I. (Fast)Fashion and (Neo)Liberal Democratic Citizenship

A. Why increased clothing consumption?

1. Stable prices: lecture handout from 1/28/19
2. Economist: unlimited needs, low prices = buy more
3. Anthropologist: need is socially, culturally, politically, and economically constructed

B. Minh-Ha T. Pham: post 9/11 consumerism campaigns mean that "fashion emblematizes and enacts multiple neoliberal freedoms, including the freedom to consume and, connected to that, the freedoms of self-expression and self-determination" (386).
C. Why has "ethical sartorial politics" emerged post-9/11?

1. Burqa in Afghanistan and "women of cover" perceived as loss of freedom of movement, self-expression
2. Muslim women in need of rescue --> US men as warrior protectors, women as patriotic shoppers
3. Freedom to choose --> freedom to buy

D. Consumer citizenship

1. Key to war on terror
2. Post WWII rise of mass consumption and mall as symbol of democracy concealed class and racial barriers to shopping
3. Neoliberalism: citizenship as act of democratic expression

a. Aihwa Ong, Neoliberalism as Exception (2006): liberal and neoliberal approaches to democracy both see "free subjects as a basic rationale and target of government" (2), but liberal focuses on civil rights and freedoms and protection from unfettered marketplace, neoliberal sees marketplace as solution through self-reliance and self-management
b. Market actor as moral person: "the transfer of aspects of governance from the state to private, corporate, or transnational entities; the proliferation of market logics of efficiency, efficacy, and profitability as the yardsticks for assessing health, aesthetics, or government performance; and the conflation between market behaviors and appropriate forms of moral personhood" (Schwenkel and Leshkowich 2012:382).

E. Fashion for America campaign

1. Council of Fashion Designers of America, Vogue, and NY Mayor Giuliani
2. T-shirts designed by Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan retail for $22.50
3. Promotes cheap chic as democratic right

F. Problems of cheap chic

1. Presumed whiteness, middle classness
2. Masks circumstances of production in the global South
3. Backlash: fast fashion consumers derided as tacky, mindless

G. Fast fashion is political because it is connected to rights and citizenship

 

II. Ethical Fashion Consumption?

A. Juliet Schor, "Cleaning the Closet: Toward a New Fashion Ethic": loves clothing, but there are problems

1. Excessive quantities
2. Exploitative production conditions
3. Environmental effects

a. Extensive pesticide use to produce cotton
b. Toxic dyes
c. Energy-intensive weaving, sewing
d. Transportation
e. Discarded clothing in landfills

B. 2000: US imported and produced 47.7 pieces of apparel per person
C. Minimalism fails because "it does not recognize the centrality of clothing to human culture, relationships, aesthetic desires, and identity" (46).
D. Solutions

1. Emphasize quality over quantity --> true materialism
2. Local production
3. Ethical labor conditions

 

III. The Families of Fast Fashion

A. Schor's solutions are similar to campus activism and Buy America campaigns
B. Vertical integration versus dispersed, flexible production
C. Christina Moon, "Colors, Patterns, Fabric and Trim: Fast-Fashion Families in Downtown Los Angeles" (2015): LA Jobber Market supplies clothing to Forever 21, Macy's, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, etc.
D. Over 6000 small wholesale businesses owned by Korean American and Korean Brazilian American families

1. Post Korean War migration to US and South America
2. 1990s and 2000s: migration to LA
3. Family relationships and connections to manage risk
4. Cash business: rent in LA, production in China, undocumented laborers in LA

E. Example of Carolina: high risk

1. Mother is skilled patternmaker
2. Carolina and her husband handle design and sales
3. At least ten new styles monthly, 1500 pieces per style
4. Research in upscale shopping venues
5. Timing: Sequined tops
6. Mother in China: how much cash for production?
7. Two-day turnaround
8. Closeout agents

F. Flexible labor, no long-term commitments
G. Forever 21 benefits: quick access, knock-offs of knock-offs
H. Fast fashion depends on family businesses (an American ideal) bearing risk: Who are the exploiters? Who is exploited?

 

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For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu