The Endemic of Western Feminism in Fast Fashion

By Ariel Pinzon, University of Amsterdam

It is a thing to triumph when activism enters mainstream consciousness. Not only is the general public informed about social inequality, but also it pressures institutions such as fashion companies to be vocal about popular social concerns. The feminist movement is now entering its Fourth Wave in Western society, highlighting the importance of inclusivity and representation of all women. There is an attempt to hear marginalized narratives and experiences. Celebrities, pop-stars and models claim ownership of the term ‘feminist', inciting a dialogue about its definition and necessity. Fashion and beauty companies followed this in stride, starting campaigns that involve a diversity of women who are comfortable and happy with themselves. However, fast fashion brands that position themselves as allies of the feminist discourse seem to erase their own hypocrisy. They are disinterested in the concerns of their women laborers from developing nations, who suffer in dehumanizing conditions with poor wages. While it is a progressive step for feminism to enter mainstream media, it should assert the need for intersectionality, inclusive of the empowerment of women in the world’s margins.

H&M’s Autumn Collection in 2016 campaigned to redefine female representations in media. They worked with activist models of all ages and colors. The video included Hari Nef, a transgender actress and model, Lauren Hutton, who was 71-years-old in the campaign launch, Adwoa Aboah, a British-Ghanian model and feminist activist, among others. Models showed off their bald heads, toned bodies, and armpit hair. They unzipped their jeans to eat fries, picked food out of their mouth, and were visibly irritated by men in dinner parties. Viewers from all over the world praised the campaign for its inclusivity, underlying that there is no one monolithic femininity and women can be happy and proud with whomever they are. The campaign is a progressive leap in mainstream media and marketing, and introduces the feminist discourse to the public. H&M advertised body positivity and female beauty in its diversity, smashing stereotypes of femininity.

However, an advertisement by World Vision Canada begged to disagree. Their campaign, No Child for Sale: Stop Child Labor in Sweatshops retaliates from H&M’s ‘feminist’ inclusivity of all women. The video opens with a Caucasian little girl playing with her favorite pink blanket. She carries it with her as she plays outdoors and indoors, with her friends, pets and parents. She sleeps and wakes up holding her blanket, and then the scene cuts to a girl of similar age, working late at night in a sweatshop to sew the same blanket. The advertisement adds, “Children as young as 6 are being sold to sweatshops”. While it is not directly targeted to H&M, the latter is infamous for outsourcing production to developing countries, in oppressive and hazardous working conditions. Butler (2016) reports that H&M factories in Myanmar employed underage workers, who work more than 12 hours a day. In addition, Waronwant.org reports that 85 per cent of workers in the garment industry are women, and they are paid an amount far below a living wage. The campaign follows the adage that there is no ethical consumption in capitalism.

In unpacking both advertisements, several issues arise. The H&M Autumn Collection campaign has both wins and losses. It critiques beauty culture and power structure. Bald women, fat women, marginalized women, lesbians and trans-women used to be stigmatized in media, and now they are gradually smashing how they should be perceived and idealized. The advertisement represents female pleasure, same-sex love, self-esteem and confidence. All of these scenes are taken without the burden of male attention or influence. The H&M campaign boasts of an intersectional form of feminism, which situates itself within a majorly White Male mainstream culture. This opens an avenue for marginalized women to voice out their concerns, and for the audience to have a shifting view of how women should be presented.

Activism relies heavily on media outlets to promote their politics and issues of representation. When adopted by an institution like a fashion corporation, the discourse enters mass ideology, and unfortunately, consumption. The problem with feminism in consumer culture is that it derives a false sense of power through purchasing power. (D’Enbeau 2011) Women feel empowered and think that they are ‘feminists’ when they buy from the brand. D’Enbeau (2011) writes, “Consumption has allowed marginalized groups to attain equality. However, the empowerment is oxymoronic in that it is enabled via consumerism”. On the one hand, H&M represents inclusive and intersectional feminism. On the other hand, they employ the idea of ‘feminism’ as a marketing ploy, no different from the Coachella boho-chic collection. It is strategically aimed at a particular demographic of potential women consumers. They enable feminist representations, so long as it is in accordance with their corporate interests.

The problem with corporation-enabled activism is that it offers no real commitment, and is based on self-interest. The H&M advertisement is a case of commodity activism, or ‘empowertising’. This is a process where social action is understood though merchandising practices and corporate profits. (MacLellan 2015) Feminism, an advocacy that aims to be understood by public consciousness, has to fight for its position in mainstream media. It has to compete with the next season’s trends in order to remain relevant. The problem with this approach is that it is not normalized as an ideology, but a dispensable fashion trend.

World Vision Canada’s advertisement challenges the brand of feminism displayed by H&M. It shows the limits of ‘inclusivity’ and ‘diversity’, which targets only middle-class Western women with purchasing power. Western women feel empowered, but at the cost of other women living below the poverty line, in oppressive working conditions and with exposure to harmful chemicals. While the advertisement focuses on child labor, it compares the early lives of women in the West and in developing nations. It provides a stark contrast between the feminism in West, which values representation in media, and feminism as a basic human right in the Third World. The ethics of child labor, in this case, is not separate from feminist issues. In the global scale, feminism is not separate from class struggle and economic empowerment. It opens information on working conditions and employer accountability.

In 2013, 1138 factory workers were killed in the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh. These workers were primary suppliers of H&M. Despite signing the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, only a dismal percentage implemented the corrective action plans. The others are behind schedule or have not finished their action plans. Due to the refusal to comply with the accord, more than 78,000 garment workers continue to work in plants without safety hazards. (Kasperkevic, 2016) More than 3 million workers depend on the textile industry for work, but earn below the living wage. Factory workers are forced to work 14-16 hours a day without weekend breaks, in cramped and hazardous conditions. (Waronwant.org) Women have no maternity leave, and employers offer no monetary compensation in factory work-related death. (Friedel 2015) They are also exposed to health risks in using chemicals in clothing, such as carcinogenic dyes and finishing agents with biocides. (Pirow, 2015).

A truly intersectional and inclusive critique of H&M’s ‘feminist’ campaign should go beyond mere representation. Women with a true feminist consciousness should be concerned about labor and the ethics of fashion. The primary issue that it should confront is the sustainability in fast fashion. Sustainability is defined as any activity that can continue without causing harm, either in the environment or in human livelihoods and well-being. (Chan, Wang, Venkatesh et al 2012) The politically correct representation of women is a celebration only in the Western world, and focuses on the power of the individual. An all-inclusive campaign that truly helps women should be enacted within a Marxist consciousness, considering exploitation of labor, dehumanization and alienation as feminist concerns.

Fashion corporations outsource their production where cheap labor is legal. This chain of command allows lower manufacturing costs, supplies lower wages, which results to lower product prices and higher volume. (Chan, Wang, Venkatesh et al 2012) This textile chain of labor victimizes the poor women and families in rural towns, who have no other means of livelihood. Because of their economic situation in life, transnational corporations easily exploit them. Their meager wages are barely sufficient for daily needs, much less for education and life advancement. Because of the absence of an economic capital, they cannot advance their social and cultural capital. Simply speaking, having no money for education means having no network in powerful institutions, and having no voice. In the case of Bangladeshi workers, class struggle is not separate from feminist issues, because poverty affects the self-actualization of women and children.

The problem with representing women from developing countries, is that they are not represented enough. No big corporation will adopt their advocacy because it is not marketable. Worse, because corporations control what sort of feminism they will present mainstream, they are able to diminish the voices of women in marginalized areas, the same women they exploit. The danger of exhibiting Western feminism in a global platform is that it becomes canon; like a fashion trend, it becomes an ideal. Women from all over the world praise H&M’s idea of diversity, wanting to purchase items that provide them a false sense of power. This is a case of intellectual imperialism, when something of higher political and cultural power speaks over the concerns of developing nation’s issues. Because western feminism is represented in local shops and media outlets, women are more informed of their definition of feminism, instead their own local issues.

Both in first and third world countries, the products and ideology are sold to middle class women, who are then encouraged to speak out about their issues. Their anxieties about body-image and identity resonate with the campaign, giving them a sense of legitimacy for their advocacies. This may appear to be a progressive step for women worldwide, instead it erases the issues of poor women, who are the true victims of systemic oppression. Local and lower-class issues are sidetracked, and women’s attention and advocacy are diverted to the Western definition of ‘empowerment’ and ‘feminism’.

The hypocrisy of capitalist-sponsored feminism is that it offers no real alleviation to the ordeals of women in developing nations. This resonates with Mao Tse-tung’s belief that “There has been no such all-inclusive love since humanity was divided into classes. All the ruling classes of the past were fond of advocating it…but nobody has ever really practiced it, because it is impossible in class society.” If viewed from the perspective of a garment worker, Western feminism is nothing but cultural capital, a way to assert one’s ‘empowerment’ via purchase power. It does not include their narratives nor their plights. In dehumanizing working conditions, representation is the least of their concerns. It is paradoxical to think how capitalist-driven feminism sells inclusivity and diversity, but it is limited to social and cultural class. Being ‘feminist’, in this sense, is sold as a status symbol that describes the educated, civilized, socially aware woman.

The true danger of excluding labor issues in feminism is that it becomes normalized as self-image issues instead of social responsibility. Being able to freely dress, eat fatty foods, have short hair, and body-build without being judged are all legitimate issues, but are beneficial primarily to First World women. Compared to the concerns of women in sweatshops who experience life-threatening dangers, their issues seem minuscule. Western women are considered the ‘ruling class’ from Mao’s definition. If their advocacy is presented in the mainstream, they speak over the needs of women with more urgent human rights concerns. Returning to the grassroots, any activism is not about how it benefits an individual, but how it is in service of others. Feminism is not limited to what makes one comfortable in her skin, but how women unite to expose and eradicate the systemic maltreatment of those who cannot fend for themselves.

Reference List:

Butler, Sarah. (2016, Aug 21). H&M factories in Myanmar Employed 14-Year-Old Workers. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/21/hm- factories-myanmar-employed-14-year-old-workers

Friedel, Susanne. (2015) Beyond Fashion. Schulze, Sabine., Banz, Claudia. Fast Fashion: The Dark Sides of Fashion 121-124. Hamburg: Druck und Bindung

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Joy, Annamma., Sherry, John., Venkatesh, Alladi., Wang, Jeff., Chan, Ricky. (2012). Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands. Fashion Theory, 16 (3), 273-296. DOI: 10.2752/175174112X11340749707123

Kasperkevic, Jana (31 May 2016). Rana Plaza Collapse: Workplace Dangers Persist Three Years Later, Reports Find. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/31/rana-plaza-bangladesh-collapse- fashion-working-conditions

MacLellan, Marcie (5 Nov 2015) . The Rise of 'Empowertising': How to Successfully Use Feminism As the Starting Point of a Solid Marketing Strategy. The Drum. Retrieved from http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2015/11/05/rise-empowertising-how-successfully-use- feminism-starting-point-solid-marketing

Pirow, Ralph. (2015) Chemicals II: Carcinogenic and Allergenic Dyes. Schulze, Sabine., Banz, Claudia. Fast Fashion: The Dark Sides of Fashion 173-177. Hamburg: Druck und Bindung

Sweatshops in Bangladesh. Retrieved from http://www.waronwant.org/sweatshops-bangladesh

World Vision Canada. (2014, Apr 24). No Child for Sale: Stop Child Labour in Sweatshops [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyGfVv6RI0k