How ‘woke’ marketing obscures exploitation and social harm in supply chains

Despite growing awareness of the environmental and social consequences of fast fashion, the overproduction and overconsumption of clothes continues. To attract a more mindful public, fashion brands have employed “woke” marketing tactics and published adverts that illustrate a political and social awareness around race, LGBTQ+, feminism and the environment.

Famously, sportswear brand Nike used images of National Football League player Colin Kaepernick’s anti-racism protest in a marketing campaign. You may also recall Dior’s €750 T-shirt printed with the slogan “we should all be feminists”, a phrase taken from author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s feminist TEDx talk which was later used in Beyoncé’s song Flawless.

Fashion can be a useful vehicle for political messaging – until someone asks who makes the clothing. The Spice Girls sported T-shirts with the slogan “#IWANNABEASPICEGIRL” in 2018 to highlight gender pay disparity and promote women’s empowerment. It was later revealed that seamstresses making these T-shirts earned poverty wages in Bangladesh.

Fashion retailer Shein paid influencers to visit its factories in China and post videos lauding the working conditions there. An investigation by Swiss human rights organisation Public Eye later confirmed that many of these garment workers were working around 75 hours a week.

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