New York Fashion Week is upon us, and we are watching street style and fed trend after trend for this coming year. Businesses follow suit, creating fast fashion, consumer versions of runway looks. Globally, fashion is a $1.7 trillion dollar industry, one of the most lucrative in the world. But who are the hands that make the clothing that fill department stores and arrive in plastic packages to our doorsteps? Beyond the glitz and glamour of runways and fashion weeks, the labor of the garment workers is obscured behind labels of brand houses and fast fashion companies. Garment workers across the Third World, from Bangladesh to Angola, are the backbone of the global fashion supply chain.
Fashion transcends borders and influences cultures worldwide, showcasing the beauty and creativity of humanity, but to further understand fashion, is to also recognize the exploitative nature of the fashion industry under capitalism.
Join us on September 27th for Part 1 of Material Liberation fashion show’s political education series as we learn about the political economy of the global fashion industry. See here for all Material Liberation events.
