Last week, Molly-Mae Hague was unveiled as the new creative director of fast-fashion retailer PrettyLittleThing.
The former Love Island star made the announcement of her new seven-figure deal with the online clothing company and went on to showcase a number of ultra-cheap items from her latest range with the brand.
While the 22-year-old described her latest venture as “the biggest move in my career so far”, I can’t help but think the UK’s biggest influencer has missed a golden opportunity by not instead breaking up with fast fashion.
Hours before the news broke that Molly would be teaming up with PLT long-term, one Twitter user mused a potentially different road the reality TV star could have gone down.
In a tweet that has since aged like a banana, fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna wrote: “I often day dream about the day when Molly Mae does a sit-down ‘catch up with me’ vlog explaining why she’s breaking up with Pretty Little Thing ('they just produce too much clothing, guys') and does a dedicated Instagram post about garment worker demands to her 5.9M followers.”
While this scenario is almost certainly something that would never happen, it could have been something that propelled Molly Mae to a new level of stardom - all without hurting her bank balance.
Although many would argue that had the Instagram star ditched the world of fast-fashion she would inevitably miss out on millions, I don’t believe that would have been the case.
By taking a stand against unethical practices being used to make obscenely cheap clothing - that not only damages workers but the environment too - Molly could have become the poster girl for sustainable, ethical brands.
High-end brands and environmentally friendly clothing companies would have rushed to offer the star affiliate deals and sponsored content deals, and the influencer would have seen her appeal widen beyond the Fiat 500 community and gained real respectability long-term.
Molly recently revealed that she once turned down a million-pound deal with one clothing company due to the fact she didn’t wear their clothes and it would be inauthentic.
While that was clearly a smart business move in the long run, it’s worth examining how authentic her relationship with PLT is.
Molly was recently trending on Twitter thanks to showing off a wrist adorned with over £70,000 worth of jewellery.
The star also took to social media to reveal she had splashed out on a Cartier band for herself as a “well done” present - something that would have set her back over £35,000.
Is someone who can carry around the value of some houses on their left wrist really the same person who needs to shop at outlets that sell clothing for as little as 4p?
PLT shoppers are more likely to splash out on a takeaway and a bottle of wine as reward for a job well done - not an item of bling worth more than some people’s life insurance.
While Molly's raking in the mega-bucks, workers in Boohoo factories (the parent company of the PLT brand) make as little as £3.50 an hour, according to a Guardian report last summer.
Last year, workers rights group Labour Behind The Label found that staff in their Leicester factories were also being “forced to come into work while sick with coronavirus” in a shocking report.
In response, bosses said the company “does not tolerate any incidence of non-compliance especially in relation to the treatment of workers within the supply chain”.
The city of Leicester has been one of the hardest hit by the ongoing pandemic, becoming the first region in the UK to be put into a local lockdown in 2020.
On Black Friday last year, Boohoo gave away £10,000 in competition prizes to their online followers. That’s even more than the workers who produce their garments make in a year.
Had Molly used her voice to shine a light on the unethical ways fast-fashion is produced to a new audience, the star could have cemented herself as one of the nation’s best-loved celebrities - all without damaging her bank balance.
The UK’s love affair with these exploitative clothing brands won’t last forever - and Molly has missed a golden chance to be the first famous face to publicly dump them and couple up with a new ethical lifestyle instead.
