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  • Hi everyone, it's Justine.

  • Fast fashion is that business model where apparel brands offer collections every two

  • weeks (super low turn-around) at incredibly low prices, while saving money

  • everywhere else.

  • On production, fabric quality, on the production process, and on the salaries of the

  • garment workers.

  • So ethically, it raises many issues.

  • I've noticed in the comments on the previous videos on my channel, that some of you wonder

  • how to know, "Is this brand fast fashion, is that brand fast fashion?

  • How to tell?"

  • So I decided to dedicate today's video to this discussion.

  • How to know, how to tell if a brand is part of that fast fashion industry.

  • And to help you find out I will give you four tips.

  • Tip number one...

  • My first tip to get a feeling for who is fast fashion is to follow the path of catastrophe

  • that has happened in the garment industry in the past.

  • For example, in 2013, a big garment factory called Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh

  • on the people working in there.

  • It was all over the news.

  • I have talked about this event and it's implications in a TedX Talk in Greece last November.

  • So if you're interested, I will link that video in the corner and down below in the

  • description.

  • Today though, I want to focus on a different angle from that story.

  • The list of foreign brands that have been producing garments in that factory.

  • Because it's public information.

  • The list of the brands has been published.

  • Here is the list.

  • You see Wal-Mart in the US, you see Primark, you see Tex in France, Benetton in Italy.

  • You see Mango in Spain.

  • You see Joe Fresh.

  • Just to name probably the most famous ones.

  • So you see that these brands were from many different countries.

  • They're not even all super cheap.

  • Some of them would be considered to be brands with regular prices.

  • These brands have allowed their clothes to be produced in a factory that was not meant

  • to be a factory.

  • The building was not built for that.

  • The safety rules were not respected and human rights were ignored.

  • So that's point one.

  • Tip number two...

  • Starting from this list, see if a brand in here might also belong to a bigger group,

  • a bigger company.

  • For instance Inditex, the Spanish giant that owns Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Pull & Bear,

  • and more.

  • These brands are positioned differently, and address a huge width of different style of

  • consumers.

  • But the probability that Inditex uses the same supply chain for all it's brands is extremely

  • high.

  • In fact Zara was also producing in Bangladesh when the Rana Plaza collapsed, and Gap.

  • And H&M.

  • Bangladesh had at that time a salary of 38 dollars (US dollars) a month.

  • It's the cheapest in the world.

  • Who goes there?

  • Brands that want to reduce their costs at any cost.

  • Tip number three...

  • Understand the mindset of these apparel companies.

  • After the Rana Plaza collapsed, brands had to move.

  • They just had to.

  • It looked really, really bad for them, and they were in the spotlight.

  • They had the world's attention after that tragedy.

  • So they couldn't get away saying "Oops, we didn't know."

  • or "Oh, but you know it's not us, it was a contractor of a subsidiary of a subsidiary

  • of ours."

  • It wouldn't work.

  • So over 200 brands signed a binding agreement called the Bangladesh Accord, where clear

  • goals to achieve in terms of safety in the garment factories were set.

  • Now this year, in 2018, it's five years ago.

  • In five years, things have evolved.

  • It looks good.

  • Hazards have been reduced.

  • Safety has increased.

  • Some factories that were too dangerous, too unstable have been shut down completely.

  • However, can the garment workers in Bangladesh now live from their jobs?

  • No.

  • From 2013 to 2016 the minimum wage in Bangladesh has been increased from 38 to 68 US dollars.

  • It sounds like a lot but in fact it doesn't take inflation in to account, which is a big

  • factor.

  • And the living wage would actually be more 177 dollars to 214 dollars, depending on the

  • region of Bangladesh that you live in.

  • So in fact, we're still far from paying these workers properly, in Bangladesh, just to take

  • the example of that country.

  • Safety has increased.

  • It's great, and it's much needed, but it's not enough to make the fashion industry humanly

  • ethical yet.

  • Tip number four...

  • My last tip is to simply look at the price tag, and do the math going backwards.

  • For instance, if you enter Primark and you see a T-shirt for five euros, how do they

  • make it possible?

  • Let's do the math.

  • This calculation is for a large brand which produces high volumes somewhere overseas.

  • Usually 50 percent will be the margin for the retailer.

  • The margin for the brand will be around 25 percent, and since, in my example, Primark

  • is brand and retailer, it gets 75%.

  • 25% are left for the intermediaries, for transportation, factory management, overhead, manufacturing

  • costs, and at the end, the garment worker.

  • This gives you an indication or feeling of how much that person will earn from the T-shirt.

  • One more thing, because I think the question will come.

  • I took the example of Bangladesh, and the logical consequence would be, as consumers,

  • to stop buying from the fast fashion brands that produce there.

  • It is sometimes a concern, because you would think if we stop buying from Bangladesh, the

  • garment workers would lose their jobs, but in fact, not necessarily.

  • It's not likely at all, because there is no country cheaper where brands could go instead,

  • and the share of the profit and the margin that goes to the garment worker is so small

  • that increasing it would barely make a difference for the brand, and for us, consumers, in the

  • price tag.

  • There is a lot more to say about this topic, for sure, but I hope to have given you at

  • least some insights and thought-starters.

  • If you found this video, useful/helpful thumbs up.

  • Thank you so much.

  • If you're interested in fashion don't forget to subscribe to this channel.

  • I make new videos every week, and I have fun ones coming up.

  • I will see you very soon again.

  • Take care.

  • Bye.

Hi everyone, it's Justine.

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