Fast Fashion: A Case of Social Harm and State‐Corporate Crime
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Author | KATJA SIMONČIČ |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12435 |
The Howard Journal Vol60 No 3. September 2021 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12435
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 343–369
Fast Fashion: A Case of Social Harm
and State-Corporate Crime
KATJA SIMONˇ
CIˇ
C
Researcher, Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana,
Slovenia
Abstract: In this article, harm that occurs as a consequence of inadequate health and
safety conditions in the production of fast fashion is highlighted as a representative ex-
ample of a practice that is harmful, yet normalised in the context of neoliberal capitalism.
This harmful practice is analysed with the help of two concepts which originate from crit-
ical criminology: the concept of social harm as defined by Pemberton (2016) as well as
Michalowski and Kramer’s (2007) concept of state-corporate crime. The article aims to
emphasise the criminological relevance of harmful, yet normalised practices such as fast
fashion and to demonstrate the usefulness of the two concepts to do so.
Keywords: critical criminology; fast fashion; occupational health and safety;
social harm; state-corporate crime; zemiology
There is a saying among young girls in Bangladesh: ‘If you’re lucky you’ll
be a prostitute, if not, a worker in the garment industry’ (Spielberg 1997,
p.113).
One of these girls is Anju, a garment factory worker in Bangladesh, who
earns $900 a year, works twelve hours a day and skips meals because she
cannot afford to buy food (Alejo Vázquez Pimentel, Marcias Aymar and
Lawson 2018, p.8). As a citizen of Bangladesh (Patwary 2016), Anju is also
more exposed to the negative effects of climate change than those living
in the Global North, to which the fashion industry,1which produces 8%
of all global greenhouse gas emissions (Chrobot et al. 2018) and one-fifth
of global wastewater (UNECE 2018), contributes extensively. In another
part of the world, in Spain, the CEO of the fashion conglomerate Inditex,2
Amancio Ortega, works hard too and rarely takes a vacation. However, he
owns a private plane in his backyard and has more than $60 billion in his
bank account (Warren 2019).
After learning the information above, most readers are probably
shocked, some perhaps shake their head in disbelief or even utter the word
‘Crime!’. However, despite the momentary disbelief in the face of such
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2021 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
The Howard Journal Vol60 No 3. September 2021
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 343–369
injustice, fast fashion is a practice that is, to a large extent, accepted as nor-
mal and common in the context of contemporary neoliberal capitalism.
Today, the average individual buys more clothes than at any time before in
history (Pierre-Louis 2019), throws them away after wearing them seven
times (Remy, Speelman and Swartz 2016) and is, at the same time, un-
willing to pay more than 5.5 euros for an ethical and sustainable garment
production process (Albouy and Adesida 2018).
Harm that occurs in the fast fashion industry emanates from (mostly
negligent) acts of a number of different culprits which makes ascribing re-
sponsibility to one individual perpetrator impossible. These practices are
consequently, despite their harmful effects, largely overlooked by criminal
law and normalised in the eyes of the public. Critical criminology on the
other hand, as the discipline from which the social harm as well as the state-
corporate crime concept originate, offers valuable tools to analyse harms
of fast fashion. One of the tools at its disposal is the selection of concepts
with which it operates, since the language that critical criminologists (as
well as criminologists, zemiologists and other social scientists) use, plays an
important role in the perception of what is normal and what is deviant in
society. Inthis article, harm that occurs as a consequence of inadequate oc-
cupational health and safety standards in the production of fast fashion in
major garment exporting countries are analysed through two frameworks,
both of which have their origins in critical criminology. By employing the
three categories of social harm proposed by Pemberton (2016) my aim
is to demonstrate the extent and gravity of harm that occurs in the
fast fashion industry, whereas by using the state-corporate crime frame-
work, developed by Kramer and Michalowski (Kramer and Michalowski
1990; Michalowski and Kramer 2007), I want to point out the causes of
harm.
The goal of the article is first, to emphasise the criminological relevance
of harm that occurs as a consequence of fast fashion, which serves as a
representative example of a normalised, yet harmful practice of neoliberal
capitalism. Second, the goal is to advocate for the importance of the
concept of social harm, which helps to uncover harm, as well as for the
indispensability of the concept of state violence, which sheds light on
the causes of the production of harm. By demonstrating the relevance
of both concepts, that is, social harm and state-corporate crime, I argue
for the importance of collaboration between different strands of crimi-
nological thought in order to bring to light harmful activities of those in
power.
In the following sections: (i) the phenomenon of fast fashion is intro-
duced, followed by the concept of social harm as defined by Pemberton
(2016) and the concept of state-corporate crime; (ii) the concept of social
harm is applied to the inadequate occupational health measures and safety
protections in the production of fast fashion in major garment exporting
countries, followed by the concept of state-corporate crime; (iii) likewise
applied to the above-mentioned aspect of the fast fashion industry; and
(iv) concluding remarks ensue.
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2021 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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