As production from textiles ramped up over the 19th and 20th century–both from mechanization and the exploitation of the working class–capitalists needed people to actually buy all the stuff they were producing.

And while fashion trends have always existed, the wielding of fashion’s cyclical nature became that much more acute as industrial capitalism took hold of global markets.

“Under capitalism” as author of the book Stitched Up, Tansy E. Hoskins, writes, “people are locked into a mindset where having is more important than being.

We learn to value things only when we directly possess them rather than looking for happiness in ourselves, in labor, in society or in nature.”

So, because people are judged by their material worth under capitalism, if you attach exclusivity, belonging, wealth, and power onto a piece of clothing, it’s much more likely to sell.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Instead of highlighting durability or usefulness, fashion shows, catalogs and advertisements display what you could be if you just had that pair of pants.

In a capitalist system where endless hours of meaningless or destructive work grind us into unhappiness, we look to consumption for a way to achieve pleasure, to belong, to give back, or to heal our planet.

When these values are placed onto clothing, then, we are much more likely to pay top dollar.

Our self worth and our image is tied to our clothing, so much so that a survey of 18- to 25-year-olds in London found that 41% of people felt pressure to wear a different outfit every time they went out.

So, it’s in the best interests of the owners of clothing brands to not only attach as much desire onto their garments, but to constantly change those clothes so that you always feel one step behind and need to continuously buy more to feel satisfied, which, just so happens to be a foundational tactic of fast fashion.

Let’s head back to that building in Bangladesh.

On April 24, 2013, textile workers filed into the structure to start yet another grueling day of producing cheap clothes for massively wealthy corporations like Walmart and Primark.

But this wasn’t a normal day of work.

The day before, inspectors had discovered cracks in the foundation of Rana Plaza, a building housing various garment factories, shops and banks.

Once the inspectors discovered the shoddiness of the foundation, they evacuated the building, shutting down the garment factories for the rest of the day.

But the owners of those factories were eager for profits and production.

The very next day, workers were forced back into the building to continue churning out clothing.

An hour later Rana Plaza collapsed under the weight of extra floors, too much machinery, and too many people.

1,132 workers died, 2,500 people were injured.

Echoing the many fires and deaths of early industrial capitalism, Rana Plaza revealed to the world that the exploitation of textile workers didn’t end with the meager reforms in imperial core countries over the course of the 20th century.

Instead the conditions and the environmental pollution of fashion production, have just been exported to the imperial periphery.

The current ultra-fast fashion economy is able to thrive because companies squeeze workers under deadly conditions and push the inevitable waste onto the environment.

The same thing that was happening in English textile mills is happening right now.

Online fashion juggernauts like Shein and ASOS are the epitome of this industrial hyper-production.

They release thousands of styles onto their store every single day.

Much like mechanized looms and the exploitation of women and enslaved people by English textile mill owners, modern fashion brands wield the quick turn-around of the internet and the oppression of the textile working class in countries like Bangladesh to constantly create new trends and sell evermore clothing.

The state of the textile industry is a dark one–driven by a constant desire to gain more and more profits.

Indeed, the former COO of Timberland writes that “While serving as an executive in the industry, never once did a CFO ask me if the business could contract… Nor did I ever hear from a Wall Street analyst making a pitch for Timberland to prioritize resilience ahead of revenue growth.”

So, under the glitz and glamor of advertisements and the sterilized ease of online shopping lies the reality of brutal working hours, dismal wages, millions of tons of waste and carbon pollution, injuries, and death.

Around 40 million people work in the textile industry.

The majority of whom are women and children of color toiling in the imperial periphery.

Pieces like this, and this, reveal that the collapse of Rana Plaza wasn’t just a mere fluke.

Factory disasters have stolen the lives of workers before and after the Plaza collapsed.

And a 2017 report from Global Fashion Agenda roughly estimated that 1.4 million textile workers suffer workplace injuries every year.

The true price of our clothes, especially cheap ones, are pushed onto those stitching everything together in factories.

And for enduring these terrible conditions, they receive terrible pay.

The Clean Clothes Campaign estimates that the average garment laborer receives just 0.6% of a piece of clothing’s retail price.

And while millions of workers get scraps, the barons of fashion like the owner of Zara and the owner of Louis Vouiton have become some of the wealthiest men in the world.

The business model of fast fashion companies is the inevitable conclusion of all companies under capitalism: expanding profits by minimizing labor costs, exporting pollution and maximizing production in order to outcompete other companies.

All of this production not only means long hours on the factory floor, but it also leads to pretty dismal consequences for the planet.