Is Ethical Fashion Racist? See Why I’d Say Yes!

Is ethical fashion racist? If you ask me, yes! Here’s why.

By Dominique Drakeford

Let’s keep it real: the fashion industry is an engine that’s driven by modern slavery, whose success manifests from darker skinned people in what’s often referred to as ‘the developing world’ or ‘global south’.

We tend to turn a blind eye to it, but cultural context has everything to do with the world of fashion, from the underpaid workers in poorer countries sewing and weaving fibers grown by dark-skinned people in faraway places, to the superstar  designers dressing models up with ‘ethnic’ or ‘tribal inspired’ prints as part of  their seasonal presentations.  

A small community of people have become aware of these issues, and is aiming to bring them to light: I’m talking about the ethical fashion community. But could it be said that this mainly female-led group of sustainable fashion crusaders is yet another band of privileged white women essentially focused on first world problems? I would argue that yes, this is the case. And so if you’d ask me: is ethical fashion racist? Again, the answer would be yes. Here’s why.

Meet the Ethical Fashionistas

Ethical fashion lovers form an almost cult-like community of people who give a damn about the environment and the workers making their clothes. They support designers who work directly with skilled artisans and those who embrace non-toxic production techniques, working to be more transparent.

Marketing research shows these women tend to have postgraduate qualifications, are married or in long term partnerships,  tend to come from middle class backgrounds or higher – and are predominantly white. Some of the most famous names behind the movement include Livia Firth, Lucy Siegel, Emma Watson, and Orsola de Castro – all of whom exemplify this consumer profile.

Sure, it’s wonderful that these women care about who made their clothes. But the truth is, many of them don’t give a damn about – or perhaps even think about – the cultural pillars of sustainability. By this, I mean the majority of women come to ethical fashion from the perspective of the wealthy consumer – for they are in an economic position to consume regularly.

Going Deeper

Whilst they may argue that the darker skinned women who are on the production end of fashion deserve a better wage, they never seem to even question for one moment why it is darker skinned women who are behind the sewing machines in the first place.

According to the American Department of Commerce, of the top apparel-exporting countries, monthly minimum wages in Bangladesh were  the lowest: $39 dollars per month as of mid-2013. In India, America’s sixth-most-important clothing importer, it’s $71. Garment-industry workers in China fare slightly better, although minimum monthly wages there vary by province, from $138 in Guangdong to $262 in Shanghai.

Ethical fashionistas are trying to push those wages up and improve the horrendous working conditions of garment workers in our main clothing supplying nations. But as I mentioned above, we need to go deeper and question is why our clothing production is outsourced to darker women in the first place? And the answer is not simple.

Historic Imbalance

History has shown us that colonisation, genocide and economic exploitation by Anglo/European races has often left those with darker skins in positions of poverty, vulnerability and instability. Whilst this history goes long and deep, it can be safe to say that the dominance of Anglo/Europeans around the globe is the result of a well-planned globalisation agenda.

This sees those outside the realm of the white nations of power (think: northern Europe, Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia) in rather vulnerable positions as the producers of our consumer goods. With very few exceptions (like tight American allies, Japan and South Korea), the developing world is merely seen as territory to be exploited for its raw materials and labour.

It’s Political

Trade agreements like NAFTA and the WTO, as well as financial pressure from the IMF and World Bank, national taxation laws, amongst other instruments, reinforce this duality. Whilst such legislation and their effects are too complex to delve into in this article, the bottom line is that it could be strongly argued that the aftereffects of colonisation, along with the impact of most global trade agreements, clearly leave the Anglo countries better off. And the countries with darker skinned inhabitants are always comparatively worse off.

International banking and trade agreements often  disempower those nations from taking control of their own economies, financial markets, labour laws and sovereignty, restricting them from developing their own models for production and growth.

When a nation dares take such control into their own hands, America and its allies simply send in the ‘economic hit men’ to pressure them back into a pro-American model. Think of what happened in  Chile and Indonesia in the 70’s, or why Iran and Syria are under constant threat or attack by our governments today.

Furthermore, it seems that the rules that apply to the rich, generally whiter North don’t apply to the darker skinned South. For example, whilst white-guy owned companies like Louis Vuitton and Gucci are happy to shut down Chinese factories making copies of their bags, Isabel Marant, a well-known Parisian designer, created exact replicas of traditional apparel from the mixed communities of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Done, of course, without giving them a penny for this blatant plagiarism.  

How To Take Action

The ‘ethical fashion community’ needs to think deeper. For example, these are often the same women who brag about a big clothing donation they’ve made to Africa, without considering the economic devaluation they’re sparking for local clothing brands, who can’t compete with ‘free’.

These are the same folks who will march up and down for ‘first world’ women’s rights causes like untaxed tampons, but would be unwilling to do the same for issues that affect darker skinned women, such as institutional  violence or lower pay for equal work.

These are the same women who wear Inca or Aztec-style clothing from Topshop because they don’t want to pay more for goods made by the very women who invented those stitches. And when they do visit Peru or Mexico, they’ll bargain down local fashion producers to the last penny because: ‘why should I pay more just because they think I’m rich?‘

The reality is that white women are richer. And while it’s nice that ethical fashionistas aim to have brown women’s wages upped, it’s not until the brown women are in the game of producing and designing fashion for consumption to the masses that we can say there’s really such a thing as ‘ethical fashion’.

Dominique Drakeford is the Founder of DrakefordPR.com  Chief Curator at  MelaninASS.com

Is ethical fashion racist in your opinion? Do you agree with Dominique? We’d love to hear your comments, below.