There are also a million youtube channels of young women having clothing hauls
I just know my godchildrens friends change clothes/fashion much more than people did in my youth. And the fast fashion houses seem to sell quite a lot of small size clothes for the young people so someone is buying it all
âThe Gen Z are extremely aware of the fast fashion industry and do not want it.â No offence but that is utter nonsense .
I think itâs bit much to say itâs utter nonsense @Barbellion when it does appear that young people are incredibly engaged on climate and sustainability matters.
In my view there are two angles to this that will impact the success of this business assuming itâs BAU for management.
First, consumersâ awareness and attitude to the businessâ ESG practices. For as long as the dots remain broadly unconnected for consumers, the sales will likely keep rolling in, especially given the interplay between their success in leveraging social media, price point and access to credit products for consumers. I think if consumers explicitly connect the business model to socially destructive behaviours, then there will be a problem if the management donât change course.
Second, investor appetite. Linked to the above, Institutional capital is coming under increasing pressure to ditch toxic assets. Though for as long as the business continues to perform, there will always be an investorbase chasing yield no matter the ESG considerstion, my expectations is that the business will be in for very bumpy ride when you factor regularly risks and associated costs with fines and remediation.
My hunch is that Gen Z is more keyed into this than previous generations, partially thanks to tech, and super influencers like Greta Thurnberg. Itâs not a stretch to see that Boohoo could quite easily lose its appeal should the above awareness reach a tipping point.
Problem is many youth like to protest about lots including environment issues, privacy and equal pay etc. They usually do so on social media, privacy worst offender, whilst wearing fast fashion and still buying cheaper imports from cheap labour
Lots of double standards in the world. Greta for example launched a â1 year to save the planetâ thing then said the climate meeting should be delayed until all have vaccines. Surely if we have 1 year then delaying it means vaccines are the least of our worries?
The youth are great and all that but every generation has loud youths protesting that end up very different adults I actually think it will be multi generation changes in attitude that change things and not a few vocal kids.
I agree 100% with Greta and the kids etc but many are very quick to actually go and do the opposite of what they preach on social media.
@Big-g totally agree, it has to be a multigenerational effort to shift behaviours and attitudes, no matter which corner of society you occupy, especially when power and influence are not equally distributed, hence why I consider the importance of both investor and consumer influence on a companyâs approach to doing business.
Point on slacktivism very important, but I wonder if online and social media is actually the Achilles heel here. Trial by mob (Facebook etc) presents material threat to businesss. Mumsnet (!) esssentially triggered the demise of the News of The World.
The majority of people who buy from Boohoo are gen z so the statement they (meaning all) do not want it at all is utter nonsense. Plenty donât like but more than enough do to make Boohoo a very profitable company.
Anyone hoping for Gen Z to solve it all are very blinkered to put it politely. Iâd say it is harder for the youth as it is expensive to buy ethically and sustainable etc and when many companies make something in these categories they inflate the price as it is fashionable.
I see kids do great things in school but then act in the opposite way on the weekends I do however believe many people of all ages with cash are trying to be responsible and it will change but my main point was the statement below is ridiculous and sweeping so I actually agree with Barbellion to be honest. It should say âSOME gen Zâ if it wants to be accurate but I would say this actually is the same across all generations.
I think the fact that places like Primark are packed with customers every day of the week, shows that the vast majority of the public couldnât give a fig about fast fashion/slave labour/global warming etc.
Social media is a vast echo chamber that makes a minority group believe itâs in the majority, and time and time again its proved wrong.
There are far more Gen Z kids out there who think Greta who?, than worry about ethical shopping.
If you opened a shop selling half priced phones, computers etc and had a sign outside the shop saying please be aware these products were made using child labour i guarantee you would sell out long before the first placard waving guardian reader had turned up.
There is always the argument that if these factories didnât employ children, then these kids would be on the streets, starving and dying.
Empires for thousands of years have been built on the backs of child and slave labour. You may not like it, or approve of it, but itâs a fact. We also have this artificial construct that humans are children until 18 years old, when mother nature and evolution has actually decided that childhood stops at around 12 years old.
This has never been an argument. Itâs frankly mind blowing that anyone would make such an argument. Itâs a totally false dichotomy to say, well, never mind that people (children or otherwise) are being forced to work against their will, in unsafe and unregulated conditions potentially facing physical and sexual abuse because the alternative is a life of hunger, disease and death? Some choice that is! Imagine if it was your son or daughter, or your parents, being subjected to these choices?
I think the crux it comes down to whether or not an individual thinks itâs acceptable to support a business that engages in the sort of pernicious regulatory arbitrage so you can buy a t-shirt for a quid, knowing that along the way people and the environment have been exploited to the extent that there is material harm being caused. Boohooâs contempt for people over profit was total - they relied on exploitation of undocumented people in the UK, and were sighted on it long before it came to light.
This isnât about which newspaper you read or your politics, this is about making sure businesses are held to account, and are sanctioned when they harm people and the planet.
And before we revert to whataboutery on the commercials, the evidence suggests that companies that take ESG seriously perform better than those that donât.
So you have a choice. Revert to the same old false tropes about âthis is how itâs always been and always will beâ or start thinking about doing the right thing to create a more equitable environment that reduces harm and builds a future that youâd want your children to live in.
Itâs also a fact of history that countries cannot advance economically without abolishing child labour in exchange for education. Thatâs one reason why these empires perished, not why they existed in the first place.
I wonder how many people who have issues with labour practices of third world nations have ever visited these nations or spoken to these people that only survive day to day because of the pennies an hour they earn.
Itâs all well and good boycotting these companies and putting these people out of a job, but until there is an alternative way of living for these people, you are often doing more harm than good.
Iâm sort of playing devils advocate here, only because I have been in some of the poorest regions in the world, and know that many of these poor workers would rather have a crap job paying little, than no job at all.
You may sate your own conscience, but youâre not the ones that suffer for it.
There will always be rich people and poor people, that is something that will never change. Even JC knew that.
If you really wish to help people in poorer nations, may I suggest you put a little of your hard earned cash into something like lendwithcare.org which is something I do every month, and makes a real difference to people.
I work for an investment shop that invests exclusively in frontier and developing markets. We spend as much time considering ESG and development outcomes as we do commercial return, and I can tell you point blank, the people in the countries where we work do not believe for one second itâs should be choice between no work and rubbish work - try telling a mother that has life changing injuries due to non existent safety standards that she should be grateful for the job regardless. You wouldnât stand for it, so why should she?
On the Microfinance link you shared, while I have a lot of time for MFIs - they have played an important role in providing credit for the financially excluded, they are not a panacea. What you need is wholesale change at scale, at the heart of large businesses, as their supply chains are wide, deep and impact a huge number of individuals and MSMEs domestically and internationally. Where thereâs no motivation for change at the management level, itâs in the hands of customers and suppliers to drive this by choosing to work with those companies that do get it. As I previously said, youâll always have actors that donât care, but that is a choice on their part, not an inevitability.
Edit: You might find the following of interest. This is the de facto standard in how âthe worldâ currently thinks about building a more equitable future:
Looks like the boohoo founder will be made to give evidence in the US court case.More bad news for this stock.
Boohoo to sell all its brands in the Middle East after striking deal with Kuwaits Alshaya group. Boohoo will sell there brands through alshaya groups debenhams franchise stores and online starting later this year.