Mark Hatting

MKTG 436
February 21, 2018
A Summation of the Fundamental Problem in the Fast Fashion World:
Outsourcing America’s Former Fashion Problem
Four slightly different pieces with an underlying theme: The fast fashion world is ugly. The fast
fashion world advances the idea that clothes are essentially disposable. The entire process,
from farming the raw textile to the purchase at the retailer, is subject to a process that lends
itself less towards consumerism and more towards ‘consumptionism’, a term coined by Earnest
Elmo Calkins. While consumptionism isn’t necessarily a new term, it has taken on a new
meaning in the last fifty years, especially in the world of fashion. What the “Planet Money
Makes a Tee Shirt” podcast series and “The True Cost” advance is an enlightening and grisly
picture of how our clothes end up on (and sometimes off) our backs.
Lesson #1: America is the King of Exporting Cotton as Raw Material
America exports more cotton than any company in the entire world, yet most of the
clothes that we buy are imported back to us. Many of our cotton seeds are now made in a lab,
genetically modified for longest possible use. NPR’s “Planet Money Makes a Tee Shirt” states
that more than 90% of our cotton is genetically modified, responsible for a three-fold increase
in cotton yield: from 324 pounds per harvest acre in the 1950s to nearly 900 pounds per
harvest acre in 2013. According to “The True Cost”, in the 1960s, America was producing nearly
95% of its clothing domestically. Today, this number has dwindled to just around 3%. Countries
like Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia all receive this raw material and employ factory workers
to manufacture clothing and designs in substandard conditions for pittance.
Companies like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21 profit from this economic system in the
name of profits to their shareholders. In reality, our fast fashion buy-in has actually made us
poorer, forfeiting things that humans actually need like housing or future investments. The year
after the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 brought the global fashion industry’s most
profitable year in history. Today, it stands as a three trillion-dollar industry globally.
Lesson #2: America is the King of Exporting Cotton as Finished Clothes
 Not only is the United States the biggest exporter of raw cotton every year, it is also the
biggest exporter of used clothing to other countries—mainly in Africa. “The Afterlife of
American Clothes” points out the fact that the United States exports over one billion pounds of
clothing every year. Consumers bring in clothes to charities like Goodwill, but the donations are
so voluminous that some of the clothes get sold off in bulk and shipped to other countries.
Lesson #3: Material Matters
In the NPR podcast, “A Shirt, A Meat Grinder and The Book of Everything”, we learn that
materials matter. A cotton tee versus a polyester tee results in higher tariffs and import duties,
depending on its origin. The United States has free trade agreements with some countries,
which provides large incentives for companies to outsource their manufacturing. A cotton tee
from Bangladesh, for example, costs the company 16.5 percent in tariffs, while a polyester tee
costs the same company 32 percent. If the tee comes from Colombia; however, the tariff is
zero. This gives companies a huge reason to engage in socially irresponsible manufacturing
processes, while more ethical and sustainable practices are more expensive and considered a
luxury.
Lesson #4: The Problems America Had with Manufacturing Have Been Displaced, Not Solved
The single lesson that I walk away with from these four pieces of media is that American
problems regarding the manufacturing process in fashion have not been solved, they have
merely been displaced. Poor working conditions, poverty-level incomes, and a lack of worker
representation are only a single compounding problem that this industry faces. The
environmental and cultural hazards pile up in the name of economic progress, while companies
sit at the top and encourage us to buy clothes, throw them away, then buy more clothes. The
rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer.
The economic system that has historically served our country well has limits. Presently,
however, the limits have repeatedly been crossed, which has exposed a darker side to the
“American” dream. Capitalism only works better when everyone gets a fair shot at success.
When the system is disproportionately rigged in favor of one entity, the system breaks down.
Sadly, this is the current state of the entire fashion world, overtaken by a model that promotes
disposability at a cost of human peril.