I would be the co-founder of a startup that challenges fast fashion retailers such as Forever 21. The current status-quo of the fashion industry is one in which millions of garment workers are exploited, the environment is harmed, and the clothing being produced is of low-quality and composed of chemicals and unsustainable materials. Garment workers– primarily young women in developing nations– work in appallingly dangerous factories and are exploited through cheap labor. Further, the fashion industry is a large source of the carbon emissions that cause global warming.

To combat this destructive industry, my startup would be an fashion brand that fills the gap in the marketplace for affordable, stylish, and– most importantly– ethical fashion. Made of either organic or recycled materials, my ethical fashion brand would sell clothing as stylish as that of fast fashion retailers, but without the chemicals and the unsustainability.

My brand’s clothing would be produced in developing nations such as Bangladesh and Uganda by workers who would receive fair wages and work 8-hour days in safe, bright, clean, and ventilated workplaces. These workplaces would be complete with daycares, enabling young mothers to support their families. By empowering young women in third-world countries, my startup would help alleviate poverty.

The brand would be sold through a few of our own retail stores in major cities, but primarily through an app and website. In our advertising, we would expose the horrors of the fast fashion industry and appeal to people’s desires to help others. It is my hope that such a startup could create positive change in the fashion industry and the type of fashion people choose to consume.