The fashion industry exploits its employees, models and the consumer - Do you feel that you are a 'victim' of the fashion industry?

The children who are ‘victims’, however, spend all hours in the factories, which are of really poor condition. The food they receive at mealtimes isn’t very healthy and some workers get very ill because of the food quality. There have even been cases where children and sometimes even adults were treated cruelly in the manufacturing sweatshops but if they try and stand up for themselves they are at risk of losing their job. Most consumers do not realise where their clothes are being made or how unfairly the fashion industry treats both them and the workers by retaining most of the profits for themselves. The fashion industry puts the consumer in a very difficult position because when something is decided to be the latest fashion e.g. three quarter length skirts they; make everyone want to have them. If certain people do not like the style they may be forced into buying it as no other types or styles are available on the market, which only leads to only one conclusion, you end up buying it because you have no other choice.

Models are exploited by the fashion industry although they make the choice of letting themselves be exploited. To be a model there are certain qualities in appearance you will need. You have to be a certain length, have to be a certain clothes size. Many models are driven to have eating disorders in order to fit the criteria and even this doesn’t give them a guarantee to whether or not they will become well known. The fashion industry doesn’t really treat them as normal people and when they gain a bit of weight or even when they realise that the model doesn’t increase sales they might just sack them without a good reason. The word ‘model’ is immediately associated with wealth and fame but this is only an image once again created by the fashion industry only to manipulate people into either becoming a model or buying the clothes worn by the model. There are very few models who are famous or rich and the fashion industry gives models no job security. As they usually start modelling at a young age they can’t finish their studies. This means that when they are no longer suited to be a model they are not able to go into another job, as they have no academic qualifications.

As a consumer I really don’t feel that I am a ‘victim’ but I am sometimes a willing victim in the sense that I do buy some of the latest fashion even though I know all the facts concerning it. There are however people who will pay ridiculous prices for an unpractical style of fashion just because it’s seen to be worn by the models. This is what I feel a victim is: someone who gets everything and anything said to be the latest fashion and don’t know about all the negative of it. On balance I feel that the fashion industry does exploit their employees and also the models in some countries more than others. I do however think that models do have the choice whether or not to be exploited.