modern day slavery

May 1st Contradictions

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Reading Time: 3 minutes

Has the fashion industry changed for the better?


May 1st, the International Workers’ Day, brings up glaring contradictions within the fashion industry. Indeed, we cannot celebrate without acknowledging the hypocrisy that brands, companies that own them, and final customers perpetuate.

Today’s public holiday aims to honour working people and raise awareness of their rights. But the relentless race to the lowest prices–driven by both company owners and consumers–makes it impossible to imagine healthy production chains. Indeed, wages are so low that many people cannot afford a decent life and not even cover their basic needs.

Ten years after Rana Plaza, the fashion industry hasn’t changed its patterns and workers’ conditions haven’t improved. In fact, we went from fast to ultra-fast fashion. If we purchase a dress for 20 euros, can we expect manufacturers to observe workers’ rights? Do people believe in fairy tales, or is it hypocritical behaviour?

Rana Plaza – garment workers in Bangladesh


On April 24th, 2013, a building collapsed on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, taking away 1,138 garment workers, 80% of whom were women, and injuring more than 2,500. Near the bodies extracted from the rubble, the labels of major Western brands were found: Prada, Versace, Gucci, Moncler, Benetton, Primark, Walmart, Bonmarché, Zara, H&M, Mango and others.

Uyghurs – modern-day slavery in China


We wrote about Uyghurs’ forced labour here. Here, we quote Public Eye, a Switzerland NGO:
“Today’s hippest teen-fashion brand is growing rapidly – and its internet-based recipe for success is top secret. Still, Chinese researchers working on behalf of Public Eye managed to visit some of Shein’s suppliers in Guangzhou, where conditions of production violate numerous state labour laws. Our trip inside the ultra-fast fashion leader also takes us to the European logistics centre in Belgium, where precarious working conditions are also a daily occurrence.”

According to an OECD summit in Paris, this search for lower prices has led some brands to turn to ever less demanding areas. They even maintain orders in countries in crisis, such as Burma, where unionised workers have become prime targets of the military junta behind the recent coup.

Made in “Chitaly”: Chinese workers operating in Italy


What happens in Italy is no different. In order to keep their higher profit margins, brands commission productions to Chinese laboratories, asking for the lowest price. So the dream of “Made in Italy” is kept alive, at least for those with no sense of quality. Forget any minimum wage!

May 1st contradictions: prices negotiated downward and overconsumption


To understand what the industry learned after Rana Plaza and the social consciousness developed, we just need to analyse the facts. Low-cost collections rotate faster and faster, and companies force prices down at the manufacturer’s cost. This acceleration from fast fashion to ultra-fast fashion explains everything, undescoring the May 1st contradictions.

Marketing and social washing


Social washing is social greenwashing: a manipulative tool in the hands of marketing. In fact, campaigns showing brands being socially responsible multiply. Most of the time, there is no evidence supporting the information. And perhaps what happens, in reality, is quite the opposite.

After the pandemic, working conditions have only deteriorated. The relentless race for the lowest prices brings to light all the contradictions of our economic system, especially on May 1st. How can people expect labourers’ rights to be respected while supporting fast or ultra-fast fashion? And how can a world that depends on modern-day slavery even begin to talk about workers’ rights?

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Enslaving Workers: Has Anything Changed?

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Examining the reality of modern exploitation and its impact on labour


It seems clear that our economic system is based on enslaving workers. That’s how it thrives—by keeping labor cheap and maximizing profit at the expense of human dignity. While the system flourishes, workers are left behind, their rights undermined, and their well-being compromised. This cycle perpetuates inequality and exploitation, making true progress seem elusive.

Here we quote an excerpt of Li Edelkoort’s talk from the Voices stage–via Business of Fashion. Edelkoort is one of the most respected trend forecasters. This talk is from 2015, definitely not something new.  So, why it’s worth sharing again? Because nothing has changed over time!

Li Edelkoort on enslaving workers and cheap deals


Low prices are enslaving workers and destroying cultural value. This is what Li Edelkoort said:

“The manufacturing of clothes has gone through a rapid and sordid restructuring process, which has seen production leave the western world to profit from and exploit low-income countries,” said Edelkoort. “How can a product that needs to be sown, grown, harvested, combed, spun, knitted, cut and stitched, finished, printed, labelled, packaged and transported cost a couple of Euros?” she asked, comparing fashion’s supply chain to slavery.

“On the hunt for cheaper deals, volume companies, but also some luxury brands, have trusted the making of their wages to underpaid workers living in dire conditions,” she continued. “What’s more, these prices imply the clothes are to be thrown away, discarded like a condom before being loved and savoured, teaching young consumers that fashion has no value. We should make legislation to have minimum prices.”

Has anything changed so far? 


Now, the question is: Has anything really changed? The answer is no. That’s precisely why it’s important to revisit this issue.

No one planned to find solutions. Brands and governments will never do it! A spontaneous act of understanding is not part of their plans. But the pandemic has contributed to exacerbating the situation. Many people lost their job, and the working conditions are even worse now.

Seven years after Edelkoort’s assertion, we are still just talking. And talking about change when nothing ever changes is frustrating. We value words, but without action, real change will never happen.

So we signed the “Good clothes fair pay” petition, which demands a living wage for the people who make our clothes. They need 1 million EU citizen signatures. 

Let’s help them!

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Child Labour: Modern-Day Slavery

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The obscenity of a society that closes its eyes in the face of the major issues


Child labour is one of the most obscene issues in our society, one of those problems people don’t want to see. Even though prohibited by legislation worldwide, the number of children exploited is growing. According to Unicef, 2021 registered the first increase in two decades, with cases rising to 160 million worldwide because of covid-19.

There is a consistent number of countries where child labour is not forbidden. Poverty and discrimination are the main causes, but conflicts and the pandemic gave a big hand in spreading the situations that degenerate into this modern-day slavery.

Child labour: modern-day slavery for the western world


Exploited children produce goods that fill the stores of the western world. Or call it that side of the world where either people ignore or pretend to ignore these issues. Whether it’s having the latest mobile device or a fancy car, it’s considered better than facing the truth about the small hands that extract the materials used to make our toys.

And so, we dedicate each day to specific matters giving them the priority for that day. Specifically, the world day against child labour was on 12 June. On an annual basis, we see impactful graphics and beautiful words that end up in nothing. They just become content for social media, but nothing ever changes.

These kinds of stories are as old as the earth. So, if we aren’t able to eradicate them, but we still abuse children’s rights, we have serious problems.

There can be no true sustainability without ethical labor. And if sustainable products are a priority, addressing child labor must come first. How can we talk about sustainability when the number of children involved in production chains has increased over time?

There is an organization committed to creating lasting change, called Still I Rise. Their projects are not endless; they focus on solving specific problems in a given area before moving on to the next. Education is at the heart of their mission, and they open schools to empower those in need.
Please, check them out here and donate if you can!

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The Dark Side Of Modern Society

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Exposing a system based on modern-day slavery


Scanning the dark side of fashion, we came across a document released by ASPI – Australian Strategic Policy Institute – “Uyghurs for sale”. This detailed paper leads to a sad reflection on modern society and its economic system, capitalism. A system that can thrive only by exploiting people and the planet.

The Uyghur minority


Uyghur is an Islamic minority from the far west region of Xinjiang. The Chinese government has facilitated Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens’ mass transfers from Xinjiang to factories that operate in the supply chains of about 83 well-known brands.


In China, 80,000 human beings live in segregated dormitories subject to constant surveillance. Put through ideological training outside working hours.

Fast-fashion brands are made in China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam. Well, not only fast fashion brands! Therefore, we naively thought it was mainly a fashion-related issue. But learning about that horrific condition, we had to change our mind, as often happens.
Going through the pages, ASPI named various global brands, not only from the fashion field but technology and automobile too, and, of course, we know them all pretty well.

Fashion or a dark system that shapes modern society as a whole?


The dark side of fashion, that was supposed to be the point. At least we initially believed it was a matter that identified one industry only. But, in the end, we acknowledged that there is a common thread that links all manufacturing, the whole economic system. Capitalism, indeed.

Although we believe it is crucial to uncover fashion issues to move towards a better society, it is clear that exploitation, environmental impact, disposable goods, and lack of inclusivity, are issues that regard our modern society in full.
Perhaps, it is not about fashion but human behaviour, the greed that characterizes and dominates our economic system.

The truth is that contemporary society needs new slaves to flourish.
This must stop.

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