Why Does Fashion Capitalize on Feminism?

eminism has become a trend. Regardless of whether you call yourself a Feminist or align yourself with the ideology, that statement is a difficult one to challenge. Where does the line between social amelioration and corruption lie?

Simple t-shirts with big, bold text declaring solidarity with the Feminist movement such as the ones shown above have permeated not only the fashion industry, but thousands of closets the world around. Visit any high street apparel website – Topshop, H&M, Forever 21 – and you’d more than likely find at least one cheaper knock-off of the more expensive blatantly ‘Feminist Fashion’ (though, can you really ‘knock off’ a plain

t-shirt with a few simple, common words printed on the front? That’s another discussion entirely) peddled by high fashion houses like Dior. Ambiguous manufacturing practices aside, what are the consequences of this recent popularization of ‘Feminist Fashion,’ and exactly how “Feminist” is this apparel? Fashion is an industry rooted in trend. Sometimes designers create new trends,

but often we see age-old concepts “re-introduced,” such as the exploitation of ethnic and cultural practices through the unfortunate and unfortunately common practice of cultural appropriation.

This 'Feminist Fashion' trend obviously doesn't fall into that category, but there are striking similarities between the exploration of Feminism and the exploration of ethnic culture. Instead of creating new and innovated designs, these designers have capitalized on the resurgence and sudden popular favor of Feminism that has occurred in recent years. On a surface-level, of course further popularizing the Feminist Movement is a positive thing for the push towards gender equality. But taking a surface-level stance on the issue is ignorant.

There happen to be a bevy of issues with this form of 'Feminist Fashion,' politically, socially, economically, and...well, the list goes on and on.

“White Feminism”

‘Feminist Fashion’ is privileged. Feminism is meant to focus on issues all women around the world face, and it’s just not very likely that someone who has the means to drop over $700 on a white t-shirt declaring “We Should All Be Feminists” really gives much of a shit about anything beyond their own firstworld scope. Dior has said that a portion of the proceeds from the shirt will go towards Rihanna’s nonprofit, The Clara Lionel Foundation…but what exactly

does that mean? “A portion”? Anywhere from .01% to 99% of the $700 each shirt retails for could go towards the charity. Knowing fashion and, well, the capitalist system as a whole, it’s far more likely that the “portion” will be miniscule. Anyways, in what world does selling a white t-shirt for over $700 make close to any sense, even if it is Dior?? You’d be much better off just donating that $700 to an organization that benefits women, and Dior would be better off taking whatever the costs of designing, manufacturing, shipping, advertising, etc. add up to and donating that money to a non-profit that benefits the Feminist Movement.

Exploitation

Peddling apparel under the guise that you aim to benefit the movement, while racking up the retail price of that apparel to, at the lowest, about 1000% of what it costs to produce, is textbook exploitation. Not to mention, the companies behind this apparel -- both the high fashion houses and high street labels -- rarely operate under ethical manufacturing practices. You may be wearing an absurdly expensive t-shirt with the word FEMINIST in bold, black letters and patting yourself on the back, thinking ‘Good on me, I get brownie points for openly

being a Feminist!’. Meanwhile somewhere in China, thousands of women spend nearly all day, every day locked up in overheated factories, producing that very shirt on your back that you think is so damn Feminist, for meager, unlivable wages. Which, as you can hopefully piece together, is not exactly a Feminist practice. In many cases, ‘Feminist Fashion’ does more direct harm for women than it does good.

The Clientele

This one is pretty simple: what sort of a bona-fide Feminist would spend hundreds of dollars on a ‘Feminist’ shirt when they could donate that money to a pro-woman cause? Who cares if it’s ‘designer’? Nobody but you would know or care. If you really, truly need apparel with the word “Feminist” pasted across the front, just go to Custom Ink or some other design-yourown-t-shirt website and make one for $20. Or better yet, get an old t-shirt you already own and print the words onto it yourself.

Carson Gartner, 19, she/her/hers