The world behind a garment

When was the last time that you purchased a piece of clothing? Did you ever think about where it came from? Or perhaps who was a part of manufacturing it? Well, believe it or not, there is a world in just a piece of clothing.

Many processes are involved in producing a cotton t-shirt – and the first of these many processes is cotton farming. It is extremely different from what it used to be in the past, as machinery and technology are used nowadays to harvest the cotton rather than slaves labour. When the cotton has been collected by the machine, it is then sent to factories where machines turn the cotton fibres into fabric.

The fabric is then transported to garment factories around the world – including Bangladesh, the world’s third largest producer of clothing. Four million people in Bangladesh work for the textile industry, where they must work long hours to manufacture some of the largest fashion brands. However, these employees do not receive fair wages and their work conditions are unsafe. These issues are controversial about whether we should purchase ‘sweatshop’ clothing.

When a clothing item is complete, it is then exported to countries around the globe in a shipping container, and after this, the garment is put in the shop for sale, when you see it and buy it. And this is how a piece of clothing gets to you.

So, when you do consider purchasing a new T-shirt or a pair of jeans, think about it: there is an entire world in this product. There is a chain of people who farmed the material for it, transported it, or even suffered unsafe work conditions to just manufacture it, and every one of their lives connects to ours.

Ruby Cochrane, Year 7