How luxury fashion leans on labour in the invisible Global South
In the glittering world of luxury fashion—haute couture runways in Paris, bespoke garments from Dior, Valentino, and Gucci — few see the real fabric of the industry: poor, marginalized laborers in the Global South who stitch, embroider, and manufacture pieces for rich consumers in the Global North. Despite price tags often reaching thousands of pounds, the people behind these garments rarely see a fair share of that value or are spared much of a second thought in champagne circles.
The Labor Behind Luxury
The global fashion industry employs over 75 million garment workers, the majority of whom live and work in the Global South — in countries like Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, and Ethiopia. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), most of these workers are women aged between 18 and 35, many supporting entire families on poverty-level wages.
In Bangladesh, the minimum monthly wage for garment workers was recently raised to 12,500 taka (approx. £90), following nationwide protests — still well below the estimated living wage of around £210/month.
In Ethiopia, garment workers making clothes for major Western brands earned as little as $26/month in 2020, the lowest base wage in the global apparel sector, as reported by The New York Times.
These figures are in stark contrast to the luxury fashion industry's retail prices, where garments can fetch thousands of pounds, even when produced in the same supply chains as mass-market brands.
Luxury fashion markets itself on the idea of craftsmanship — but what’s often omitted is where and by whom this craftsmanship is executed. High-end embroidery, hand-stitched beading, and artisanal embellishments are often outsourced to informal workshops in India, Pakistan, and North Africa, where workers receive a fraction of the value their labour creates.
According to Clean Clothes Campaign and Human Rights Watch, this subcontracting model creates conditions ripe for abuse: long hours, unregulated working environments, and no legal recourse in the case of wage theft or workplace injury.
Even high-fashion brands that champion "sustainable" or "handmade" practices often rely on these low-paid, highly skilled workers — their artistry sold at premium prices, while they themselves remain locked in poverty.
Race, class and exploitation
The power dynamics are impossible to ignore: predominantly white, wealthy consumers in the Global North benefit from the labour of brown and Black workers in the Global South — not just through fast fashion, but also through luxury.
A 2023 Fashion Transparency Index report by Fashion Revolution found that only 12% of major fashion brands disclose the wages paid to workers in their supply chains — making it nearly impossible to hold them accountable for systemic underpayment and abuse. Meanwhile, the CEOs of top fashion houses — nearly all based in Europe and North America — earn millions annually.
Luxury fashion’s entire economic model is built on this asymmetry. The glamour is reserved for the global elite; the cost is paid by others.
Power, Accountability & Supply Chain Practices
Despite high brand margins, luxury fashion houses often rely on subcontracted factories over which they exert limited oversight, enabling persistent exploitation and unsafe conditions voguebusiness.com.
Even compliance frameworks like the Utthan Pact—originally backed by LVMH, Kering, Burberry, and others—have failed to guarantee real workplace improvements: many factories still lacked emergency exits, worker benefits, or fair wages years later.
Fashion brands routinely impose unfair buying practices—late payments, contract cancellations, and demanding last-minute price cuts—forcing factories and workers in the Global South to bear financial burdens fashionrevolution.org.
6. Why Classism in Fashion Persists
Luxury fashion depends on keeping production costs extremely low—no matter how high the retail price. This model conserves profit for brands in the Global North, while working-class people from the Global South endure poverty wages, long hours, health risks, and unsafe environments.
The invisibility of these laborers is deliberate - you only know what they want you to know. The illusion of exclusivity and luxury demands that labor remain unseen — and unvalued.
What Needs to Change
The class divide in fashion manufacturing is stark—but not immutable. Real reform depends on:
Supply chain transparency laws and enforced living wages
Ethical sourcing that values labor equally, even in subcontracted factories
Binding codes of conduct (e.g. EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) instead of voluntary auditing
Consumer activism demanding fair buying practices and accountability across the whole value chain
Luxury fashion must reckon with the class-based exploitation that makes its existence possible. Until the conditions—and wages—of those who actually make these garments changes, true luxury remains a lie.