Ultra-fast fashion: who is really paying the price? - The Front Page

The rise and rise of online retailers has hit an all-time high – with the likes of Temu and Shein dominating consumption worldwide.

The rise and rise of online retailers has hit an all-time high – with the likes of Temu and Shein dominating consumption worldwide.

New research on the ultra-fast fashion retailer Temu has revealed that over three months, one in four New Zealanders surveyed purchased products from Temu.

A further 14% of Kiwis are estimated to have recently purchased from Shein.

The online store advertises T-shirts and dresses for as little as $3.

“When garments are this cheap, someone is paying the price,” Tearfund head of advocacy Claire Gray said.

The lack of transparency, low wages and high risks of forced labour are among Tearfund’s key concerns.

Tearfund’s 2021 Ethical Fashion Report found in 2019 40% of clothes imported into New Zealand could be made using forced and child labour.

Gray told The Front Page when something costs such a small amount of money, we know that shortcuts are being taken at some stage along the production.

“If it’s a cotton T-shirt, that cotton is farmed and then sold. So, that farmer needs to be paid a fair price for the cotton, it is then spun into yarn, it’s woven into a fabric, and it can be dyed. All of those processes require different sets of skills.

“They might happen in different factories that might even be in different regions. And then the fabric goes to a final stage manufacturing facility where it’s actually sewn into the T-shirt we see. It might be embellished or embroidered along the way, then sold, shipped to New Zealand and the price we pay is $6.

“That includes a mark-up for the brand or the company that’s selling it. So we’re actually talking less than $6 for the production cost. When you’re selling it for $6, you can just be sure that some workers along the way, whether it’s the farmer or the person that wove that yarn, are not being paid fairly for their work or they are working in unsafe conditions,” she said.

Labour issues aside, Greenpeace estimates that every year around 180,000 tonnes of clothing and textile waste is thrown away in New Zealand landfills – the equivalent of nearly 6500 shipping containers.

Globally, we’re looking at a staggering 92 million tonnes of discarded garments – out of the 100 billion produced every year.

Studies have found many people will dispose of clothes within a year – and one study found garments were thrown out after no more than 10 wearings.

When it comes to fast fashion, local designers are also arguing that imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery – as more and more of their designs make their way to the mega fast-fashion giants.

Swedish brand H&M filed a copyright lawsuit against Shein, and complaints have poured in from other designers like America’s Chrome Hearts and French brand Maison Cleo.

And it’s not just happening overseas – here in New Zealand Auckland store Crushes accused retailer Glassons of copying a T-shirt design.

Co-owner of Crushes, Rose Hope told The Front Page she was surprised at how a video of her addressing the issue on Tiktok blew up.

“The response was so positive and so many people chose to purchase the original design from us. Even though it was a very disappointing experience, it was super heartwarming.

“Being able to explain in a video what the difference is: that we make ours locally, on secondhand headstock T-shirts, our manufacturing it hurts nobody and for I think about $18 more you could get the original.

“Whether it was a deliberate copy or just a coincidence, who knows. But the fantastic thing is, it really pointed out that these identical pieces had so much to differentiate themselves from one another,” she said.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about the difference between fast and ultra-fast fashion.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

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