories. These living conditions, combined with the prevalence of pre-existing health conditions and restricted access to health care, make these trafficked individuals especially vulnerable to COVID-19.
Anti-Slavery International has therefore called for governments, fashion companies and aid organizations around the world to commit to ensuring that “people in, or vulnerable to, slavery are protected from COVID-19 and its repercussions.” The International Labor Organization has issued a similar call-to-action to protect garment workers and create more sustainable systems to better protect workers and companies against future disruption. A number of leading brands have endorsed the Call to Action (see the full list here).
So what now?
There is hope, then, that the COVID-19 era could mark the beginning of a more sustainable, ethical slow fashion movement. Even before the worldwide disruption of COVID-19, the environmental and social impact of the fast fashion industry was coming under scrutiny. However, with consumers more disillusioned (and more educated about trafficking in fashion) than ever before, there is an increasing demand for “sustainable fashion and a more environmentally and socially-responsible industry.”
If you’re curious about how to shop ethically, check out Dressember’s Ethical Shopping Directory or look up thrift and secondhand stores in your area. You can also double-check unethical sourcing with tools from Fashion Revolution and the Department of Labor. Consider joining Dressember’s style challenge to get first-hand experience using fashion as a force for good!
About the Author
Emmy Luker is a writer and MDiv candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary. She is passionate about speaking and writing about what is true, and doing it in a way people can and want to hear. Originally from Colorado, she is a big fan of alpine views and mountain hikes, but she is learning to love the wind and the lake as a recent transplant in Chicago.