I remembered as the news has hit about many of the events they mentioned within the documentary, a huge building collapses as low paid workers get trapped under the rubble, a huge fire that rips through factories with no proper health and safety procedures in place. I did not however realise how many of the main brands made their clothes within these very factories, GAP and Primark to name a few. It is all well and good that the brands offer their condolences and false promises of improvements however as the documentary shoes these are not isolated events. They are fairly often and so devastating to communities.

There are over 40 million garment factory workers in the world at the moment, with 10% of them working in Bangladesh. It is spoken as an issue mainly for female workers as 85% of these factory workers are female. They earn less than £3 a day. In England, that is the price of an average lunch. It is pocket change whilst for some they have to raise a family on that money alone. The ideas of unions are only just emerging, workers demands barely getting listened to and reports of violence and abuse have risen out of many factories. The documentary featured a worker retelling how they were locked in a room and attacked with chairs and other furniture items, unlike the UK where policing is high, these workers still had to go back the next day and work for these same employers as they needed the money.

Livia Firth, a big campaigner at the moment, has been urging the fashion industry to make changes that last. She has been using her platform to critique fast fashion and to right the 'social justice destruction' that has been happening.

In addition to the human cost, the effects the fashion industry has on the environment is shocking. Clothing factories are dumping tons of dyes and chemicals into local water works, the same streams and rivers in which people rely on for drinking and bathing. That polluted water is being consumed by those who cannot afford to filter or pay for luxury bottled water. They have no choice and are most likely oblivious to the effects that the chemicals can do to themselves and their families.

With 1 in 6 working in the global fashion industry, we need to do more to protect those without a voice. They are silenced due to their low social standing and desperate to do anything that might protect their families. We need to do more.

During the summer many of the big fashion houses bought out their new season campaigns. I saw the Business of Fashion's top summer fashion film list the Gucci fall campaign as the number one campaign bought out in summer, I decided to watch it for myself to see if it lived up to the hype.



I loved the energy and life in this video. From the very first shot, there is an excitement that rises with the soulful music. The clothes are all beautiful and detailed, the shoes especially although they do look a tad out of place in the 'working class' Northern Soul scene they were trying to emulate.

I do however feel slightly unsettled as I watched the video. The majority of the cast were black, this would be a brilliant success in terms of colour equality in the big fashion houses however Gucci have before been slated for 'white washing' and using white majority models on their catwalks. The Youtube comments did agree that it felt as if Gucci used a part of black culture just to sell their clothes. They used black models just to create an 'edgy' fashion film before just going back to their usual antics of ignoring black people all together.

I understand completely wanting to celebrate a culture that you're not born into, and I think that celebration is always welcome. However, my doubts are due to the fact that Gucci is not known to usually be so celebratory. I just cannot shake the feeling that Gucci used all the gorgeous models as tools to calm any usual uproar about their all white casts.

What is your opinion on this? Do you think I am being too sensitive?

Lydia