The Salvation Army has launched a new anti-child labour campaign that turns the language of luxury fashion on its head to expose the hidden realities of fast fashion.
Influencers got clothes in children's sizes to get the message to hit home. Source: Supplied
Devastating truth
The campaign, titled #BehindTheLabel, confronts the public with one devastating truth: 160 million children are trapped in child labour globally, many of them working in the fast fashion supply chain.
In June, top South African influencers received what appeared to be exclusive fashion drops. Labels like MÆ SOT and DHAKA arrived in premium packaging, complete with embossed logos and tissue wrap. But inside the boxes, the illusion shattered: instead of trend-setting pieces, each parcel contained boutique-style garments, in children’s sizes.
Accompanying each garment was a letter: “You were expecting fashion. You got something smaller. And heavier.”
Each brand in the campaign draws from real-world geographies where child labour is rampant. MÆ SOT, for example, mirrors the aesthetic of high fashion but references Mae Sot, a Thai border town known for exploitative garment manufacturing. Its logo conceals hand-drawn illustrations of children at work, hidden in the bold, editorial lettering - a design paradox that forces viewers to look closer.
Similarly, DHAKA, referencing Bangladesh’s capital, integrates national symbols with haunting metaphors: scissors as birds, buttons as currency, and children rowing through threads. Every element in the design asks us to consider what beauty costs when childhood is the price.
Second hand clothes
“The Salvation Army gives clothes a second life,” said Major Thataetsile Semeno of The Salvation Army. “But lately, what we’re finding in our collection boxes isn’t just fast fashion. It’s a trail of discarded stories. Clothes that were cheap to buy, barely worn, and casually donated, often because they were never made right to begin with.”
#BehindTheLabel doesn’t just aim to drive donations this winter. It aims to start a conversation. Are we giving clothes away because we no longer need them or because they were never meant to last?
The campaign urges South Africans to look past the price tag and think about the people behind their clothing. And it calls on fashion consumers to shift from convenience to consciousness.
The Salvation Army said it will never stop accepting what people pass on. They’re just asking the public to think about where it came from.
