5 Ways YouTubers Perpetuate Fast Fashion
I don’t know about y’all but I have been spending a lot of time watching YouTube videos! YouTube has quickly grown as a place to watch free content from all over the globe. This has allowed YouTubers to make a living online. Just one revenue stream for YouTube content creators include selling personalized merchandise. They can do this without having to know how to design or sew clothing. They simply partner with third-party businesses to make their merch and only really need to know how to make a logo. This has made room for YouTubers to perpetuate fast fashion through business partnerships and content creation.
Ignorance to Fast Fashion
It is not common for YouTubers to know how their own clothing was made, much less where their merch was made. There is a lot of work to be done in spreading awareness on fast fashion. This is what makes YouTubers completely ignorant to the unethical and exploitative conditions their clothing are made from.
The mass ignorance of fast fashion makes it easier for businesses to not be held accountable for their malpractices. This ignorance also normalizes selling merch for money with no concern for the social and economic conditions from which it was made. It has made the exploitative fashion industry gone unseen by both YouTubers and viewers alike.
All the while, third-party merchandise sites rarely provide information of where clothing was made and shipped from. This is also a common (mal) practice with fast fashion brands.
YouTube content creators should consider asking themselves the following questions to ensure their merch was ethically & sustainably made:
Where was my merch made?
What were the working conditions for the garment workers that made my merch?
Was the printing of my merch done in an environmentally and socially responsible manner?
How and where was my merch stored before it was sold?
How and where was my merch shipped to reach my fans all over the globe?
2. Easy-To-Use Merch Sites
YouTubers are known for their videos and storytelling skills. I have certainly been a victim of watching Youtube until 3 am! Enjoying content from creators makes viewers become fans.
Fans often feel happy to support their favorite YouTubers. Their videos usually express to their audience a specific topic that creates a brand they understand and appreciate.
Their brand helps them to easily sell merch! A brand allows YouTubers to appeal to their fans' emotions and aspirations through videos, photos and giveaways.
According to IZEA, consumers are attracted to goods when the content strategy is focused on:
Inspirational Imagery: Merch provides a covetable look for fans that relies heavily on aesthetics. It encourages a desire to share images and video of their merch to look a certain way.
On- Trend: Merch is produced for on-trend shoppers that reflect YouTubers niche brand
Support: Merch is sold to fans that really enjoy the YouTubers content. Their financial contribution allows them to feel part of a community and a sense that they supported their favorite entertainer
All a YouTuber has to do to start making merch is to make an account on a third-party merch site. They can then start making logos with the help of open-access design platforms like Canva.
They can also recruit a freelance graphic designer or ask a fan to create a logo. This logo can then be placed on a 3D rendition of a standard merch garment and then be sold minutes later.
3. Have Little To Lose
Merch sites often mitigate the financial risk for YouTubers interested in selling merch.
They rarely ask YouTubers to make pre-payments or cover any upfront costs to start making anything. However, they do ask them to sign an agreement for a free account.
YouTubers can start making money once designs are finalized and submitted. They often receive a sum after the merch production, shipment and misc. fees have been removed.
4. Fear of Selling Out
To eliminate merch would mean a major loss of profit for YouTubers. It would force them to take business partnerships that could make them be seen as a “sell-out”. This when they team up with companies to sell products to their audience.
Selling out could also mean putting more ads in their videos, pushing more ad partnerships on their Instagram or incorporating more brand deals in their videos. All of this can end up taking more time and work for the YouTuber.
In this sense, merch is seen as a win-win-win situation for the creator, their business partners and for the fans.
5. Creators Presence on YouTube
Youtubers may not be entirely to blame for perpetuating fast fashion. Their actions may very well reflect the platform they have built their following and livelihood on. YouTube helps creators to sell merchandise through its integrated features. One of them includes allowing creators to plug in merch pics immediately under their videos.
These pictures immediately link to their merch site. These sites are trusted and respected by Youtube users and creators.
In addition, YouTube does not mention what type of merch businesses they partner with. This allows partnerships to be made with no consideration for sustainability and ethics.
And with the plethora of fast fashion hauls, fast fashion content creators, and promotional ads for fast fashion….. it is obvious profit is at the forefront of YouTube business operations.
Suggestions for YouTube to to promote sustainable fashion include:
Suggesting sustainable-oriented merch sites
Pushing sustainable fashion videos onto the home page
Highlighting sustainable fashion creators
Providing sustainable fashion tag guides
These suggestions can open the door on conversations around ethics and sustainability. It could create a more just and humane fashion industry.
TAKE ACTION
Let’s make YouTubers realize the impact they have on the fashion industry. Consider emailing the following letter created by YouTuber Verena from My Green Closet to YOUR favorite YouTuber:
*Edit and adjust where it makes most sense for you!
Dear [YouTuber’s First and Last Name],
As a YouTuber you likely don't consider yourself part of the fashion industry but you are.
Some large creators produce and sell more garments than an indie fashion brand.
So it's important to know who makes your merch.
Not just who printed the graphic on - where was it sewn? Who made the fabric?
And most importantly, with an industry notorious for exploitation, human rights abuses, and one of the top industries for modern slavery, are the garment workers paid a fair, living wage, and working in safe conditions?
While there are some companies producing sustainable and ethical custom garments, many of the businesses that produce YouTuber merch have almost no information about their manufacturing or some vague statement about suppliers following a code of conduct.
It's Fashion Revolution Week and today marks the 8th anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse and yet there are still so many ethical issues in the clothing industry. With your platform you are in a position and have power to demand better transparency and fair practices from your apparel partners.
Even though you might not be directly making the clothes, you are branding and selling them as yours and should take responsibility to ensure ethical manufacturing.
This might seem like a small piece of the pie to focus on when you look at the whole fashion industry, but top YouTubers are selling millions of dollars of merch every year - image if that money was also supporting a fair and ethical supply chain!
For viewers I encourage you to ask your favorite content creators who sell apparel, "Who makes your merch?"
YouTubers should know how their products are made and especially for the prices most charge, the garment workers should be paid a fair wage!
