Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to lesson four of the Globalisation unit.

in this lesson, we'll be learning all about "What does Globalisation have to do with fashion?" Let's have a look at the agenda now.

So in the first part of this lesson, we're going to be looking at "What is fast fashion?" Then in the second part, we're going to be looking at "How has the clothing industry changed?" And then lastly, we'll look at "What are the impacts of a globalised clothing industry?" For this lesson, you'll need an exercise book or paper, a pencil, or a pen, and lastly, our brains.

So pause the video now to make sure you've got those things.

And then when you're ready to get started learning, we'll begin.

So in this first part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at "What is fast fashion?" So fast fashion is what we call the globalised fashion industry today.

And one of the reasons for this is because the process of clothes being designed and then arriving into shops for us to buy has become much, much quicker.

And there are two key reasons for this.

The first reason is the Internet.

The internet, it just keeps cropping up in Globalisation, doesn't it? So the internet has been really important for speeding up this process because the internet has made it quicker and easier to both design the clothes and then send them off to be produced.

Transport has also made it much easier to produce clothes now, because transport is both quicker and cheaper.

So large amounts of clothes can be moved around the world in a much faster and cheaper way than before.

As a result though, of this much quicker process of producing clothes, and much greater demand to have cloves quickly, the clothes that are being produced today are often of a poorer quality because factories are in a rush to make them as quickly as possible.

Also, because new clothes are arriving into shops so quickly and all the time.

And because the quality of clothing is poorer generally, people are more likely to use items less before they throw them away.

So to summarise, fast fashion is called fast fashion because the process of designing clothes and then arriving into shops is much, much quicker.

The internet has made it much quicker and easier to design clothes and then send them off to be produced.

And transport has made it much quicker and cheaper to move those clothes around the globe.

But the clothes now are of poorer quality generally.

And people use them for a less amount of time before just chucking them in the bin or sending them to be recycled because new clothes are also being sent into shops all the time.

So based on that information, I'd like you to answer the following questions.

Number one, "How has the internet led to fast fashion?" And number two, "How has improved transport led to fast fashion?" So think about those questions carefully and make sure you answer them in nice, neat, full sentences.

And when you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and resume once you're finished.

And if you're wondering how to get started, here are some sentence starters you can use.

Okay, let's rock and roll.

Let's go through these questions now.

Number one, "How has the internet led to fast fashion?" Here's what I wrote.

The internet has led to fast fashion because, it is quicker, easier and cheaper to design new clothes and send them to be produced.

So as long as you've mentioned something along the lines of it's quicker and cheaper or easier and cheaper to design new clothes and send them to be produced, then you've done a great job.

Question number two, "How has improved transport led to fast fashion?" Hmm.

Well, here's what I wrote.

Improved transport has led to fast fashion because it is quicker and cheaper to transport large amounts around the world to end up in shops.

Okay, so again, as long as you are mentioning this speed, it's quicker and the fact that it's cheaper to transport large amounts of clothing, then you've absolutely nailed it, well done.

And just take a note that how the common thread here is about the speed and the cost.

Things are getting quicker, things are getting cheaper.

Okay.

Let's move on to the part of the lesson.

In this second part of the lesson, we are going to look at, "How has the clothing industry changed?" And what we're going to start off with is this beautiful map of planet earth that shows us all the different continents.

What I'd like you to do is, imagine you're in the 18 hundreds in Britain, where do you think most of the clothes people were wearing in Britain in the 18 hundreds were made? point on the map where you think most clothes were made for people in Britain in the 18 hundreds.

I wonder where you ended up pointing.

Well, this is where most clothes in Britain were made in the 18 hundreds.

Actually in Britain itself.

In fact, dressmaking, for example, was the second most common job amongst women for much of the 18 hundreds.

But we are in a very different situation today in terms of where most clothes on now made.

So let's go back to a blank map and I'd like you to point on the map now, "Where do you think most clothes are made today?" Point on the map.

Hmm.

Which country did you end up pointing at? Well, I'll tell you which one.

sorry, which continent did you end up pointing at? Bad geography mistake there, aye? Corrected myself though, so It's all good.

So which continent did you end up pointing at? I will tell you that the continent is Asia.

A big change that's happened in terms of the clothing industry is now, that most of the high street brands that we buy, most of those items of clothing are now produced in the continent of Asia.

Now, this is a zoomed in map of Asia.

And can you guess, or do you know which countries manufacture most of the high street brands of clothing? Which countries in Asia, do you think they are? Maybe just shout them at the screen right now.

Which ones are they? Hmm, well here they are.

This is the big reveal.

These are the top producers of clothing today in the world and they are these countries.

So we have Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.

These countries are producing.

well, producing the most clothes in the world today.

And many of the clothes that you own, will have been produced in these countries.

And this has been a big change.

So we know back in the 18 hundreds, most clothing was just producing the.

well most clothing for British people, was just produced in Britain or maybe some in Europe as well.

Now, lots of clothing production has moved from the developed world to developing countries.

Like these countries in Asia.

Now there are two key reasons for that.

One reason is because workers in these countries get paid lower wages.

So the clothing companies will not have to pay their workers as much.

A second reason is because in many of these countries, they do not have the same rules around how long you can work in a day.

So that means that they can, in these countries, they can ask the workers to work a much longer day than in developed countries.

So the two key reasons are, what's the first reason? That's right, they can pay their workers lower wages in these countries.

Not a good thing, really.

And then the second reason is because in these developing countries, the workers can work longer hours.

Again, not a great thing.

No one wants to work really, really long days.

That's not very good for your health.

Based on that information.

You now need to complete the following task.

Can you please answer this question? "Why is most clothing now produced in developing countries?" So have a think about those two key reasons why much of the clothing manufacturing has now moved to developing countries.

And answer that in a nice, full, neat sentence.

When you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

And if you're wondering how to get started, here is a sentence starter to help you out.

Okay, let's go through this together now.

Here's what I wrote down.

Most clothing is now produced in developing countries because, the companies can pay their workers lower wages and can often ask these workers to work longer hours.

Okay, so the key things that you need to have in your sentence are the fact that they can pay their workers lower wages, and that those workers have to work longer hours or are asked to work longer hours.

Well done, on completing that task.

Let's move on to the final part of this lesson.

In this final part of the lesson, we're going to look at "What are the impacts of a globalised clothing industry?" So one impact of a globalised clothing industry is that cheap transport means that second hand clothing can be sold quickly and easily to developing countries.

Now, this creates problems. Because people in those developing countries often buy those cheaper to buy Imports, by that we mean, the second hand clothing, rather than the clothing that is actually being made in their own country.

So that means those people in their own country, who are making and selling clothes are able to sell fewer clothes because the people in that country are buying those second hand clothes instead.

Now another effect of the globalised clothing industry is what we've seen, is that much of the production has moved to the developing world.

But this has caused problems as well, because many of those factories, they pay their workers, very little money.

And often the working conditions in those factories is very poor and sometimes very dangerous.

And there have been many stories in the news over the past few years, of people actually dying in those factories because conditions are so poor.

So to summarise, one impact of the globalised fashion industry, is that people in developing countries are buying more secondhand clothing instead of clothing made in their own country, because it's quick and easy to transport secondhand clothing to those places.

And a second impact is that many of the factories that manufacture these clothes have very poor and often dangerous working conditions.

Based on that information, I'd now like you to complete the following task.

Please answer the following question.

"Why has Globalisation caused problems in the clothing industry?" Hmm.

Well, to help you out here are some key words or phrases.

And so when you answer this question, make sure you include all of these different phrases in your answer.

And when you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

And if you're wondering how to get started, Here is a sentence starter to help you out.

Okay, let's go through this together.

I know that's quite a challenging task, but you are coming on leaps and bounds, I can tell, because we've learned so much about Globalisation now.

I'm sure you've done something excellent here.

So here's what I wrote down and take note of where I've included these key phrases.

So Globalisation has caused problems in the clothing industry because cheap transport means that second hand clothing can be sold quickly and easily to developing countries.

This has caused problems because for people in developing countries, it is often cheaper to buy second hand clothes than to buy clothes made in their own country.

So, well done on completing that task.

That brings us to the end of this lesson.

Well done on all the fantastic learning that you've done.

Before you finish, there are just two things that you need to do.

First of all, write down three key things that you'll remember from this lesson.

And then once you've done that, make sure you complete the exit quiz to finish off.

Cause that's going to be a fantastic way of seeing all the progress you're making on the Globalisation unit.

Thanks again, and have a great day.