Excited for Primark's Fast and Cheap Fashion? Just Know They Come at a Price

This week the Dublin-based chain Primark arrives in the U.S., opening a cavernous 77,000 square foot store at Downtown Crossing in Boston. More stores will soon follow. Primark is known for the kind of trendy bargains that can be found at its European competitors H&M, Top Shop, and Zara, making this great news for fashion junkies who want their fix—fast and cheap, plus totally new stateside. If a fall fashion spree at the latest spot like Primark that won’t break the bank sounds too good to be true, that’s because it (usually) is. Everything—including those $5 flats and $12 faux reptiles bags —comes at a cost well beyond numbers on a price tag.

First American Primark store at Downtown Crossing in Boston. Photo: Boston Globe

Like fast food chains, there are plenty of fast fashion brands churning out the worst possible version of inexpensive trendy clothes. They pollute the environment via manufacturing, they treat their workers poorly, and their outrageously low prices fuel a cycle of voracious consumption. Clothing isn’t supposed to be disposable, but at these prices it can be. Buy and toss t-shirts, bathing suits, jackets, accessories, even shoes! It’s all affordable!

This is why some companies are trying to do fast fashion better. Case in point: Primark is one of 31 fashion and textile brands, including Zara, H&M, and Levi’s, currently working with eco-organization Greenpeace as part of their Detox My Fashion program. While a Greenpeace affiliation might come across as an overarching stamp of sustainable approval, the focus of this program is limited to chemical use only. By joining the Detox movement in 2014, Primark agreed to achieve zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020. “The commitment requires intensive work from the company side to get to know chemical usage in their supply chain in great detail. They must work with their suppliers to prioritize, reduce, and eventually eliminate the use of toxic chemicals,” explains Yixiu Wu, Greenpeace East Asia’s Detox My Fashion’s project leader. According to Wu, Primark is currently on track.

To put this in fast food terms, it’s kind of like when a junky drive-through spot starts serving organic coffee with their chicken nuggets made out of meat glue. It’s a great start, but it’s no health food makeover. “It’s not a full assessment of one brand’s performance regarding its social and environmental responsibility,” says Wu, adding, “We have been advising fashion brands to urgently resolve social issues affecting workers and local communities.”

The collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh killed 1,129 people on June 14, 2013. Primark employed 581 employees who worked on the second floor of this factory. Photo: AP Images

Generally speaking, when these typical fast fashion issues are resolved, price inevitably rises. Ideally fast fashion will one day be churned out by responsible companies that fully consider the environment, labor, and ethics throughout supply chains. Imagine the latest sweater from a company that addresses the way products are being consumed and disposed of—not just produced. But the way things stand now, this ideal vision is nearly impossible to do and still be cost competitive.

Primark appears to be trying; on an “Our Ethics” tab on their website, they discuss worker empowerment, monitoring for child labor, and even how they manage to offer such low prices (one way: no big ad campaigns). They also detail the support they’ve given to victims of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh, which collapsed in 2013 and housed factories that produced Primark clothes.

Bangladeshi Maksuda stands in front of Rana Plaza factory rubble, while holding a picture of her son Mehedi who was a garment worker and is missing following the collapse in 2013. Photo: AP Images

“Good fashion should be first and foremost responsible. It brings beauty and meaning not only to those who own and wear it, but also to those who bear the cost to create it. It should also be a transparent and open process so that consumers know where and how this item was made,” says Wu, acknowledging that a systemic change is needed to bring this about.

For now, shoppers enticed by fast fashion—from Primark or any other chain—and especially its price point should be aware that cheap clothes come at considerable cost.

Merchandise inside the Boston Primark store. Photo: Getty Images

“As far as we understand, many fashion suppliers struggle with the cost increase because to lower the cost is one of the competitive edges to survive in the fast fashion supply chain,“ says Wu. "Until that mindset and practice is challenged and changed it will be very difficult to claim a pair of $20 jeans is truly ethical and environmentally sound.”

Buyer be aware!

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