Have you ever thought about how privileged people are, myself included, to be born into G20 countries? How lucky are we to live in countries where one can dream of a bright future? Although there are some flaws in our political systems, most of the people here do have basic human rights and we can always have at least a chance to fight against injustice.
Unfortunately, many people don’t have this privilege. The pandemic (COVID-19) has proved something we were already aware of: fast fashion comes at the expense of labour rights.

It’s time to wake up and stop buying into a system built on human rights violations
In the global fashion industry, brands typically pay their supplies weeks or even months after delivery. This means that suppliers pay upfront for the materials or fibres and in response of the pandemic (COVID-19), many fashion brands and retailers decided not to take care of these orders, leaving the factories no choice than destroy or keep hold of unwanted goods already made and lay off their workers in droves.
Bloomberg reports that this has impacted the lives of 1.2 MILLION workers. Approximately $1.5 BILLION of Bangladesh garment orders.
Bloomberg
To be fair, some big international buyers like Primark, H&M, Inditex, Marks & Spencer or URBN (Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Free People), among others, have promised to keep their commitment and honours their contracts, however, no time frame has been outlined on when the payments will be made- keeping in mind the urgency of the crisis and its catastrophic impact on workers already.
Why fast fashion needs to #PAYUP
The Instagram account @remakeourworld, a community of designers, IG addicts, storytellers and feminists are using their voice and creativity to make the invisible women who power the fashion industry visible. This amazing team is driving a social media campaign to call these brands to #PAYUP the money owed to their respective garment workers.
This is pretty simple and obvious – once you open your eyes and you realise that you’re taking away someone else freedom – because our ignorance has allowed us to buy into a system built on human rights violations. And if these massive brands don’t pay for for their produced orders, without such payment, many workers are facing homelessness and starvation.
Since Remake launched the campaign on March 30, 2020, 21 brands have agreed to pay up, most recent being Primark. However, the timing of this news comes as the brand launches an ”eco collection”, so, unfortunately, this launch has clear elements of greenwashing.
What can you do?
- Sign this petition on change.org to support
- Boycott the brands which have not paid their workers by not buying their products
- Support the #PAYUP campaign on social media, by supporting or reposting their posts.
You can make the difference supporting this movement on social media. DO YOUR BIT!
I love that you write your post in 2 languages (Spanish and English). I’m a Spanish girl but I want practice a little (sorry for my mistakes😅).
That post is very interesting. All people say about the problems that economy maybe will have in months but I nobody says nothing about the human rights or how the covid-19 affect to peple who not live un the G-20 countries😔.
¡This is necesary!
Hey María, I just saw your comment… you made my day, I really mean it! It takes a lot of time to write everything in two languages, so, thank you for appreciating it 🥰
Fashion brands make millions in profits each year, and yet year after year, garment workers keep fighting for survival. It doesn’t have to be this way. I hope that seeing these brands cancelling their orders with unpaid wages for clothes that were already sewn and ready to ship during the pandemic… will open people’s eyes.
To be honest, most of the people know the real cost of cheap labour and cheap fashion but they don’t want to admit it… 😖 It’s easier that way, right?