"I Xfinity Mobile LTE 10: 12 AM 8 17% [ A online . warner . edu Fast - Fashion and the Ethics of Low - Cost Labor Who wants to wait six months for runway looks to hit the stores ? In today's fast- fashion world , six months is an eternity . Nearly extinct is the tradition of three luxurious fashion seasons per year ( fall , spring , resort ) . Those seasons have been replaced by rock - bottom prices on 30 to 50 trend - driven cycles - per year . Consumers in the United States and Europe have embraced the* entire fast - fashion approach - inexpensive apparel and high turnover of designs . In fact , their shopping behaviors have allowed companies like HEM and Zara to grow into international retailing behemoths . The speed of fast- fashion goes beyond the production cycle . Europe's fast - fashion chains have grown faster than the retail fashion industry as a whole , partly because the combination of low cost , fresh designs , and quick turnover is extremely* successful in fueling consumer demand . Fast- fashion companies also boast higher margins that those reported by their traditional counterparts - an average 16 percent compared to an average of 7 percent . Undeniably , the application of planned obsolescence* to fashion has been financially successful . The fast - fashion approach is not without controversy , however , particularly when it comes to outsourcing production . Companies like Benetton , Walmart , and Disney place huge orders with off shore vendors who often cannot deliver the entire* order without enlisting the help of additional subcontractors . Unauthorized subcontracting is the end result , and brands don't always know who is producing their products or where . Phil Robertson , deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division , affirms this , saying , " I've talked to Thai workers who are three or four levels down from the original orders . If the brands don't know , they should know . A lot of them are turning* a blind eye to outsourcing . " One country that has grown from outsourcing in the garment industry is Bangladesh . With labor rates averaging $40 per month , Bangladeshi garment workers are the cheapest around . ( Compare that to approximately $120 per month on average for garment workers in China . ) Those low labor costs have caused explosive growth in the size and scope of the country's garment industry . In 2005 , the country exported $6 . 9 billion worth of clothing . By 2011 , that figure had risen to $19.9 billion , making* the Bangladesh the world's third largest exporter of clothing* behind China and Italy . Makeshift garment factories have popped up all overIIII Xfinity Mobile LTE 10:13 AM '1? 11% Di _E E online.warner.eclu C cost sourcing destinations, and it's time to invest in making factories safer and better, rather than searching for cheaper labor." - Hopscotching throughout the developing world looking for the lowest labor costs ultimately threatens brands' reputations. Even Helena Helmersson, head of sustainability for H&M, seems to agree. She told The Observer, \"Remember that H&M does not own any factories itself. We are to some extent dependent on the suppliersit is impossible to be in full control.\" - Sourcing practices have exposed sharp contrasts between fast- fashion and luxury designers and exposed hypocrisy among critics. Italian designer Miuccia Prada, who also holds a PhD in political science, told Women is Wear Daily, \"People who are intellectual leftists, they say I am expensive and horrible, 'How can you sell clothes at that price?' Simply, it's the cost. If you pay people to do everything with the right system, things are expensive. And the same people who criticize the dangerous production environments, when it comes to cost, they like the inexpensive pieces because they think it's more democratic.\" So, who is ethically responsible? Questions - Do you agree with the EU's threat to use trade agreements as a weapon in the ght against low-cost subcontracting? If governments were to regulate the number of subcontractors that can be involved in the production of a product, do you believe businesses that outsource their work would be more prone to respond ethically to catastrophes and to working conditions in general? - If a brand explicitly forbids a vendor from subcontracting, but the vendor subcontracts anyway, which company bears the responsibility for any tragedy that ensues? In other words, who is ethically responsible for events like Tazreen Fashion factory re and the New Wave Style building collapse, both in Bangladesh? - What level of ethical responsibility does the end consumer of fast-fashion apparel bear for those tragedies?