"Fashion and Globalisation"

"processes of production, consumption, capital flow, trade and monetary independence" Wadham, 2007

The negativity's of globalisation in the fashion industry is something that, I believe, everyone is aware of.  The globalisation of the fashion trade industry has made it easier, and more importantly - cheaper - for companies and businesses to manufacture and distribute their products around the world. Resulting in this is the constant serious exploitation of countries such as China, India and Turkey, to name a few, for their cheap labour and work that is easily attained for the manufacturing of garments for thousands of retail and fashion industries.  This topic is something of which is under constant speculation and negativity in the fashion world, with the constant strive to obtain a fair trade and manufacturing agreement within these exploited countries.

If we were to change this situation, sourcing and manufacturing every textile and product in the UK, the cost and price of these products would radically increase, creating a great drop in consumerism therefore resulting in an economic downturn. These businesses and industries that manufacture in these 'cost effective' countries need to trade overseas in order for them to keep the UK prices of products at a standard.

There are some positive effects if globalisation in the fashion world. We are now seeing more and more designers emerging from India, the Far East and Middle East, who are making their own mark on fashion and bringing styles and ideas from their cultures and countries.  Their has been a shift in who the designers 'to watch' and 'follow' are, with more of these designers from other parts of the world influencing the fashion designs of others.

In my opinion, this globalisation in fashion is something that we cannot stop or change. Of course I would whole heartedly love to live in a world where the terrible thought of where and how our clothes are produced never entered our minds, however, being honest, I dont see that this 'agreement' of trade and manufacturing overseas will ever change.

I feel that we will always live in a world reminiscent of that proverb; the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.