Is the London Fashion Industry a Sweatshop?

London’s fashion industry seems glamorous but it is actually gruelling, especially for young designers. A lot of hard work, long hours and breakdowns happen behind the scenes of a well-established brand. My non-fashion friends think that my days are spent playing with materials and drawing all day long, or laughing with celebrities at Fashion Week. My reality is slouching over my laptop, eyes red, researching and photo shopping, with breaks to clean the kitchen and pick up parcels.

To start with, getting an entry-level assistant design job requires at least two years of experience. How is this supposed to be possible if you have been studying for at least three years? The fashion industry has very high expectations of designers and makes it ridiculously challenging and competitive for aspiring designers to get that first step in the door.

I have four years of internships alongside my degree, and upon graduating I was able to find a graduate trainee ship at a great company but I was considered too inexperienced for an assistant-level job despite having a CV full of experience, awards and bursaries.

I’m not alone. In fact, I am in a much stronger position than a lot of my graduating class. There are thousands of fashion majors graduating around the world each year to compete for the same jobs at the same companies and that is the challenge. There are thousands of people looking for design jobs in London and only a limited number of companies. One woman who graduated with me is now a store manager at Cos (where she was working part-time during uni).

Another graduate didn’t pass her three-month probation at her internship and has been unemployed for months. An international graduate that I bumped into on the street said that she can’t find work anywhere and is going to have to move back to China because her visa is expiring and no one will hire her. These are just a few examples of people I know who are struggling after graduating.

What a lot of people don’t understand is the commitment that designers put into their specialism. Students have to balance coursework, unpaid internships, and sometimes even part-time jobs in the hope of securing a job after graduating.

Most companies don’t pay interns as they claim it is a “voluntary” choice that we should all be blessed to accept. It is not really an optional choice, it is an invisible requirement if we want to get a job after graduating. If you’re lucky, you’ll get paid expenses of £5 – £10 a day, and with London prices that might just buy you a sandwich at Pret. Working hours are also outrageous and can border on illegal.

I’ve worked as late 2am and as early as 6am. If you’re working in luxury, this isn’t abnormal. I’ve heard of some people having consistent working hours of 8:00am to midnight. The worst part is that you can’t complain about the hours or the minimal pay.  It is such a competitive industry that you can be replaced in a heartbeat if you open your mouth so you have to accept your fate if you want any job at all.

Fashion Week (the seemingly most alluring time) is when celebrities and bloggers dress to impress, and interns and designers dress in baggy clothes to match the bags under their eyes. On the catwalk the models are beautiful and composed. Behind the scenes interns are fanning the models to make sure their makeup doesn’t sweat off, wiping their feet while helping them into their shoes, and manically steaming garments before the models arrive.

It is all beautiful in photos but after the show all you want to do is crawl into bed for a week instead of going straight into the next collection. It’s an exciting time but also very stressful and nobody sees that pressure behind the photos. There’s a lot more than meets the eye.

The fashion industry produces a lot of capital for Britain and it is a tough industry, not the frivolous and effortless game that some people think. We give up having a social life to try to create beautiful pieces, and shed tears trying to keep our energy high while our pay is low. As much as we struggle with interning and working, we stay because we love what we do. There is a fine line between heaven and hell and designers are always in purgatory.

 

By Aly Blanchette

 

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