In the past the SMA Justice Office has focused on the issues of fast fashion and the abuse of human rights in supply chains, with articles published on this website and in the African Missionary Magazine. With billions of fast fashion garments, made from synthetic oil-based fibres, being made and dumped each year, fast fashion is a serious health and environmental issue. Their production using abusive work practices such as poor pay, dangerous work conditions and slave labour is well documented. Africa suffers disproportionately in the final stages of the fast fashion life-cycle as it imports huge amounts of second-hand garments that eventually end up in landfill sites causing pollution, environmental destruction and health problems..
Here we link to an article by Céire Kealty a PhD candidate in Theology at Villanova University and freelance writer, exploring Christian spirituality, environmental ethics, and the global garment industry. This article, published in the Jesuit Faith and Justice Centre’s “Working Notes” No 94 examines Worker exploitation in fast fashion from a theological perspective It begins by giving an overview of the current situation and how our love of “retail therapy” supports its abuses. It then follows with insights from the Catholic Theological Tradition – a very readable and worth reading account. CLICK HERE TO READ
Other articles on this issue
https://sma.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/SMA-newsletter-spring-23.pdf?swcfpc=1
https://sma.ie/labour-trafficking-and-supply-chains-part-two/?swcfpc=1