Most of us now buy clothes without waiting for a special occasion and this is largely due to the dramatic reduction in the price of many clothes.
Due to globalization, clothes can now be produced at lower prices in remote areas, which leads to lower prices and increased variety.
But how is that possible? And what does our shopping habits cost our environment?
An investigative team from BBC Radio 4 traveled from Spain to Ethiopia to find out how our land and people with limited resources pay for our unquenchable thirst for fashion. How to avoid
How does it all happen?
Bringing fashion trends on brands from the catwalk to the general public and in the meantime, the pressure to distribute profits among investors triggers a trade war to find the cheapest source.
Critics of the practice call it a “needle’s eye” pursuit.
The plight of some of our garment workers came to light when 1,138 garment workers lost their lives in the demolition of Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza Textile Complex.
The pressure to improve the working conditions of these people increased and it had better results.
In response to the growing global demand for transparency, many large retailers such as H&M and Converse began issuing lists to their suppliers and in some cases to their subcontractors (which may be in the thousands).
Have exploitative factories become a thing of the past?
But the latest changes have had unpredictable consequences. When wages in Bangladesh rose, many companies moved to other countries to keep their costs down.
In Ethiopia, for example, wages are on average one-third that of Bangladesh. Less than 7 7 a week is very common.
Workers at a factory near Addis Ababa, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said wages were too low to make a living.
He also said that working conditions, including dirty toilets and galum gloch, were unbearable.
The Workers ‘Rights Consortium, an organization working for workers’ rights, condemned the situation. Many workers are not paid overtime, and in some cases, employers touch the stomachs of female workers to see if they are pregnant, says Pane Loppe Keratitis, author of the report.
Keratitis says little progress has been made since the report was released a few months ago.
In order to compete with other countries, the Ethiopian government offers low wages as a positive thing.