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Most Unethical Clothing Companies in 2022

BY DENNIS KAMPRAD

Fast fashion is wreaking havoc on the planet. Multinational corporations are chiefly focused on making executives and shareholders rich and they are exploiting workers all around the world to do it. And on top of everything, companies will mock you and trick you into purchasing their clothing by trying to turn around this reality through the contemporary corporate communication tactic known as greenwashing.

The most unethical clothing companies are mainly popular multinational and e-commerce brands like Victorias Secret, GAP, Fashion Nova, Uniqlo, Forever 21, Nike, Adidas, Disney, H&M that have been exposed to multiple unethical practices including labor exploitation and/ or forced labor.

Its time we stopped supporting these unethical behaviors. Weve uncovered some of the most unethical clothing companies that you need to know about. And as you will see, even when brands say they are doing the right thing, they arent always doing the right thing.

Related: What you should wear is one of the daily questions you ask yourself. But did you know that your clothing choice has a massive impact on the world and society?

Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch was called out in a 2018 report entitled Labour Without Liberty for sourcing garments from factories where workers are subjected to modern slavery conditions. And sure enough, it has been identified as benefiting from Uyhgar forced labor.

But the brand isnt limited to poor ethical decisions in manufacturing through its supply chains.

AFL-CIO put out a list of twenty CEOs that furloughed workers in 2020. These particular CEOs were called out because they make more in wages than an average employee by a ratio of minimally 1000:1. Abercrombie & Fitch CEO ranks at the top with a ratio of 4,293:1. (By the way, the total compensation given to those CEOs was equal to the compensation of over 30,000 median level employees.)

The brand was also called out in 2015 by the Rainforest Action Network for sourcing tree-based fabrics irresponsibly.

Hollister

Hollister has just as many ethical concerns as its parent company, Abercrombie & Fitch, including being caught up in a scandal of discriminating against the disabled. Both brands have been struggling financially and transitioning to fast-fashion to stay relevant in trends.

However, as we know, fast-fashion is unsustainable and predominantly relies on forced labor or other unethical factory conditions.

Nike

Nike is the worlds largest sportswear manufacturer and retailer, selling upwards of 25 pairs of shoes each second. Thats over 2 million a dayand thats just shoes. Imagine how much waste the brand creates overall. And the brands success has come from utilizing some very unethical practices.

In the past, Nike has been accused of using child labor and supposedly nurturing sexual harassment and discrimination cultures. Plus, its factories are not independently monitored by labor rights groups. And not surprisingly, Nike has been exposed as using Uyhgar forced labor, causing more uproar and boycott against the brand.

Undeterred, Nike joined Apple and Coca-Cola in lobbying Washington to preserve Uyhgar slavery by Communist China.

The American multinational corporation is also known to use toxic chemicals that are very harmful to both the environment and factory workers.

Adidas

Adidas is the worlds second-largest manufacturer of sportswear after Nike. Like its competitor, the brand has been known for using cheap production via sweatshops and child labor to become the multinational corporation it is today. Indeed, it seems that all corporate-brand sportswear garments are made by exploiting workers and ignoring basic human rights.

In another commonality of the sportswear industry, Adidas garments undergo several chemical treatments to make them more colorful, flexible, durable, or water-repellant. Over the years, these processes have polluted the waters and are horrible for local ecosystems.

Public outrage over this prompted a pledge from the brand to rectify the issue, committing to zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020. The most recent Chemical Footprint progress report Adidas has available is from April 2019. Unfortunately, this document is only to inform the public of what implementations have been made, and that communication is steady throughout the supply chain. It has no information on how effective and successful anything has been.

Furthermore, the company uses synthetic microfibers, which the brand admits is both necessary for its products yet harmful for the environment. Conveniently, the brand waited until 2019 before founding an initiative to address this, and it confirms Adidas has not reached its zero discharge by 2020 goal.

We saw that Adidas had been getting better with transparency and was one of the few big-name sportswear brands to make an effort in addressing its issues with forced labor. Nonetheless, the brand continues to benefit from some of the worst instances of modern slavery with Uyghur forced labor.

The company has recently stated its intention to cut forced labor from its supply chain; however, seeing as how they made the effort over the last decade to simply side-step some problems, the brand will really need to make fast progress to convince the public it has genuinely changed its tune.

Victorias Secret

Victorias Secret has a laundry list of unethical behavior, including child labor, formaldehyde lawsuits, and a toxic culture of sexual harassment of its models. The brand is not transparent about all the factories they work with, but it is known that they use sweatshops in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Jordan.

These workers are underpaid and made to work over 14 hours a day in some cases. And now they have shown up on the list of 83 companies using forced labor by Uyghurs.

H&M

H&M has been caught red-handed in greenwashing in recent years, and it doesnt appear as though they are trying to make a change. The brands actions are mere virtue signals at best, as promises have been broken and initiatives are lacking.

For example, after the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, H&M promised to give its workers a fair wage by 2018. As of the close of business for 2020, the brand has still failed to make this happen. H&M also has a recycling campaign for clothing. But this may be better received if, say, the brand sold higher-quality clothes that didnt have to be discarded so quickly.

And its Conscious Collection that is allegedly more sustainable actually mixes the sustainable materials with other fabrics, redesigning them unrecyclable (and further contradicting that recycling campaign).

GAP

GAP was once one of the largest fashion retailers in America that has since become yet another fast-fashion brand that is known for poor-quality, cheap clothing. In the past, the brand was exposed for not paying its staff overtime and subjecting its workers to unsafe working conditions, even forced abortions for female workers.

In May 2006, one of the brands suppliers revealed that they were made to work over 100 hours a week and hadnt received compensation for six months. Some of the staff had even accused factory management of sexual misconduct. It wasnt until May 2018 that GAP ended its relationship with the supplier. But a month later, more reports of abuse were found elsewhere.

Since then, the brand has made an effort to address its large environmental footprint and improve the supply chain. But this doesnt escape the fact that GAP was found listed among the list of companies linked to Uyghur forced labor. Other workers persist with complaints that they are made to work more than 16 hours a day, paid half the minimum wage in India, and have no union rights.

Nasty Gal

Nasty Gal started in 2006 as a vintage resale shop that rapidly grew to be a giant in online retailing. The brand filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and was purchased by Boohoo a year later. Nasty Gal is now one of many fast-fashion brands making cheap, low-quality clothing made from cheap, synthetic materials.

Although you wouldnt guess that this brand is fast-fashion, as its site maintains higher than average prices compared to other fast-fashion brands advertised with sale prices. This makes you think you are getting a great deal on high-end clothing when that simply is not the case.

It does act like other fast-fashion brands in that it fails to offer a lot of information surrounding the impacts of its operations on the environment or people.

The Walt Disney Company

Disney makes a lot of clothing as a multinational entertainment and mass media conglomerate. Not only does the brand entertain children around the world, but it also uses them for child labor in sweatshops. Disney is also known to oppress Chinese workers, breach local labor laws, force staff to produce three times the quota, and such acts have driven workers to suicide.

Forever 21

Forever 21 is known for unethical factory practices in Los Angeles. Workers are paid based on the number of garments they produce rather than earning an hourly wage. Normally this wouldnt be a problem. But the amount received per item is so little, even experienced sewers are unable to earn more than $5 or so an hour.

The brand is also known to employ children in Uzbekistan, who are taken out of school and made to work on cotton farms.

In 2019, Forever 21 filed for Chapter 11 and made a deal to sell $81 million in assets a few months later. It closed over 15,000 stores globally but managed to remain in business. It is unclear at this time if they will ultimately survive the economic disaster of 2020.

Walmart

Walmart may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of clothing companies, but it was once the lead apparel retailer before being outdone by Amazon in 2018. The quality of Walmart clothing is often poor, and garments are thrown into landfills quickly. Its no secret that the brand has been using sweatshops to produce its merchandise; Walmart was one of a handful of brands that were sourcing from Rana Plaza when the factory collapsed in 2013.

American Eagle Outfitters

American Eagle Outfitters, despite its patriotic sounding name, manufactures most of its clothes in China. Unfortunatelyas we know is true for the fashion industrythis is often at the expense and exploitation of Chinese workers.

In recent years, the brand has been involved in numerous scandals surrounding its practices in the supply chain. For example, in 2015, it was revealed that sandblasting methods for aging jeans were still being used. This process is extremely dangerous, sometimes fatal, for the garment workers.

American Eagle made a pledge to consumers a few years ago to improve both its environmental impact and supply chain violations. Any noticeable progress has yet to be seen.

Question: summarize and discuss the unethical practices of FIVE of the above mentioned clothing

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