mostly automated, including cotton harvesting
Do you have a source for that? As per the last documentaries I saw on this topic, sweatshops are still a huge topic in the textile industry. 10 years ago there was a horrible accident in Bangladesh where more than 1000 people were killed and another 2500 injured after the building of a single textile factory collapsed.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_Plaza_collapse
As per the sources I know, conditions might have slightly (!!!) improved since then but still miles away from acceptable.
More than 60 million people work in the textiles and garment industry across the world according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) – most of them in developing and emerging economies. Yet in many of these countries, production and working conditions fall short of internationally defined environmental and social standards.
https://www.bmz.de/en/issues/textiles-industry
Despite public outrage about substandard working conditions, the global garment and textile industry remains rife with cases of sweatshop conditions, union-busting, gender discrimination, and forced and child labour. Around the world, the rights and safety of garment workers are being systematically neglected.
https://www.somo.nl/our-work/sectors/garment-and-textiles/
Textile workers in underdeveloped countries face labor rights abuses, low pay, long hours, dangerous working conditions, and restricted access to healthcare and education. Gender discrimination is a significant issue, particularly for women.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-97-5341-3_19
Today, the textile sector is one of the largest economic sectors globally in terms of production amount, labor employment, and gross domestic product. At the same time, it is also one of the least sustainable sectors due to its profound negative environmental and social impacts
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15589250231220359
Also it’s the first time that I hear that fashion is manufactured mostly in automated processes. I always heard that it’s highly labor intensive because the styles permanently change, batches are small and complex designs still can’t be automated in an economic way. As far as I know, there are no machines that can produce the numerous different models of shirts, trousers, backpacks, jackets, caps, dresses, skirts etc. that we see in fast fashion.
‘Using cloud software will lead to lower costs and a better overall service quality’