In the article “The Truth About Fast Fashion: Can You Tell How Ethical Your Clothing is by Its Price?”, Marriott discusses the ethical problems related to fast fashion and the clothing industry in general. In this regard, the three main issues may be identified from this piece of writing. Firstly, the author discusses how many famous brands such as Zara and H&M still do not pay living wages to the manufacturing workers. Secondly, Marriott shows that the prices that many sellers set for their products do not contain the actual costs, which may confuse the customers. Finally, the article how ethical is the behavior of fast-fashion consumers.
The investigations that the author presents in the article show that many companies extremely underpay the manufacturing workers in third world countries. Moreover, Marriott suggests that even those clothes that are sold as sustainably produced are in fact do not result in higher wages. In contrast, the article mentions the wealth of those company owners, which accounts for many billion U.S. dollars. Additionally, many fast fashion companies tend to set the prices based on values, not costs which raises some ethical concerns (Wong 421). Among them, the author mentions consumer disinformation as prices may be considered as reflections of costs.
Therefore, the two unethical behaviors of producers in the fast fashion industry towards other two stakeholders – buyers and workers – include lying and underpayment. However, Marriott states that the people also have ethical responsibilities in regards to environmental protection as purchasing many low-quality, not long-lasting products leads to increased production. The latter, in turn, means greater usage of natural resources and increased production-related congestion.
To address these issues, the author shows that there are several adopted solutions that can help to promote ethical production and consumption. For instance, some companies disclose information regarding the full production cycle to their customers. In a similar vein, I think one more possible solution may be the increased government control by legally requiring the companies to disclose production information. Additionally, certain NGOs and governmental institutions should seek to increase public awareness about overconsumption. Finally, it seems reasonable for the government to create an agency that would monitor the activity of international brands in other countries. Personally, I would pursue the latter course of action as it will ensure fair and correct information disclosure by all the companies.
Works Cited
Marriott, Hannah. “The Truth About Fast Fashion: Can You Tell How Ethical Your Clothing is by Its Price?” The Guardian, 2021. Web.
Wong, Gabriel Hong Zhe. “Ethical pricing: A Confucian perspective.” Asian Bioethics Review, vol. 12, no. 4, 2020, pp. 419-433.