Colèchi hears Saira Khan’s thoughts on the problematic nature of how sustainable fashion brands represent their garment workers.
‘The potential for social mobility must be realised for marginalised communities not based on access to factories and garment production being the only option to sustain a living, but a stepping stone in their quest to build a life that reflects the same privileges afforded to the Western consumers they make clothing for’.
What is the title of your work?
Decolonizing Fashion PR: A critical exploration of garment worker representation promoted by sustainable fashion brands in 2020 — 2021
Abstract
As integral stakeholders of fashion supply chains, garment workers are increasingly found in social responsibility reporting produced by fashion brands following the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh and international efforts to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This study draws on the perspective of postcolonial theory and a multimodal approach to social semiotics and critical discourse analysis, to examine modes of communication employed by sustainable fashion brands to represent the garment workers they rely on to sustain business. The findings illustrate problematics of representational choices that reinforce power relations and serve the interests of business whilst misrepresenting nuanced realities of garment workers’ lived experiences. To counter the limited application of postcolonial theory in material practice, the study is concluded by practical recommendations for its use by public relations practitioners and fashion professionals in order to mitigate ethical representations of all stakeholders across fashion communication and promotion.
How did you argue that sustainable fashion brands are presenting their garment workers?
I critically investigated the modes of communication used by sustainable fashion brands to represent garment workers. I argue that sustainable fashion brands represent garment workers by framing their existence in the context or proximity of labour and reinforce their dominance in power-relations by representing them according to their reliance on labour. The power dynamics referenced throughout the research make the case that sustainable fashion brands reproduce and promote stereotypes that contribute to the erasure of garment workers’ identities within socioeconomic and historical contexts. The modes of communication chosen by brands are analysed within the research to illustrate that these particular choices are what determine the agency of garment workers in their ability to represent themselves.
‘Garment workers must be humanised and represented through expressions and modalities closest to their lived realities to mitigate the problematics of representations examined in both case studies. In doing so, consumer consciousness is driven in the right direction by connecting them with the people who make their clothes through honest accounts of their circumstances and dependence on labour that often keeps them anchored at the margins of working-class society’.
Were there any theories that were particularly interesting when applied to your research?
It was fascinating to explore the foundations of postcolonial theory and identify how relevant they are to the fashion industry. The work of Spivak explores the problems of speaking on behalf of the oppressed and the limitations they face in even trying to themselves when they exist at the margins of society, in a position that doesn’t give them the tools or agency to articulate the problems they face. Bhabha’s concept of Hybridity also relates to the way those who may have once belonged to an oppressed group, or are still connected to them in some way, are also complicit in their suffering through their convergence with Western systems that profit off their subordination.
What did your research on the presentation of garment workers conclude?
My findings were conclusive in relation to the initial hypotheses outlined in the overarching argument. Through a multimodal critical discourse analysis of the brands Reformation and Lucy and Yak, the study examined and demonstrated how garment workers are represented according to stereotypes and proximity to labour provided by each brand that reinforces dominance-dependent power relations, which in turn illustrate that the agency of garment workers is determined by the brand’s choice of modes in representational communication. The analysis looks at details such as how garment workers are addressed, their visibility and appearance across the brand’s platforms and the ways in which they are documented to fulfil the brand’s objectives. By drawing on postcolonial perspectives of marginalised identities and Western productions of knowledge, parallels within sustainable fashion communication were brought to the surface.
‘Garment workers must be offered the same level of dignity, confidentiality, and pastoral care workplaces in the Global North provide their employees with. Ethical guidelines should be followed when disclosing hardships and difficulties garment workers have endured because of their circumstances. Where distressing information is integrated into biographical descriptions of workers to legitimise business practises and positive change, it is vital to consider who benefits from such knowledge and whether the represented participant has received the adequate support and assistance required to alleviate their condition’.
How do you think your discussion on how garment workers are represented could affect fashion culture in the future?
My work is concerned with analysing the overlooked implications of garment worker representation where propagandistic or biassed characteristics are visible across sustainable fashion communication. As there is very minimal critical analysis on how this contributes to the erasure and silencing of marginalised communities, my dissertation was carefully written in a manner that is digestible and uses a comprehensive analytical framework to outline the findings of each case study. The discussion within my research is a step towards representational justice that considers the reality of what ‘underdeveloped’ means in the Western world, and why garment workers are more than just components of the fashion supply chain by reframing the narrative through a postcolonial lens.
Since writing this piece, are there any new findings on the treatment of garment workers that you would include if you were to rewrite your work?
I would probably include more research on the COVID-19 pandemic and the scale of consideration towards the negative impacts garment workers have faced and continue to face against the continued growth of the fashion industry despite this.
