Tearfund and Baptist World Aid have just released their 2024 Ethical Fashion Report and, as Dan Ahwa reports, when it comes to the ongoing issue of fast and ultra-fast fashion, the onus shouldn’t always be on the consumer.
Aid and development organisation Tearfund New Zealand released new research on ultra-fast
This Ethical Fashion Report, now in its 10th edition, has been delivered in collaboration between Tearfund and the Baptist World Aid for the past seven years. This year’s report is based on data from 13,000 data points collected through the Ethical Fashion Surveys that were conducted with 120 companies between February and June 2024.
Working alongside the Baptist World Aid to produce the Ethical Fashion Report, it revealed that one in four New Zealanders surveyed purchased products from Temu, the equivalent of over one million Kiwis shopping at Temu. Shein had 550,000 New Zealand shoppers.
Launched in 2022, Temu has rapidly changed the way people shop, and while it sells everything across various categories including car parts, homewares, appliances and beauty products, the e-tailer has also created a significant issue when it comes to the dirt-cheap clothes it also sells.
Ultra-fast fashion is a term now used to describe the enormous volume of clothes being sold on sites like Shein (where a further 14% of New Zealanders shop according to the new report) and Temu, with the company sourcing its products directly from manufacturers in China and cutting out the middleman to reduce costs.
These heavily discounted garments also cut out the cost involved with branding and marketing, and draw concerns over the quality of its products.
Ultra-fast fashion retailers like Shein and Temu ultimately speed up production cycles, churning out clothes destined for landfills.
For New Zealanders, this is a growing concern given approximately 74,000 tonnes of clothing are consumed each year here. Auckland’s Redvale landfill alone receives 70 trucks of clothing waste each week.
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Advertise with NZME.“It’s no surprise an increasing number of Kiwis are turning to these cheap retailers as the cost-of-living crisis bites,” says Claire Gray, Tearfund New Zealand’s education and advocacy manager, who has been leading the research on the fashion industry for Tearfund for nearly a decade.
“But by easing our financial burden we risk making life unbearable for the people who make our clothes.”
Companies such as Temu also indicate how ultra-fast fashion has taken off since the last research edition in 2022. Gray says as part of the research into the more traditional fast-fashion companies conducted since 2017, interviews with garment factory workers on the ground in producing countries and trawling through screeds of audit data submitted as part of the research process have helped provide confronting statistics.
“The stories we hear when interviewing industry workers are truly haunting,” says Gray.
“One story from 2022 that has stuck with me is the story of Moshan. Moshan is a worker at a leather tannery in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and has spent 40 years chemically treating hides to turn them into the leather that, down the line, will likely be fashioned into a pair of trendy boots or shoes.
“When we asked Moshan to describe his work he told us he works 16-hour shifts. He said ‘The gasses in the air are strong enough to melt iron and any jewellery we wear. We only have chemicals in our bodies now.’
“Moshan’s last words to us in that interview were: “The rich are getting richer, but the poor are dying”. Moshan’s words and the images they provoke have haunted me. Every time I walk into or past a shoe shop now the image of jewellery melting into workers’ bodies is vivid in my mind. Moshan is one worker, in one factory, in one country. There are 28 million people trapped in forced labour around the world today. Most of whom would have stories just as harrowing or worse than Moshan’s.”
Gray also says the auditing process and reports are another example of how confronting the data is.
“I can recall feeling sick to my stomach reading audit report after audit report that showed chronic overtime being required of workers in the factories of a particular New Zealand brand. These workers were required to work excessive overtime -75-90 hours per week - the New Zealand brand knew about this, yet ignored it to fulfill the brand’s production deadlines and downward price pressure.”
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Advertise with NZME.While the report has previously been criticised for not placing enough emphasis on solutions for keeping manufacturing of clothing in New Zealand, this latest report is in keeping with its long-term mission to create more transparent supply chains and put the spotlight on a global industry that employs tens of millions of the poorest workers.
“Given the significant amount of work it takes to make a T-shirt, and the multiple people involved, these retailers’ prices are a giant red flag that workers are being exploited,” says Gray. “When garments are this cheap, someone is paying the price.”
The reporting scores large fashion companies out of 100 based on policies and practices they have to protect workers in their supply chain and mitigate environmental impacts. Across the industry, the average company score was 30. Shein received a 20, and Temu 0.
Other results include a 45/100 for Cotton On, 31/100 for Kim Kardashian’s lingerie and shapewear brand Skims, and 68/100 for New Zealand brand Rodd & Gunn.
Since 2020, the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the research has changed to ensure all companies sit above a revenue threshold. This has meant that fewer New Zealand-headquartered companies are able to be included in the research. The focus now says Gray, is to create positive change within the fashion industry on new research better suited for the smaller businesses that make up most of New Zealand’s fashion industry.
“Ultimately, Tearfund was part of the Ethical Fashion Report research to make positive change in the fashion industry in New Zealand,” says Gray.
“The changes to the research eligibility criteria meant that this piece of research was no longer the most effective tool for making industry change in New Zealand; however, the Ethical Fashion Report remains a very important education tool for consumers as it includes the majority of main mall fashion brands operating in New Zealand.”
For the report to keep refining its objective so that it remains relevant to New Zealand, looking at the impact of these mass retailers on our local fashion industry is another way to provide real education to the New Zealand consumer.
“Temu’s low score reflects the company’s total lack of transparency. Without transparency, consumers have no way of knowing whether a brand is doing what’s possible to ensure the welfare of their workers,” says Gray.
“Low wages inhibit workers’ ability to provide for their families and can lead to working extreme overtime and increasing the risk of exploitation. As an organisation deeply engaged in anti-human trafficking work internationally, we know the fashion industry is one of the highest-risk sectors for exploitation, and it’s troubling when companies like Temu offer few meaningful assurances to the contrary,” says Gray.
The polling has also indicated that one in two New Zealand adults had more clothes than they needed, and given the significant popularity of these retailers amongst New Zealanders, Tearfund’s latest report is a guide for New Zealanders to be more pragmatic about how they shop – starting with a realistic approach to shopping.
But when it comes to the discussion around fast fashion, the onus and blame are so often centred on the consumer. In the argument of this new report, should New Zealanders stop shopping at the likes of Temu and Shein?
“The reality is that if your family needs clothes and your budget tight, brands like Temu offer a practical and realistic option. This is where it’s important to remember that consumers aren’t responsible for creating or solving the issue of exploitation in the fashion industry” says Gray.
“Other important factors, like businesses and the Government, have a responsibility to be addressing this issue. If a tight budget means your choice is limited to ultra-fast fashion brands, I’d suggest making sure you take good care of your clothes to help them have as long a life as possible.”
“I’d also suggest using your voice to encourage brands, like Temu or Shein, to increase their transparency and prioritise human rights in supply chains. Anyone can contact a brand via their website and send a message encouraging positive change.
“Modern slavery legislation, which would make it a legal requirement for large companies operating in New Zealand to disclose human rights risks in their supply chains, is a live conversation in New Zealand politics at the moment.”
“We’d encourage any New Zealand citizen to speak up on this issue, post about it on social media or write to your local MP encouraging them to raise the issue in Parliament.”
Temu has also recently come under scrutiny for potentially posing a threat to privacy and high levels of heavy metals in its products.
Dan Ahwa is Viva’s fashion and creative director and a senior premium lifestyle journalist for the New Zealand Herald, specialising in the intersections of style, luxury, art and culture. He is also an award-winning stylist with more than 17 years of experience and is a co-author and co-curator of the book and exhibition Moana Currents: Dressing Aotearoa Now.
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