Child labor laws have a huge impact on the fashion industry. Like the child labor that occurs when mass producing Nike products. The amount of pay the children get for the work that they do. Another example would be when the recession hit America. People started losing their jobs. So the people could not afford the luxury clothing in high fashion. So the designers either had to lower their prices of their products. Some designers even went out of business because of child labor laws and the recession.
These are few examples how social and economic issues have an effect on the fashion industry. In this paper, I am going to tell you the social and economic issues in the fashion industry. Child labor is a huge issue in fashion. For example, Nike uses children to mass produce sneakers and clothing. Nike uses children to mass produce the products with little to nothing pay. Nike admitted to child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan. “Even when records keeping is more advanced, and hiring is carefully done, one mistake can brand a company like Nike as a purveyor of child labor” Boggan. Boggan) According to Steve Boggan’s Article, Nike has answered by saying that using children for producing their products was simply a mistake.
The Fashion industry has more than just child labor issues. There are many issues in the fashion industry that many people do not know about.. When the recession hit America, many fashion designers Norris 2 had to lower the prices of their products. For some designers and consumers, the fashion industry did not affect them because it was easy for them to lower their prices of their products.
According to Dean Roy Nash “Fashion is a vulnerable industry when recession evolves in the economy because consumers can easily cut down the price of luxury products to manage their budgets instead of compromising on basic requirements like housing and food (Nash). The business environment has become unpredictable with a slow economy and consumers have turned to be extensively diverse, demanding, informed and technologically strong. ( Nash) The global meltdown has not spared the fashion industry also in any way.
The fashion industry together with other textile products industries have undergone a downturn due to the financial adversity (The Fashion Industry Sinks ¦). According to Dean Roy Nash the recession affected differently for everyone in the fashion industry it could have been easy for some and quite difficult for others. For some designers it allowed them to make new trends for their fashion line at a cheaper cost . The recession allowed fashion designers to create more unique items at a cheaper cost because since the recession hit buyers have been wiser with their spending budget.
The designers know that so they try to create more unique pieces to compete with the other designers to prevent their company from going bankrupt. The fashion designers had to adjust to the recession. The U. S. recession has changed how people shop for fashion, with an eye for special pieces rather than trusty wardrobe basics, and top retail buyers say this trend is likely to last beyond an economic recovery. ( Nichols) Norris 3 Race is considerably a huge social issues in the fashion industry.
Some buyers will not buy a designers product because either the advertisement only features a certain race or at the fashion shows they only feature a certain race such as Caucasian. Most buyers will not buy the line because fashion is a very diverse lifestyle. But the line does not practice diversity. People consider race a labor issue instead of a social issue. Sara Ziff, President of the Models Alliance, sees this racial discrimination as a labor issue. (The Fashion Industry’s Race Problem).
People complain that they don’t see many people of color in the fashion shows. Many models of color find it really hard to find a job because many companies don’t hire models of color. Some Fashion companies only hire models who are caucasian. Many people bring up the diversity issue in the fashion industry certain fashion companies change their model choice and try to have a more diverse runway show. “The fashion industry got a wake up call on race five years ago amid complaints that many shows and magazines only featured white models.
In response, Vogue published a long article on race in fashion, Italian Vogue published an issue with only black models, and a series of panel discussions were held on the topic. There was a “notable increase in the hiring of black models, the New York Times reports. But today they still face low odds of being hired in the fashion industry “ and things have gotten even worse. ( Covert ) The race issue in the fashion industry has been going on for quite sometime now. Diversity has Norris 4 been an ongoing issue in fashion.
Many buyers boycott certain fashion companies because the fashion designers does not design for minorities. “Many people are outraged with the diversity issues in the fashion industry . (Fashion’s Race Problem: Is Boycotting ¦) Many people are willing to boycott the certain fashion lines if they don’t become more diverse with their line. “Has outrage over the lack of diversity and racial insensitivity within the fashion industry reached its peak? . ( Wilson) Robin Givhan talks about the fashion runway and its crossroads. Robin Bring issues such as diversity, child labor and unsafe manufacturing practices.
For example “In April, the collapse of an eight-story factory building in Bangladesh killed more than 1,000 people. With the specter of that disaster lingering in the news, the industry is now more focused on ramping up New York production ” taking advantage of the efficiencies of geography, the economics of local hiring and the goodwill stirred by a “Made in America label. ( Givhan) Robin is writing about how a building collapse in Bangladesh killing many people which had very unsafe manufacturing practices. So unsafe that the building collapse.
So designers are focusing on hiring more employees in America to avoid staying out of the media so they will not be accused of having their employees in an unsafe environment. Another reason the designers would like to stay out the media to avoid the unfair treatment of their employees in other countries, such as unfair payment. Many employees receive little to nothing for the work they do to make these fashion designers designs come to existence. For instance Nike pay their employees in other countries little to nothing to make many shoes.
Such as Jordans and the shoe that is retailed at $250 the former NBA player Penny Hardaway Foamposites. Norris 5 “Nike in Indonesia “ employing more than a hundred thousand workers (Philippine Star ) Is bringing to our attention that Nike does not pay their indonesian workers the amount of pay they deserve for the amount of work they do. Today, typical workers can earn the equivalent of around $3. 50 per day, which for a six day work-week amounts to $21. Nike is highly labor-intensive. Initially, Nike produced most of its shoes elsewhere in East Asia.
As labor costs rose in these older locations Japan, South Korea and Taiwan Nike relocated its factories to China, Thailand, and Indonesia. Today, Nike also has plants in Vietnam. Nike play a big factor in the fashion industry. Their shoes is really big in American culture. Especially in the music industry. The fashion Industry has various economic issues. Such as sales drops. Many companies and designers have to fire their employees because of sales have dropped and they can’t afford to pay their employees.
Sales drop either due to the economy or the fashion designer have designed something the buyers don’t like so if either of these problems occur sales will drop. For example Nicholas Smith stated that the “popular luxury retail Company Sales drop requiring them to fire nine percent of their workforce. ( Smith) “With high-end American department store chain Saks Inc reporting that they will be cutting 9 percent of its workforce, a considerable 1,100 jobs, by January 30th, it joins a long line of major retail chains crippled by banking giants Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and Bears Stern folding under the global economic downturn. (Smith) Norris 6 Many designers and companies only design for very petite people. As you know the people in the world all come in different shapes and sizes. But most designers design for very thin and tall models. An Article written by Rebecca Greenfield acknowledges its anorexia problem
Yesterday, for example, Vogue announced a pledge to use healthy models, agreeing to not employ models under 16 or with eating disorders. “Vogue believes that good health is beautiful,”) Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Condé Nast International, said in a statement via the BBC. Vogue editors around the world want the magazines to reflect their commitment to the health of the models who appear on the pages and the wellbeing of their readers,” he continued. We’ve been hearing about the anorexia and image problems for years, even decades. (GreenField) The Fashion Industry is all based on an image they are trying to make into a reality. But some of the images the fashion designers see can sometimes cause many issues. Many designers and companies only design for very petite people. As you know the people in the world all come in different shapes and sizes.
But most designers design for very thin and tall models. The fashion industry isn’t an easy place to work as many people think it is it’s quite difficult and risky at times. In the fashion industry you risk losing your job, going bankrupt, or being shut down because of an unsafe environment. These are only a few examples of the social and economic issues the fashion industry faces in an everyday life. Many of these issues still occur today especially the racism in the fashion industry but what people fail to realize is fashion is very diverse with styles so some of the designers need to realize that and adjust to it .
