EPQ Research 5 - Effects of Covid 19

 20/9 https://kleiderly.com/blogs/kleiderly-magazine/did-covid-19-change-the-fast-fashion-industry

What I was hoping to find out: I wanted to find out how the Covid-19 pandemic has effected the fast fashion industry, whether it was for the better or the worst. I was interested to know whether the fashion industry had re-thought their ethics of clothing production and made an attempt to change their ways, or whether the lockdown has made clothing production worse whilst people were off work with less money and are wanting to buy clothes for cheap. Also I'd like to know how the pandemic has effected the makers of the clothing. 

What I have learnt: 

Covid showed us that the world we live in is not sustainable, it was a time of re-evaluation. In lockdown many shops had to close their doors, affecting the consumer's purchasing choices. In Germany, fashion companies lost up to 1.5 billion euros a day. Surprisingly, online shopping only increased by 22% since 2016 in the Covid lockdown. 

This revealed the fashion industry's unhealthy structure even more because it had a massive impact on the supply chain and the workers involved. In March 2020, garment workers had spent hours sewing $40 billion dollars so the workers were left without money that they'd already done their hours of work for. At this time 70 million garment workers were laid off without even getting paid for what they did. These people were not even offered a back up option despite already working in exploitative conditions. 

#PayUp was a movement which demanded the payments of companies to support these garment workers. Not only is this a problem in poorer countries, but also in the UK more than 100,000 garment workers are earning below minimum wage, some even earning £3.50 an hour. 

Since all of this, most people have realised the impact buying fast fashion has on the world around us. Consumers now want fashion industries to uphold their responsibility (socially and environmentally). 78% of consumers have also noticed that the use of sustainable materials are an important purchasing factor, also they now expect brands to take care of their employees. 

How reliable is this source? I think this source is reliable because it is from a website called Kleiderly which promotes sustainable fashion. They have first hand statistics and evidence on the way which Covid-19 has effected the fashion industry - whether it's for the better or for the worst.