The hidden human and environmental cost behind your $ 10 Tees
We stay in a globe where you can acquire a new clothing for less than the price of lunch. However real price of that bargain dress isn’t reflected on the price tag. It’s paid in harmful rivers, underpaid labor, and hills of textile waste choking landfills.
Every time you get a $ 5 t shirt, ask on your own: how much did the employee who made it earn money? claimed a protestor in a 2024 UN fabric record.
The Human Price
Most fast-fashion brands rely on low-wage employees in creating nations. Garment employees– mostly women– commonly earn much less than $ 3 a day in unsafe factories. Misfortunes like the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse , which eliminated over 1, 100 employees in Bangladesh, are haunting reminders of what goes to risk.
I work 12 hours a day and still can’t manage food for my children, shared one garment employee spoke with in Dhaka.
The Environmental Bill
Fashion is the second-largest polluter after oil. Toxic dyes permeate right into rivers, polyester fibers lost microplastics into seas, and garments thrown out after a period end up in garbage dumps by the bunch.