I love clothes and adore shopping – but I also love the planet, and shopping sustainably is something I have tried to work on the past few years.
PrettyLittleThing is not a sustainable fashion brand in the slightest, despite having enough money to make these pivotal changes. The multi-million pound contract given to Molly-Mae Hague to take over as Creative Director of the company demonstrates that.
We’re all partial to a fast fashion item once in a while, and making clothes accessible for those with smaller budgets is of course important – but the CEO of PLT, Umar Kamani, is a billionaire that’s disconnected from reality. Even though he has the means to create a more sustainable company, it’s not something that’s in the works or even discussed.
His success, and the empire built by his father, Boohoo PLC’s CEO - the parent company of PLT – is reliant on the exploitation of workers. It has been reported by Daily Mail that the garment workers are paid £3.50 per hour. There’s nothing pretty about wage theft and overproduction.
Molly-Mae’s 'we all have the same 24 hours' speech came from a place of immense privilege and shows how disengaged the company’s Creative Director is from reality. Yes, she may have worked hard, but she is also from a wealthy family and appeared on a national TV show that boosted her following – opportunities many people do not have.
On Black Friday, PrettyLittleThing had a '100% off sale’ where they essentially gave their clothes away for free. The company is vastly overproducing, supported by the fact they can afford to give them away for free, and also shows how little value they treat these clothes with.
It also demonstrates the little value they give to the workers that make their clothes. PLT workers have the same 24 hours that Molly-Mae has, but are burdened by unfair wages.
Many of the brand’s items are also made by a combination of Elastane and Polyester, both forms of plastic that badly pollute the planet.
Up to 40 per cent of returned online orders go directly to landfills or are incinerated because it is cheaper than reselling them – but this overproduction is harming all of us.
The protest held outside PrettyLittleThing’s runway show in February was not just sending hate towards Molly-Mae for simply disliking her, it had a deeper meaning. Protestors made their voices heard and were holding an unethical company accountable.
Trying to do the best we can individually is crucial, but holding these unethical behaviours of companies to account is of paramount importance – especially ones that have the money to pay for sustainable materials and pay their workers a fair wage.
Edited by Miette Dsouza