Fashion: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

fashion personality you can buy it's what makes some people look fun and fabulous and what makes most men in their 20s wear variations of a plaid button-up shirt every single day listen I've decided I'm not even gonna try I'm just gonna wear versions of this until I'm dead that's it we buy a lot of clothes in this country in 2013 Americans purchased on average 64 items per person and were able to do that because clothing is incredibly cheap these days as you know if you've ever turned on your TV in the morning the price of this dress shocked a lot of people in our office $39.99 LC by Lauren Conrad $35 that's our music this is a dress by Norma Kamali it is $24 get out get out seriously get out security get her out of here there is no way that dress is $24 go yourself you lied to me look for the consumer low prices are fantastic and nowadays those clothes will even look good because trendy clothing is cheaper than ever and cheap clothing is trendy than ever and this is largely thanks to the rise of so-called fast-fashion retailers that produce stylish incredibly low cost clothing like H&M Zara and forever 21 the brand that enables Midwestern tweens to dress like 40 something alcoholics attending the funeral over Tel Aviv nightclub owner it's a powerful look and a big part of all these brands appeal is that there's always something new to buy just look at H&M s rate of turnover stores are replenished daily from the streets to the runway the latest trends are scoured and can go from a sketch to the rack in little as three weeks we have new garments coming into the stores almost every day so if you go to an H&M store today and come back to this later you will always find something new yes one day maybe you will find a shirt and it shares rising swag maybe next day you'll find shirt with pardon my swag and make me next day after that you find cocaine dusted copy of nylon magazine in a fitting room something new at H&M always always a to those prices are so competitive that a few years back they put out a dress that cost just $4.95 think about that that means you could take a five dollar bill scotch tape it over your genitals and you'd be wearing a more expensive piece of clothing I went online and a jar of crickets food costs $5 a bunch of weird orange cubes you feed to a bug a worth five cents more than this dress that dress is only seven cents more than a DVD of the ghosts of Girlfriends Past inexpensive DVD raves variety and yes some how fast fashion companies are massively profitable the chairman of H&M is the 28th richest person in the world and the co-founder of Zara is the fourth richest person in the world that means people who own oil fields are worth less than a guy who makes distressed jean shorts buying clothes is cheaper and easier than ever and not just at fast fashion companies traditional retailers have lowered their prices as well which means the only way brands make money is through volume and that's why even basics like jeans now go through fashion cycles with the lifespan of mayflies obviously the big trend is skinny jeans so for spring forget about the skinny jean now it's all about the flare Jean jeans are the big thing for spring Jonah is wearing the it Jean of the season and that is the baggy jeans she's marrying these two trends that have been so controversial the culotte and the denim we got a denim culottes denim culottes finally an answer to the question what if an 18th century cabin boy was also Canadian as great as all these stylish cheap clothes are at a certain point it's hard not to look at those prices and wonder how does any clothing company make money although let's be honest you know the answer to that half of our clothing used to be made in the United States as recently as 1990 it's remarkable and today 2% 2% percent of the clothes we wear are made here that's right we produce clothes almost entirely overseas where it's much cheaper and if 98% of your products could be made abroad you should really start changing your name to reflect that fact so American Eagle should really become Bangladeshi swan pen and Banana Republic should really become actually that one is fine they they got ahead of themselves there for once and and look I know you think you've heard this story before because you have if you remember in the 1990s sweatshops were a key point of outrage companies like GAAP and Nike were protested and then of course most famously there was this Kathie Lee Gifford said she was shocked to learn that a clothing line bearing her name was manufactured at least in part in sweatshops and by underage workers yes Kathie Lee's clothing line was caught using child labor which was surprising given how kindly she'd always treated the small elderly boy who co-hosted her show and the outcry over sweatshops wasn't just loud it got some results Kathie Lee even testified in front of Congress we are now morally compelled to ask each of us what can we do to protect labor rights in factories around the world and right here in America and given that it was my own neglect that compelled us to ask this important moral question I say to you all you are welcome now let's start day drinking come on what's wrong with you people it's 9:00 a.m. Cheers good morning but amazingly and I know this is hard to hear Kathy Lee did not solve everything in fact there has been a pattern of troubling behavior in the garment industry for the past 20 years just look at Gap the nation's number one supplier of polo shirts for frat guys to vomit on back in the 90s they were criticized for labor abuses of a factory making their clothes in El Salvador in response they agreed to start an independent monitoring program which certainly pretty good to everyone besides they had that fun ad where idiots in ill-fitting khakis swing dance so we kind of forgot all about it until five years later when the BBC visited a factory making Gap clothing in Cambodia we've been told there were some children here making clothes for the gap this is son Teeter she's 12 years old she told the factory she's 18 this is chance eater she's 14 she too lied to get the job monitors never questioned either of them oh come on that is no excuse if a child gained entry to a bar using a Pinkberry punch card as a fake ID it's the bars fault oh it says here your middle name is one free topping cool middle name have fun in there in response gap revoked approval of that factory and enhanced their age verification requirements which sounded pretty good besides it was the year 2000 and they had that ad campaign wear pastel morons did the man bold so we kind of forgot all about it again until 7 years after that when a British newspaper visited a workshop in India according to a published report these children aged 10 to 13 were working as virtual slaves stitching embroidered shirts for Gap Kids okay stop having children make clothes for gap is bad enough having them make clothes for Gap Kids is somehow worse make a beautiful shirt that's exactly your size we'll ship it around the world will be worn once and thrown away now make a thousand more for me in response GAAP said it didn't know it's clothes were in that workshop and demanded its supplier make significant improvements to its oversight of subcontractors and everyone felt better especially because it was 2007 and gap had just had that mind-blowingly cool holiday in your hood campaign with common fell into the gap day back in the hood seen peace in the streets when I look I know we're talking about child labor but that may be the saddest that I felt so far then in 2010 a fire broke out at a factory in Bangladesh that produced Gap clothing killing 29 workers after that gap launched a building and fire safety plan which was great because it meant nothing alarming concerning gaps presence in Bangladesh was ever going to happen again until 2013 when Al Jazeera found this there's no fire extinguisher no fire exit it's just a Shack in someone's backyard how old how long have you been working here [Music] luckily Journal says Old Navy old Navy is owned by Gap Inc yeah I guess at this point it seems sweatshops aren't one of those 90s problems we got rid of like Donnie Wahlberg they're more like one of those 90s problems were still very much dealing with like Mark Wahlberg now gap says those Old Navy jeans were rejected products sold without their knowledge and never ended up in their stores look all brands in the industry have problems gap is by no means the worst and if you ask gap as we did they'll point out they've made real improvements and tried as hard as they can to fix all this but think about that that means a company trying as hard as it can has been not infrequently connected to labor violations in multiple countries over two decades and when you weigh all this up it seems the only situation in which gap could claim to be unambiguously helpful to people is when someone shits their pants directly outside one of their stores I never thought I'd say this but thank God gap is here to help you people are angels and one of the biggest problems with holding many brands accountable is that deniability seems to being stitched into the supply chain look at Walmart they insist they hold their suppliers to high safety standards but CPS visited a factory in Bangladesh making clothes for Walmart and found otherwise the boss at Mondi apparel's masa del hoc Chowdhury showed us an evacuation map marking the location of 13 fire extinguishers but nearly all of them were missing well if they're not there then that's not a map it's an aspirational poster for fire safety but if that Factory does not conform to Walmart safety standards how were their clothes there the managers told us the factory hasn't been approved by Walmart for production but they still had an order for a million Walmart boxer shorts subcontracted to them by another Factory I see so Walmart sent it to an approved Factory and that factory sent it to an unapproved factory without Walmart's knowledge it's just a crazy one-in-a-million random accident that only happened multiple times over the past few years Walmart's say their clothing suppliers in Bangladesh were doing business with the factory without their knowledge one of its suppliers subcontracted part of the order to tessarin without their permission the order was placed with a troubled factory without its knowledge it had no idea of production ever happened there and this is not the first time Walmart has been caught unaware no it's not and they are losing the right to act surprised they're like the characters in The Hangover movies it's it's not an accident the third time boys it's a pattern of reckless behavior which has to be addressed and look since the 90s we've sporadically cared about this including two years ago this week after the Rana Plaza building collapse five days after that deadly building collapse in Bangladesh rescuers continue to pull survivors from the rubble new pictures overnight show dramatic rescue some using their bare hands to free those who are still trapped at least 360 people have been killed hundreds more still missing that building collapse ended up killing more than 1,100 people everyone was justifiably horrified and that report aired on The Today Show so you know that everyone there heard it we then found out that brands like Joe Fresh and The Children's Place had been made in Rana Plaza and we were horrified again and yet we get so blinded by low prices that just a few months later The Today Show was doing this this adorable sequined bag is from the children's place I found it for under $10 Wow want to spend a ton of money cuz you're gonna spill something on it I found this one which is a silk poly blend from Joe fresh touch it 119 bucks get out get out get the felt of the studio and think about what you're doing because one of the ladies cooing over that $19 Joe fresh blouse is Kathie Lee Gifford and if she can forget the human cost of shockingly cheap clothing then that is not in that case actually that's surprising her brain is basically pickled in Chardonnay at this point but it doesn't give you much hope for everyone else look this is going to keep happening as long as we let it so we need to show clothing brands not just that we care but why they should so we have a little surprise for the leaders of some of these companies I'm talking specifically about the heads of hmm of Walmart of Gap of Joe Fresh and of The Children's Place I bought all of you lunch which will be turning up to your office tomorrow now full disclosure I do not know exactly how this food was made I told someone who may have told someone else to get the most food they could for the cheapest price and and they did that now I do have strict policies in place I told them not to spit on that food or to rub their balls on that food and I've trusted them to abide by that so I want you to look at the suspiciously cheap food that lands on your desks tomorrow I don't want you to King eat it and if you are thinking well I can't do that I don't know where it came from what if someone rubbed their balls on it then I don't know what to tell you other than now do you understand the importance of supply chain management but why am I telling you about your lunch when I can show you introducing the spring collection of your lunch tomorrow first please welcome Dave is wearing an old Navy shirt and shorts by his total outfit cost of 23 78 and he's carrying the frightening ly cheap sushi platter that will be arriving at your office tomorrow thank you Dave let's move on to Walmart Christian is modeling both a summer maxi dress available for under $15 and d'être a flautist that we got for just a dollar 75 each which is so close to being free it's literally nauseating moving on to Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe Fresh and often is pairing a sweatshirt and casual pant that cost under $40 how is it so cheap it's a mystery much like the contents of that gigantic pile of cheap dumplings that you will be eating tomorrow Thank You Austin let's move on to our H&M collection we paired hailey sub $20 jeans and blouse with shrimp and salmon base 3 for 5 which will be genuinely arriving at your Stockholm offices tomorrow I'm guessing that you will smell it before it gets into the room and finally thank you thank you finally please welcome to Children's Place and say hello to Elliot she's wearing an adorable white summer dress which cost less than 15 dollars and up what's that she's pulling that would be your lunch a selection of dirt cheap rotisserie chickens just to reiterate I have no idea where they came from or what might have happened to them along the way but Elliot sure wants you to eat them isn't that right Elliot exactly 8:8 them each this wagon of mystery chickens [Applause] you

Channel: LastWeekTonight

Views: 15,788,429

Rating: 4.9030938 out of 5

Keywords: fashion, fast fashion, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (TV Program), John Oliver (TV Writer), HBO (TV Network)

Id: VdLf4fihP78

Length: 17min 10sec (1030 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 26 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/DelayedReflex]

None of the food at the end was particularly cheap.

[u/harrywilko]

Mirror for non-Americans.

EDIT: Daily motion mirror if the first one doesn't work for you, thanks to /u/TheWindleyMan for that

[u/GameBoy09]

Is that Dan Gurewitch from College Humor, and he's a plaid model now? I haven't really been following College Humor since like 2011 so I don't know what happened to any of those guys.

[u/Miniparabol]

Bangladeshi here. I would like add some things that I believe weren't covered in this video.

• First of all, the grim truth about these sweatshops is they are needed. These children and their families need the income or they might really be looking at starvation.

• Some consolation are that these sweatshops aren't as extreme. They do work through out the day, but in 3 shifts, so no more than 8 hours. 5-6 days a week.

• Child labour in the garment industry is extremely rare, because of the skill required to handle certain machinery. The clip showing kids working are outliers. Even they are most likely working with their parents. Note: Child labour is present in other industries.

• The end product pricing wasn't mentioned. A Gap T-shirt made in these factories are extremely cheap, they come to around BDT 100-300 (Approx. $ 1.20-3.5). By the time they hit the stores in the west they are about $20-40.

• The workers are paid approximately BDT 4000-10,000 per month ( $50-125) depending on the skill required to handle the machinery. Their work hour are fixed 48 hours a week, excluding government holidays.

• Factory owners have next to no accountability. Their factory burn down, collapses or riots occur. They cut their loses and leave the country.

Sources: Small country, everyone knows everyone, info gathered from multiple factory owners and factory workers.

EDIT: Made some decimal error, thank you u/xexox

EDIT2: People are asking why I said "small country", because it is a small country ~150,000 Km² (comparison US ~10,000,000 km^2). Regardless of the countries population, the it is small on an economic scale (58^th according to World Bank). My countries physical size and economic presence is small, which I was referring to.

And I know about our population density is high, but the economic impact we present isn't significant. If all our garment industry collapsed overnight, the world would just turn to the slightly more expensive Indian and Chinese companies, and Bangladesh would be forgotten. That is why I called it small.

[u/AFakeName]

The other half of the problem, which drives the corporations to cheap labor, is the first world's throw-away culture towards clothing. We don't buy things that last, we don't repair clothing. Tailors, cobblers have all but disappeared.

[u/Jeppertron]

And I've been wearing the same 5 shirts and 3 pairs of pants for 4 years now :/

[u/jordan_bar]

The first joke in the whole show was about guys that wear different colors of plaid button-down shirts with jeans and nothing else, and I realized I am one of those guys.

[u/SenatorRandPaul]

I look forward to Gap's holiday campaign so we can just forget all this hogwash.

[u/AchillesSonofTragedy]

Might be because I'm in college, but I would've probably eaten most of that free food