London fashion: where would it be without unpaid interns?

Time to address ethical employment as well as ethical manufacturing, say Ruby Hoette and Sian Prime

fashion-intern.jpg
(Image credit: 2010 Getty Images)

IT IS OFTEN said that, without interns, London Fashion Week wouldn’t run at all. At last year’s edition of the event, representatives from this usually invisible workforce made an appearance, demonstrating by wearing white t-shirts with the slogan “PAY YOUR INTERNS”.

Reminiscent of the various political messages that have emblazoned the t-shirts designed by Katharine Hamnett in the past, they may not have attracted anywhere near the same amount of publicity or controversy. But these students, like Hamnett, were pointing out an important current issue: the exploitation of unpaid workers or “interns”, for which the fashion industry has become particularly notorious.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
TheConversation.com is a not-for-profit independent publication which sources articles from the academic and research community. The articles appearing here have been republished with the permission of TheConversation.com.