Impacts of COVID-19 on the style industry

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There is absolutely no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has largely damaged the style industry from the persons it employs to the waste it has generated, however, this crisis could present an possibility to rethink the industry
The style industry has been negatively damaged by the COVID-19 outbreak on every level from retailers to supply chains to vendors. We've seen several retailers close, production possesses ceased and demand offers plummeted.

With large corporations trying to save lots of their profits, some personnel have been exploited because of this.

High-street stores have been massively influenced by store closures, H&M has announced it'll be closing around 70% of its stores worldwide. However online fast fashion brands possess not experienced the sting, actually, things happen to be quite the opposite.

Already criticised because of their unsustainable approaches, fast fashion trusted online retailers have been accused of using sales as a tactic to lure in more customers during lockdown. Many brands websites show sales with up to 70% off items. Because they are centered online, they cannot arrive under fire for keeping their stores open, but this does not mean their personnel aren’t still working in warehouses and several issues have already been raised with this.

Terrified ASOS staff said they experienced ‘like rats’ in a warehouse they own branded a ‘cradle of disease’ in a recently available survey simply by the GMB Union. The study completed by GMB revealed that 98% of the 4,000 Grimethorpe ASOS personnel felt unsafe at the job. In reality, where other retailers possess turn off business to hold their employees safe, ASOS possesses reportedly ramped up their procedures in Barnsley.

ASOS is not the only brand found in the fashion industry accused of not following safety procedures through the COVID-19 pandemic. A worker at Boohoo said people are working so closely together plus they are “breathing in each other’s faces” due to the insufficient space. The worker added: “There’s 1000 plus staff, if one person gets it there, then most of us will. They believe we are crucial and that people need clothes, but that’s not the case. They keep placing sales on to enhance their sales. That’s not searching for people that’s only rubbing salt in to the wound”.

The style industry in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest apparel exporter of western fast fashion brands, so unsurprisingly the united states comes with been heavily impacted. A written report by Bloomberg found that around 1,089 garment factories in Bangladesh experienced orders cancelled as a result of COVID-19 outbreak, costing roughly $1.5 bn.

Some factories in Bangladesh have been shut down indefinitely. A few staff were given less than a month’s earnings as compensation but numerous others received almost nothing.

Thousands of garment personnel have recently returned to do the job across Bangladesh amid the nationwide COVID-19 shutdown as factories start to reopen to resume production. However, it has gone against advice from the Ministry of Health, raising concerns over the risk of infection to both personnel and communities.

In a period of fear and uncertainty, many brands in the style industry and elsewhere have displayed assist and offered help those worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. One NGO employed in Bangladesh to protect garment workers may be the Awaj Foundation, who continue steadily to fight for a full time income wage for a few of the poorest ladies in the country. However, the emergency possesses highlighted that some companies remain putting profit over persons. From an over-all lack of look after sustainability to disregarding the safety of their personnel’ wellbeing, fast fashion can be displaying the negative side of the industry in this global pandemic.

A chance for change?
This unique group of circumstances can hopefully bring in regards to a positive change in the style industry that has been needed for years. The fashion industry accocunts for 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions and also dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams.

Given the level of overproduction the fashion industry was providing prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it usually is hoped that enough time we've spent indoors will make us more aware of its unsafe impacts. Hopefully, it could lead us to reusing and mending our clothes and adopting a mindset of longevity in terms of our wardrobes.

With stores closing, there is a lot of existing stock of clothing left accumulating to get and warehouses. This poses the question: what can be done with this leftover stock? It might actually present an unbelievable opportunity to consider the way the industry could be reset and the way the fashion industry can invest in recycling and upcycling post-COVID-19.

Vogue editor, Dame Anna Wintour, recently explained: “I think it’s a great opportunity for all of us to check out our industry and to look at our lives, and rethink our values, and think about the waste, and the sum of money, and consumption, and surplus that people have all indulged found in and how we really need to rethink what this industry means.”
Source: https://www.openaccessgovernment.org

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