Chappell Roan’s merch highlights the true cost of fashion

The issue isn’t that Roan’s T-shirt is too expensive; it’s that the rest of the industry has normalized paying far too little. We’ve been trained to believe that a $5 shirt from a fast-fashion retailer is the benchmark, not realizing the toll such pricing takes on workers and the environment.

The reality is that fashion, when made ethically, costs more because it should.

Garment workers, on average, barely earn half of what would constitute a decent living wage. In many countries where fast fashion is produced, workers are paid by the piece, often working in unsafe and exploitative conditions.

Everybody World claims to pay its workers fairly and rejects the exploitative piece-rate model. If true, this alone justifies the higher price tag. Paying a fair wage means the price of clothing goes up – because labour is the most significant cost of production.

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As one social user aptly put it, ‘Between Chappell Roan merch discourse and the sweater discourse, I think some of you are not grasping that actually, clothing should cost a lot more, especially if it’s well/ethically made, and that means you probably should own less.’

Indeed, the solution isn’t to demand lower prices – it’s to rethink how much we buy. Fast fashion has trained us to buy more and more, with little regard for quality or longevity. It’s built on the assumption that we’ll wear something a few times, then toss it aside for the next trend.

Some fans have taken to Reddit to defend Roan, pointing out that the Everybody World blanks Roan uses already retail for around $40 without any custom printing or branding.

Ethical fashion will cost more. But rather than seeing this as a burden, we should view it as a necessary recalibration.

The fashion industry is one of the largest polluters on the planet, and it’s no secret that its exploitative labour practices are rife with injustice.

If we’re serious about reducing emissions, protecting natural resources, and ensuring that workers are treated fairly, we must accept that ethical clothing is more expensive. And, as uncomfortable as it may be for some, this also means we should probably buy less of it.

So, good for Chappell Roan for reminding us of a very necessary truth: If we want to support a better future for both people and the planet, we have to be willing to invest in it.