Madison Doring
Sustainability Management Student, Kogod School of Business
On April 13th, 2023, it was the 10-year anniversary of the Bangladeshi Rana Plaza garment factory collapse that left 1,134 lives lost and thousands more injured¹. This disaster is known to be the deadliest industrial accident in modern human history.
The collapse is a demonstration of the journey – the lives and communities – all garments travel before finding a home. Whether it be the hands that stitch together each thread only to receive less than a living wage or the desertification of the environment ravaged by the harmful pesticides and toxic chemicals used in cotton farming, knowing the origin story of the clothes on your back is critical. The health and safety of the world’s 40 million garment workers, as well as the environment, depend on it².
Historically, fashion has demonstrated its power to prevail and protect all involved in the garment production process. In 1919, through the revolutionary leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, India was shown economic freedom and independence in one of the most powerful demonstrations of non-violent resistance the world has ever known – the Swadeshi movement. The movement used Indian Khadi cloth as a way to boycott imported British products and materials, inspiring India to take back what was theirs while facing the pressures of colonial industrialization³.
Gandhi inspired the Indian people to begin spinning their own Khadi cloth and exchange materials and skills within neighboring communities instead of remaining reliant on expensive, imported British goods4. Taking back what was theirs not only meant establishing a non-violent economic order but also meant the reclamation of national pride through a cloth that bonded them together as Indian people. As more jobs were created locally to fuel the nation’s own economy rather than that of the British Empire, the Indian people proved the power fashion holds to forge freedom in its truest form – one that instills the value of expression through communal ties5.
There exist striking parallels between the disruptions caused by modern fast fashion conglomerates to garment workers and the environment and the challenges faced by India in the past. The contemporary fashion industry thrives on exploitation, exclusivity, and extraction, with the Rana Plaza disaster serving as a stark testament to its devastating consequences.
Modern fast fashion consumption habits have hypnotized consumers into supporting conglomerates that hold no connection to the fibers that thread their pieces or those who do the threading.”
Madison Doring
Sustainability Management Student, Kogod School of Business
While purchasing practices aligning with these micro-season trends allow consumers to stay in sync with fashion and express themselves accordingly, they unwittingly become complicit in their own exploitation. Feeding industrialized fast-fashion conglomerates distances consumers from the fundamental value that fashion holds – the connection to whom, when, and where the clothes on their backs come from and the stories they hold.
One way to emulate the Khadi movement today is through the forging of localized, circular fashion communities. This offers the potential for a modernized non-violent economic order, just like the Indian Khadi economy. No longer should we rely on purchasing first-hand when there is potential for a beautiful community based on the sharing of stories and identity.
In recent years, fashion has been marred by significant acts of violence, exemplified by the Rana Plaza disaster. Yet, amidst despair there lies the potential for peace. A century ago, India took back what was theirs through peacefully resisting the exploitation of the Khadi cloth inherent to the identity of the nation. Fashion must also take back its power by harnessing the potential to become the most powerful form of modern non-violent resistance. When we lean into our own fashion-forged communities and engage in localized, circular economies, we too take back what is ours- the power to use our identities and senses of expression to join together.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not any man’s greed.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Citations
1. “Rana Plaza,” Clean Clothes Campaign, 2023, https://cleanclothes.org/campaigns/past/rana-plaza.
2. Andrew Morgan, “The True Cost,” Life Is My Movie, September 10, 2015,, https://truecostmovie.com/learn-more/human-rights/#:~:text=There%20are%20roughly%2040%20million,all%20garment%20workers%20are%20women.
3. “Gandhi’s Khadi Movement – Uniting People, Fashion and Freedom,” Vino Supraja, October 3, 2020, https://vinosupraja.com/blogs/news/gandhi-s-khadi-movement-uniting-people-fashion-and-freedom.
4. Namita Nimbalkar, “The economics of Khadi,” Khandwala Publishing House, 2011, https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/economics-of-khadi.html.
5. Gandhi’s Khadi Movement – Uniting People, Fashion and Freedom,” Vino Supraja, October 3, 2020, https://vinosupraja.com/blogs/news/gandhi-s-khadi-movement-uniting-people-fashion-and-freedom.