Behind every 5-euro garment hides a reality that major brands prefer to keep quiet. Fast fashion doesn't just destroy the planet—it crushes human lives. Millions of workers, mostly women and children, pay the price for our disposable wardrobe with their health, their freedom, and sometimes their lives.

Rana Plaza: when fashion kills

On April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza building collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 1,138 dead. Thousands injured. Seamstresses who had reported cracks in the walls that very morning were forced to return to work. This tragedy is not an isolated accident—it is the symbol of an industry that puts profit before human lives.

Poverty wages

Textile workers are among the lowest-paid workers in the world. In Bangladesh, the minimum wage in the sector is around 95 euros per month—insufficient to cover the basic needs of a family. In Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Myanmar, the situation is similar. Meanwhile, the margins of major fast fashion brands are hitting new highs. The equation is simple and brutal: the less we pay the hands that sew, the more the shareholders get rich.

Inhumane working conditions

In garment workshops across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, working conditions often amount to forced labor:

• 14 to 16-hour days, 6 to 7 days a week, especially during seasonal rush periods
• Unsanitary premises: extreme heat, fiber dust, lack of ventilation
• Violence and harassment: the workers, mostly women, regularly endure verbal, physical, and sexual abuse
• Absence of contracts: millions of workers are employed informally, with no social protection or rights against unfair dismissal
• Prohibition of unionizing: those who try to organize are fired, intimidated, and sometimes imprisoned

Child labor

Despite the public commitments of major brands, child labor remains a reality in fashion supply chains. In India, children work in embroidery and beadwork workshops—often using the same artisanal techniques that some "premium" brands tout as a selling point. In Uzbekistan, children were still being forcibly mobilized for cotton harvesting just a few years ago. In Burkina Faso and Mali, children participate in cotton extraction under dangerous conditions.

Silent occupational diseases

Textile workers pay a heavy health toll:

• Byssinosis (or “brown lung disease”): a chronic lung disease caused by the inhalation of fiber dust, often unrecognized and uncompensated
• Chemical poisoning: dyes, solvents, treatment agents—workers are exposed to them without protective equipment
• Musculoskeletal disorders: fixed postures for hours, repetitive motions, chronic pain
• Psychological distress: pressure of production targets, fear of firing, harassment—burnout and depression are endemic in these workshops

An opaque supply chain

One of the great hypocrisies of fast fashion is the voluntary opacity of its production chains. Major brands subcontract to suppliers, who themselves subcontract to other workshops, making any traceability almost impossible. This complexity is not a bug in the system—it is a feature. It allows companies to wash their hands of any responsibility when scandals break out.

Alter Ego: another way of doing things

At Alter Ego, we know the hands that make our pieces. Our embroidery is done by craftswomen in India, under decent conditions, paid a fair wage. We believe that the beauty of a garment cannot rest on the suffering of those who create it. Every Alter Ego piece is an act of resistance against a system that exploits to produce ever more, ever cheaper.

Wearing Alter Ego means choosing fashion that respects both the women who wear it and the women who make it.