It's Not Just Shein: Why Are ALL Your Clothes Worse Now?

Summary

This video script delves into the evolution of the fashion industry, highlighting the shift from quality to quantity marked by the rise of fast fashion. It discusses the affordability and declining quality of clothing at stores like Abercrombie, the impact of fast fashion giants like Zara and Shein, and the environmental and ethical concerns associated with rapid production and disposal. The script also touches on the historical context, including trade agreements and the internet's role in accelerating fashion trends, ultimately questioning the sustainability of the industry and its effects on consumers and workers.

Takeaways

• 🛍️ The script discusses the author's experience shopping at Abercrombie, noting affordability but also a decline in clothing quality compared to their high school days.
• 📉 The author observes a general degradation in the quality of clothing across brands, not just Abercrombie, and questions whether this is a broader trend.
• 👗 Amanda McCarty, a 20-year veteran buyer in fashion, confirms the decline in clothing quality and fit, attributing it to the fast fashion trend and its impact on the industry.
• 📈 The script highlights the increase in the number of clothing items purchased annually by the average American, from 12 in 1980 to 68 today, while spending a smaller percentage of income on clothes.
• 📅 The shift from seasonal collections to a constant stream of new fashion items due to fast fashion, reducing the time and care invested in each piece.
• 👗 The influence of Zara's fast fashion model, which revolutionized the industry by reducing production time from months to weeks and changing the retail landscape.
• 💼 The role of political and economic factors, such as NAFTA and China's trade relations, in facilitating the fast fashion boom by making overseas production cheaper.
• 📉 The impact of the 2008 financial crisis on consumer spending habits, leading to a preference for cheaper clothing options and a decline in traditional retail.
• 🧵 The script describes how quality is compromised in the production of cheaper clothing, with the use of synthetic materials and cost-cutting measures.
• 🌐 The rise of online shopping and social media's influence on the fast fashion industry, accelerating trend cycles and consumer demand for new clothes.
• 🏭 The script criticizes the environmental and social costs of fast fashion, including textile waste, exploitative labor practices, and poor working conditions.

Q & A

Why did the author feel 'mildly triggering' about shopping at Abercrombie for the first time since high school?

The author felt 'mildly triggering' because Abercrombie was considered the coolest store during their high school years but was unaffordable due to their middle-class background.

What two main observations did the author make while shopping at Abercrombie now compared to their high school days?

The author noticed that everything is more affordable than before and that the quality of the clothing has declined, with more synthetic fabrics and loose threads.

How has the author's perception of Abercrombie's clothing quality changed over time?

The author now perceives Abercrombie's clothing as not as high quality as they remembered from their teenage years, with more items made from synthetic fabrics and lacking the firmness and quality they expected.

What role did Amanda McCarty play in the author's comparison of old and new Abercrombie denim?

Amanda McCarty, with 20 years of experience as a buyer in the fashion industry, helped the author compare the quality of old and new Abercrombie denim, noting significant differences in materials and production.

What are the two major changes Amanda McCarty observed in the fashion industry during her career?

Amanda McCarty observed that clothes no longer fit properly and that the longevity and quality of clothes have significantly degraded over time.

How has the increase in the number of new clothing pieces bought annually by the average American impacted the fashion industry?

The increase from 12 new pieces in 1980 to around 68 today, along with a decrease in the percentage of income spent on clothes, has led to a shift towards cheaper, lower quality, and more disposable clothing.

What was the significance of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and normalized trade relations with China in the context of the fashion industry?

NAFTA and normalized trade with China made it cheaper to produce clothes in these countries due to lower labor costs, leading to a mass exodus of textile factories from the U.S. and contributing to the rise of fast fashion.

How did the 2008 financial crisis contribute to the decline in clothing quality?

The financial crisis led middle-class consumers to cheaper options, prompting non-fast fashion retailers to cut costs by using synthetic materials and reducing details in their clothing to stay competitive.

What is the concept of 'griege goods' and how did it help Zara revolutionize the fashion industry?

Griege goods are unfinished, uncovered pieces of fabric that can be quickly turned into any garment. Zara used griege goods to streamline production, manufacture in their own high-tech factories in Spain, and reduce the time from design to store from nine months to 15 days.

How does Shein's business model differ from traditional fast fashion retailers like Zara?

Shein operates as a marketplace, selling clothes from thousands of independent Chinese factories. It uses real-time sales data to inform production levels, allowing for extremely fast turnover of hyper-trendy, low-quality clothing at incredibly cheap prices.

What are some of the negative environmental and social impacts of the fast fashion industry?

Fast fashion contributes to textile waste, which is a significant environmental problem, and relies on exploitative labor practices, including low wages, poor working conditions, and even forced labor in some cases.

Outlines

00:00

🛍️ Return to Abercrombie: Quality and Affordability Revisited

The script begins with the narrator's personal experience revisiting Abercrombie after high school, noting affordability and a decline in product quality. The narrator observes loose threads and synthetic fabrics, contrasting with the high-quality clothing once associated with the brand. Despite some items meeting their approval, such as a dress they'd consider purchasing, the overall impression is of diminished quality. This leads to a broader reflection on whether clothing from the past was superior, prompting a comparison of vintage and contemporary items from various brands. The narrator's research involves buying items from the '90s and 2000s and their 2024 counterparts, with the help of Amanda McCarty, a veteran buyer in the fashion industry. McCarty highlights the degradation in fit and longevity of clothing, attributing it to changes in consumer behavior and industry practices, including a shift from quality to quantity. The script delves into historical data on clothing purchases and spending, illustrating a significant increase in the number of garments bought annually while the proportion of income spent on clothing has decreased. This section concludes with an exploration of how the fashion industry's production cycle has evolved, from careful, limited collections to a fast-paced, high-turnover model.

05:00

🔄 The Zara Effect: Fast Fashion's Rise and Impact on Quality

This paragraph delves into the rise of fast fashion, exemplified by Zara's innovative production model. Zara's ability to reduce the time from design to store by using griege goods and high-tech factories in Spain revolutionized the industry. The script explains Zara's small-batch production strategy, which allows for rapid response to consumer demand, minimizing waste and markdown sales. However, this approach has led to a decline in clothing quality and fit, as the industry prioritizes trendiness and affordability over durability. The paragraph also touches on the broader implications of fast fashion, including the impact of trade agreements like NAFTA and the expiration of the Multifiber Arrangement, which opened the floodgates for cheap labor and production in countries with lax regulations. The script reflects on how the 2008 financial crisis further accelerated the shift towards fast fashion, as retailers adjusted pricing strategies to remain competitive, leading to a decline in the quality of even traditional brands.

10:02

👖 Denim Degradation: The Downward Spiral of Fashion Quality

The script continues with a detailed comparison of vintage and modern clothing items, focusing on the degradation of quality in materials, construction, and design. Using Abercrombie jeans as an example, the narrator contrasts the substantial, 100% cotton vintage pair with the modern, elastane-blend version, highlighting the impact of synthetic materials and cost-cutting measures on the lifespan and sustainability of garments. The paragraph also discusses the reduction in size options and the simplification of design details, such as the omission of buttons and the use of cheaper zippers. The narrator extends this critique to other brands like Anthropologie, comparing a vintage wool sweater with a modern polyester equivalent, and noting the shift to 'one size fits all' garments as a cost-saving measure. The paragraph concludes with a critique of private equity firms' impact on the fashion industry, their focus on debt and profit over quality, and the role of social media in accelerating fashion trends and consumer expectations.

15:02

🌍 The Global Consequences of Fast Fashion

The final paragraph addresses the global impact of fast fashion, from the exploitation of workers and unsafe working conditions to the environmental consequences of textile waste. The script discusses the 2013 Bangladesh garment factory collapse as a tragic example of the industry's disregard for worker safety. It also touches on the issue of forced labor in cotton production in Xinjiang and the prevalence of cheap, disposable clothing in the market. The narrator challenges the sustainability of the fast fashion business model, pointing out the vast amounts of clothing waste and the slow decomposition of synthetic materials. The paragraph concludes with a call to action, highlighting ongoing legislative efforts to regulate the industry and the need for consumers and lawmakers to demand better practices that do not come at the expense of workers or the environment.

Keywords

💡Abercrombie

Abercrombie refers to a popular clothing brand known for its high-quality products in the past. In the video, it is used to illustrate the perceived decline in clothing quality over time. The script mentions the narrator's experience shopping at Abercrombie and noticing both affordability and a decline in quality compared to their high school days.

💡Fast Fashion

Fast fashion is a term used to describe the rapid production of inexpensive clothing to meet quickly changing fashion trends. The video discusses the rise of fast fashion, starting with Zara and including brands like H&M and Forever 21, which have contributed to a decline in clothing quality and sustainability due to their focus on speed and low costs.

💡Griege Goods

Griege goods are unfinished, undyed, and uncut fabric that can be quickly turned into finished garments once a design is finalized. The script explains how Zara utilized griege goods to streamline their production process, enabling them to bring new fashion trends to market in just 15 days, a significant reduction from the industry standard of nine months.

💡Synthetic Fabrics

Synthetic fabrics, such as polyester, are man-made materials often used in clothing as a cheaper alternative to natural fibers. The video highlights the shift towards using synthetic fabrics in modern clothing production as a cost-cutting measure, which has contributed to a decrease in the longevity and quality of garments.

💡Quality Clothes

Quality clothes refer to garments that are well-made, durable, and often more expensive due to their superior materials and craftsmanship. The script contrasts the quality clothes of the past with the current trend of cheap, disposable clothing, indicating a societal shift in values and consumer behavior.

💡NAFTA

NAFTA, or the North American Free Trade Agreement, is a trade agreement that reduced trade barriers between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The video mentions NAFTA as a factor that contributed to the outsourcing of textile manufacturing, leading to cheaper clothing production but also to concerns about labor practices and environmental impact.

💡Shein

Shein is an online fast fashion retailer known for its extremely low prices and rapid production cycles. The script positions Shein as the epitome of 'instant fashion,' able to produce and sell new styles at an unprecedented pace, raising concerns about labor exploitation and environmental harm.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability in the context of the video refers to the environmental and social implications of the fast fashion industry. The script discusses the negative impacts of fast fashion on the environment, such as textile waste and the use of non-biodegradable materials, as well as social issues like worker exploitation.

💡Elastane

Elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its elasticity, often used in clothing to provide stretch. The video uses elastane as an example of a material that can reduce the quality and lifespan of garments, such as jeans, by making them more prone to wear and tear.

💡Private Equity

Private equity refers to investment funds that pool private capital from investors to invest in companies. The script mentions private equity firms buying up traditional retailers, leading to business decisions driven by financial targets rather than quality or sustainability, which has further degraded the quality of clothing available to consumers.

💡De Minimis

De minimis is a tax exemption for imported goods under a certain value, originally intended for small, personal imports. The video explains how companies like Shein exploit this exemption to avoid U.S. tariffs by shipping goods directly from factories, highlighting a loophole that lawmakers are attempting to close.

Highlights

Abercrombie's shift from unaffordability to affordability and perceived decline in clothing quality.

Comparison of clothing quality between the '90s and 2000's and 2024 versions, indicating a degradation in longevity and fit.

Amanda McCarty's 20-year experience in fashion industry revealing changes in clothing production and quality.

The paradox of Americans buying five times more clothes while spending a smaller percentage of income on them.

The historical context of clothing production in the '80s and '90s, emphasizing quality and careful design.

The impact of Zara's fast fashion model on the industry, reducing production time from months to weeks.

The role of NAFTA and trade policies in facilitating the fast fashion industry's access to cheap labor.

How the 2008 financial crisis influenced middle-class consumers to opt for cheaper clothing options.

The transformation of brands like J.Crew and Anthropologie into fast fashion due to market pressures.

The cost-cutting measures in clothing production, such as using synthetic materials and reducing sizes.

The degradation in quality of clothing items, exemplified by a comparison of vintage and modern jeans.

The influence of social media on the fast fashion industry, accelerating trend cycles and consumer expectations.

Shein's rise as an 'instant fashion' giant, releasing new items at an unprecedented rate.

Shein's business model as a marketplace connecting thousands of Chinese factories to consumers.

The environmental and social costs of fast fashion, including textile waste and labor exploitation.

Legislative efforts to address the environmental and labor issues within the fast fashion industry.

The need for consumers to question the sustainability and ethical implications of their clothing purchases.

Transcripts

I'm shopping at Abercrombie for the first time since I was in high school.

Mildly triggering because this was like the coolest store back in the day.

But I could never afford it because my family is middle class.

Now that I'm here, I'm noticing two main things.

One is that everything is kind of affordable,

which was definitely not the case in high school.

The other thing that I'm noticing is that

everything is just a little bit shittier than you'd want it to be.

Seeing a lot of like loose threads on things and a lot of stuff

that's just made out of 100% synthetic fabrics.

Clothing just doesn't feel like this nice, firm,

high quality that I associate with Abercrombie.

Abercrombie still does sell some high quality clothing.

I actually I really like this dress and would totally buy it.

And I'm glad they've decided to start using normal lighting in their stores.

But seeing so much cheap and low quality stuff there made me

wonder, did clothing used to be better when I was a teenager?

Not just at Abercrombie, but across the board.

So I scoured eBay, Depop and Poshmark

for clothes from trusted brands of the '90's and 2000's.

Then I went to those same stores and bought the 2024 version of each item.

Abercrombie was like legendary for really high quality denim.

To compare the old and new,

I got help from Amanda McCarty.

I worked as a buyer in the fashion industry for about 20 years.

In the span of my career,

I saw how what we sell people changed.

The two major changes, I would say are, one, nothing fits properly anymore.

It's not you. It's nothing about your body. You're great.

And two, the longevity of these clothes, even how you feel

when you put them on, has degraded so much.

It's just not a good deal.

It's not just in my head.

It has gotten harder to find quality clothes that last,

even at brands you used to like.

If you're wondering why, keep watching,

I want you to think

about how many new pieces of clothing you bought last year.

If you're anything like the average American, it was around 68.

in 1980 that number was 12.

But wait, it gets crazier.

In the '80s, Americans spent about 7% of their annual income on clothes.

Today, it's just 3%.

We spend half as much, even though we're buying five times more.

This Abercrombie ad from the '80s helps explain why.

The high quality wool was a huge selling point.

They even tell you exactly where it's from.

And notice how they say this is part of their fall collection?

Because in the '80s and '90s, stores only had new clothes

a couple of times a year.

Usually a spring summer collection and a fall winter collection.

And designers would start working on each collection up to nine months

in advance because clothing production takes a lot of work.

They had to think of hundreds of unique designs and whittle them down to the dozen

or so best ones,

send the designs to the factory, go back and forth with them

for months to create a prototype, choose the best fabric,

the right embellishments, and figure out the proportions for different sizes.

After all that, they place a massive order

with the factory and then just pray the design would sell.

It was kind of like a game of chance.

You'd place two huge bets per year, and if your styles flopped,

you'd be stuck with a whole bunch of clothes

you'd have to sell or discount or just throw away.

That risk is why

so much care and thoughtfulness went into making each piece of clothing

and why you could expect quality at every price point.

Even at discount stores like Sears or

J.C. Penney. Just look at the way

J.C. Penney advertised this suit in an ad from the '80s.

Two piece suits that are expertly tailored,

classically designed and have an elegant touch.

They're not selling you on the price

or the trendiness, but on the craftsmanship and design.

Even one of the cheaper suits on the market was still pretty high quality,

which is probably why if you adjust for inflation,

this $160 suit would cost $600 today.

If you go to

J.C. Penney now, you can easily get a two piece suit for under $200.

So in the '80s and '90s, people were buying fewer clothes,

but they'd be well-made pieces that would be worn for years.

And keeping up with all the trends?

Well, that was something only wealthy people could do.

Pull the latest Brioni's and charge them to our account.

Yes, ma'am.

What are Brioni's? Six months of my car payments, plus a car.

Then came a little store called Zara and everything began to change.

The New York Times coined the term fast fashion in this 1989

article about the first U.S. store of Zara.

"The latest trend is what we're after,"

A Zara executive told The Times.

"It takes 15 days between a new idea and getting it into the stores."

Remember that took most stores nine months.

How did Zara do it in 15 days?

By streamlining this part of the production process

with something called griege goods

rather than manufacturing overseas.

Zara built their own high tech factories in Spain,

all connected to headquarters by an underground monorail.

There, robots working around the clock cut and dye fabrics to create

unfinished, uncovered pieces that can be turned into any garment.

Once the design is created, Zara can send those greige goods

to their network of small shops in nearby regions where they're

transformed into finished dresses, trousers and tops.

Instead of huge orders, Zara makes a small batch of each style to start with.

The retail stores can then send feedback to headquarters

about what's selling and what's not, and they can quickly ramp up production

on whatever's popular, restocking within days if needed.

It massively reduced the risk that came with clothing production.

Instead of losing money on clearance sales or throwing away

unsold goods, Zara's styles often sell out quickly.

The designers don't have to predict trends a year in advance.

They can just respond to fashion trends

as they emerge, though sometimes that gets a little sketchy.

For example, here's a look from the high fashion designer, Celine,

from a collection that debuted on the Vogue runway in 2013.

This skirt would have retailed for at least $1,000.

And here's a very similar looking skirt

selling on Zara's website for just $80.

According to the Wayback Machine, Zara had this skirt for sale

by August, which would have been just a few weeks after Celine's version

landed in boutiques.

These runway knockoffs and how quickly Zara could get them into

stores were wildly popular.

By August 2008, Zara's parent company, Inditex,

became the world's largest fashion retailer.

This is also when you had the rise of two other fast fashion

giants of the new millennium, Forever 21 and H&M,

which pioneered a new way to bring the runway to the masses.

They partner with luxury designers to make exclusive lines for H&M

at affordable prices, starting with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004.

"Karl is it true?"

"Of course, it's true." This part of the story,

it seems sort of like a win for the 99%.

Fast fashion was making it so that anyone could wear runway designs

while they were still popular.

That was a new thing. Of course, encouraging lots of consumers

to buy low cost clothes that would go out of style

quickly would shockingly have some downsides, too.

But we'll come back to that.

Bcause we can't give the minds behind Zara

and H&M all the credit for the rise of fast fashion.

We also have to give some credit to ... Bill Clinton?

No, not because of his style.

In 1994,

President Clinton signed NAFTA, the North American Free

Trade Agreement, which made it cheaper to make clothes in Mexico.

And a few years later, he normalized trade relations with China.

Textile factories started moving out of the U.S.

because now clothing retailers had access

to the largest pool of cheap labor in human history.

Luckily, there was a law from the '70s, The Multifiber Arrangement,

which limited how much clothing American and European countries

could import from other nations.

Unfortunately, the World Trade Organization let it expire

in 2005, ushering the heyday of fast fashion,

because now there was nothing stopping companies

from producing everything in the countries with the lowest wages,

the fewest labor laws and the laxest environmental regulations.

We've arrived at the fashion landscape that I remember from my teens.

In the 2000s,

you had four distinct buying options ranging in price and quality:

high fashion or luxury brands,

department stores, mall brands and fast fashion.

But these days, it kind of feels like the bottom of this

pyramid has collapsed and everything's a little cheaper and shittier.

J.Crew, Anthropologie.

Abercrombie These didn't used

to be considered fast fashion, but now they arguably are.

And that's because of two very big things

that changed the experience of shopping into the hellscape of today.

The first is the 2008 financial crisis.

Middle class consumers no longer had as much money to spend,

so they began drifting over to cheaper options, while

all of the other non fast fashion retailers were struggling.

Forever 21 was opening store after store after store.

H&M, the same thing.

Zara is spreading into other cities.

And so the conversation began, "How do we compete here?"

"What if we continue to show the same prices on the price tags

that we always have?

But we know that we're going to sell most of the units

of that style on sale, and we plan for that?"

So let's say this dress costs $40 to make

and it retailed for $100 in 2007.

In 2010, during the recession, the retailer would keep the price

tag at $100, but expect that most pieces will only sell once it goes on sale.

So they'll only spend, let's say, $15 to make it so they'll still make a profit.

And how do you make clothes for cheap?

Well, by making cheaper clothes, you add synthetic materials

like polyester instead of selling pure natural fibers like cotton and wool.

You skimp on details like pockets, buttons and zippers and offer less sizes.

I could see all these things play out in the clothing I bought, like

these men's jeans from Abercrombie, from the 2000s versus now.

The vintage pair weighs a hefty 761 grams and is 100% cotton.

They feel substantial, long lasting, really high quality denim.

They have a decent amount of distressing on here

that was probably done by hand to sort of break down areas, make them softer.

In the fast fashion era,

a lot of this is skipped

where it's just like, let's just spray them with acid

or do other things that are like actually, like very toxic.

The new pair weighs less at 720 grams and is a cotton elastane blend.

This is that fast fashion track of okay, if we add a little bit of stretch,

it will fit more people theoretically and they'll be less likely to return them.

But putting elastane in jeans shortens the lifespan pretty significantly.

Those elastane fibers that are woven in here, they're plastic and they break.

And the more you wash them, the sooner they break.

But you get into the cycle where you have to wash the jeans more often

to get them to go back to size because they get stretched out.

The other main difference between these jeans, the zippers.

We have a legit luxurious zipper, long lasting 100% metal.

They smoothly go up and down like these are things that you take

for granted until you get a bad zipper.

The new pair, when you were trying to unzip these,

that sound, you can feel like this zipper is going to be a problem soon.

This is a difference of maybe $0.50, but it's a penny's game

to get the pricing to work with the targets you're given.

Another area that you can really see how quality degraded is with sweaters.

We compared an Anthropologie sweater from today

to a vintage sweater made in the nineties.

This sweater is Liz Claiborne, which is like Anthropologie before Anthropologie.

The vintage sweater is 100% wool.

The one made today is 100% polyester.

The vintage sweater has metal buttons.

The other one has no buttons at all.

The vintage sweater is a size medium.

The one made today is one size.

When I see "one size" in something like, oh, it's because they couldn't

afford to buy it in sizes to meet the margin targets.

Even with all these cost cutting measures, traditional retailers were struggling.

And that's around the time private equity firms started buying them up,

saddling them with debt and letting all the business decisions

be made by finance bros,

whose idea of fashion is that

Patagonia vest over a gingham shirt.

And on top of all that, there's still that other huge change that I mentioned.

The final death knell in quality clothing, the Internet.

Social media and fast fashion are a match made in heaven.

Social media helped shorten our attention spans, which extends to fashion

trends too, which cycled through faster and faster.

That makes fast fashion indispensable to influencers

who rely on a steady stream of new clothes for their content.

This puts pressure on all of us to wear a totally unique, never

before seen outfit every single day, which is pretty hard.

Lizzie McGuire. you are an outfit repeater.

I guess now it's time to talk about Shein,

Zara's more chaotic little sister,

the logical conclusion of fast fashion.

Shein is a company that focuses on selling as much hyper trendy,

super low quality clothing.

They can for mind blowingly cheap prices.

Shein raked in close to $10 billion in 2020.

It's currently the biggest clothing

retailer in the world, even beating out Amazon in the U.S.

Shein is not just fast fashion, it's instant fashion.

Zara can get products from drawing board to store in 15 days.

Shein can do it in three.

Zara can release 35,000 new items of clothes per year.

Shein will release that many in just a couple weeks.

So how do they do it?

Rather than functioning as a cohesive clothing manufacturer

with its own factories like Zara, Shein is more like Amazon, a huge marketplace

selling clothes from thousands of independent Chinese factories.

And it treats those factories sort of like Uber treats its drivers.

The factories are hooked up to Shein's software that collects real time

feedback about which items are selling well and which aren't.

The software

then sends alerts to the factory owners phones to ramp up or slow down production.

It's Zara's small batch production on steroids.

And just like other billionaires, Shein finds creative ways to avoid U.S.

taxes.

See, when you buy something from Shein, your clothes are shipped to

you directly from the factory in China.

There's no big Amazon style warehouses in the U.S.

full of Shein dresses.

And since packages valued at under $800 can enter the U.S.

duty free

Shein merchandise is pretty much always exempt from consumer goods tariffs.

That exemption, it's called de minimis, was originally created

so you could buy a rug or a lamp while you're on vacation

and ship it back to yourself without having to pay tariffs,

not for big clothing retailers.

50 years of fast fashion and ultra fast

fashion has completely changed our relationship with clothes.

Instead of being something to cherish and care for, they're now

just another cheap and disposable plastic consumer good. Thanks to fast

fashion, clothing retailer is in a race to the bottom death spiral.

Everything is fast fashion now.

And the thing is, all this overproduction, it doesn't just affect clothing quality.

When private equity and fast fashion companies greedily

maximize their profits, no matter what the cost,

that hurts workers across the entire textile supply chain.

Now, mass producing clothing has always relied

on extremely exploitative labor and dangerous working conditions.

But as the industry gets bigger, the casualties and abuses do keep growing.

Like when a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh

in 2013, killing over a thousand workers.

But the fast fashion companies

that produce clothes, they're hardly faced any accountability.

So it's no surprise that nearly ten years later,

a 2021 investigation by Public Eye, a Swiss human rights group

showed that factories that supply Shein are crowded and unsafe

with blocked emergency exits and people regularly working over 75 hours a week.

Slavery is still an issue, too.

According to recent investigations, anywhere between

20 and 30% of clothes being sold in the U.S.

contain cotton from Xinjiang, a region in China with cotton farms

that rely on forced labor from weavers and other Muslim minorities.

The prices that we are offered on these clothes

that are the prices we're willing to pay are not based in a reality

where everybody involved is paid a living wage and works under good conditions.

I mean, they're built off of cutting corners and exploitation.

Now, I want you to once again think of all those new clothes you bought last year.

How many of them will you still be wearing next year... the year after?

The average American gets rid of 81 pounds of clothes per year.

And that's nothing compared to the hundreds of billions of pounds

of unsold clothing and returns that manufacturers and retailers throw away.

No one actually knows how much exactly it is,

but we do know that you can see the world's textile waste from space.

This mountain of discarded clothes in Chile's Atacama Desert

grows by 39,000 tons per year.

The polyester that's in almost all clothing these days

will take centuries to decompose.

None of this bad PR is slowing down textile production at all.

Shein is on the verge of an IPO on the London Stock

Exchange with a $64 billion valuation.

That kind of stuff makes the fast fashion industry seem unstoppable.

But there are people fighting back.

First, there's that de minimis tax exemption

we talked about that allowed Shein to evade tariffs.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers are trying to close that loophole.

Meanwhile, New York lawmakers

have introduced legislation to create for the first time

legally binding environmental and labor standards for the industry.

And dozens of brands have been investigated for using cotton

from Xinjiang, including H&M, Nike, Uniqlo, Burberry and Shein.

But there's still a lot to be done,

and the industry is going to fight every step of the way.

Remember when I said Shein's IPO is in London?

The reason they're not doing it in New York

is because they didn't want to comply with U.S.

regulations that would force them to make disclosures about forced labor

in their supply chain. They haven't given up, though.

They're lawyering up and lobbying against those regulations.

Fast fashion is the story of unchecked corporate

greed in a bargain for lower prices for.

well, you. Though, as we've shown, that hasn't actually worked out for consumers.

We need lawmakers to continue cracking down on corporations like Shein

because we all deserve clothes that look and feel good but don't require

exploiting workers and destroying the planet just to be affordable.