Fueled by social media trends and influencer culture, demand for cheap, trendy clothing has exploded. Consumers are buying more than ever, often wearing items only once just to keep their feeds “fresh.” But how do brands keep up with this crazy demand for newness? And more importantly… who’s actually paying for it?
In this post, I’m focusing on the “modern‑day slaves” working in secret urban sweatshops… not in far‑off factories overseas, but in neighborhoods much closer to where we live.
Key Takeaways
- Sweatshops are workplaces with very low wages, long hours, and unsafe conditions, a problem that has existed since early industrialization.
- They are not limited to low-income countries; sweatshops also operate in wealthy nations.
- Fashion Nova and Boohoo have both been exposed for using factories where workers were underpaid and exploited to meet fast-fashion demands.
- Fast fashion’s low prices are only possible because someone else pays the real cost, usually the workers.
What Exactly Is a Sweatshop?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines sweatshops as: “a small factory where workers are paid very little and work long hours in very bad conditions.”
The term sweatshop dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries, originally used to describe exploitative tailoring workshops in Great Britain during early industrialization. From there, the model extended to the United States and other rapidly developing economies.
At the time, the so‑called “sweating system” became widespread: a middleman (a “sweater”) subcontracted garment work to laborers who were pushed to produce as much as possible under extreme pressure and minimal pay. By around 1850, the word sweatshop emerged to describe these harsh, profit‑driven workplaces.
Today (and sadly) sweatshops remain the hidden backbone of the fashion industry globally. These are the places where the $10 jeans and $5 tops on fast‑fashion websites are really made.
Sweatshops Aren’t Just A “Distant Reality”
Labels like “Made in India” or “Made in Bangladesh” have allowed many of us to believe sweatshops exist only in far‑off, low‑income countries. But that distance is part of the illusion. Allow me to pop your cute little bubble: sweatshops exist in the U.S., Europe, and other developed countries.
Why? Because in recent years, some brands have shifted operations back home due to rising wages abroad, supply chain disruptions, political instability (oh yes… a lot of that!), and the need for faster turnaround times. As a result, the number of domestic garment factories (and domestic sweatshops) has risen.
In countries like the U.S., these workplaces often employ immigrants who are unaware of their rights, lack English proficiency, or simply feel they cannot afford to complain.
As one garment worker in New York put it:
“We know we should be paid the minimum wage, we know we should be paid overtime, but what can we do?… If we complain about not getting overtime, if we ask for days off, they can always find someone else.”
Aurelio Rojas, Border Guarded, Workplace Ignored, S.F. CHRON., Mar. 18, 1996, at Al.
“Made in [insert any developed country name]” Does Not Mean Ethical
It’s easy to assume that clothing made in developed countries follow strong labor standards and that workers are being looked after. Once again, I need to pop your Galinda bubble… that assumption is false.
Workers in sweatshops in these countries frequently work 10-12 hour days, earn illegally low wages (sometimes pennies per piece) and sew garments that will retail for less than $50.
Let’s look at two well‑known cases.
Case Study 1: Fashion Nova (U.S.)
Fashion Nova built an empire on speed – when a celebrity or influencer wears an outfit in public, it takes them less than a blink of an eye to provide its customers a cheap copy of the look.
To achieve this, the brand relies heavily on Los Angeles germen manufactures. And thanks to an endless list of local suppliers that promptly respond to the brand’s requests, Fashion Nova produces thousands of new styles every week!
After a four-year investigation (2016-2019), a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found:
- Workers earned as little as $2.77 an hour
- Factories owed over $3.8 million in back wages
- Many workers operated in unsafe, unregulated environments
Shocked? Not so much – after all, they’re selling dresses that cost less than a coffee…
Fashion Nova avoids direct responsibility by working through layers of contractors, allowing them to claim they had “no knowledge” of wage theft – something U.S. federal law allows if brands don’t directly employ the workers.
Case Study 1: Boohoo (U.K.)
Things don’t look that much better across the Atlantic… Boohoo has built one of the world’s most aggressive ultra-fast-fashion models, dropping 500+ new products per week.
In 2020, an undercover investigation revealed:
- Garment workers in Leicester paid about £3.50 an hour
- Little to no COVID protections during the pandemic
- Chronic exploitation across local suppliers
A few days after the news broke, the brand issued a statement saying that they were “shocked and appalled by the recent allegations that have been made and [they were] committed to doing everything in [their] power to rebuild the reputation of the textile manufacturing industry in Leicester”. Despite claiming to be “shocked,” Boohoo’s supply chain issues highlight how normalized exploitation has become in ultra‑fast fashion.
Consumers: The Power Is In Our Hands
Fast fashion is powered by low‑wage labor and unsafe working conditions, allowing brands to produce huge volumes of clothing while maintaining high profit margins. From Bangladesh to Los Angeles to Leicester, this industry continues to depend on the widespread exploitation of workers across its supply chain. As Syama Meagher wrote in Forbes, “being offered a shiny apple of fast fashion leads to a rotten garden of human rights violations.”
Every purchase we make sends a signal. The longer we ignore the human cost of fast fashion, the more deeply rooted exploitation becomes. “Out of sight, out of mind” doesn’t really.
There’s no ethical model in which fast fashion can truly prioritize workers’ rights, so the next time you see a $10 dress or a $5 top, pause. Ask yourself: Who actually paid the price for this?
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman once said (1997): “Sweatshops are repugnant to our moral core. It is wrong to value fashion when we do not value the people who make it real.”
And she was right then, and even more today.
Did you know what sweatshops were before reading this post? Will you take this into account when buying new clothes? Let us know in the comments below!