When Balenciaga put a deliberately shredded jacket on sale for $950 and sold out its first batch in under 24 hours, the internet reacted with equal parts amusement, outrage and curiosity. The jacket is a neat, provocative symbol: a high-price object that trades on the look of damage and neglect, sold to people whose wealth lets them treat thrift-store rags as a fashion statement. But the jacket’s virality also exposes a much larger, quieter truth about the modern economy — the way our wardrobes, gadgets and everyday goods are the visible surface of a complex global system in which production is heavily concentrated outside the places where those goods are consumed. NDTV Profit

Not “everything” — but a lot of things — are made in China

It’s a simple shorthand to say “everything is made in China.” It’s not literally true, but it’s closer to reality than many of us realise. Over the last two decades China has grown into the world’s manufacturing superpower: recent analyses put China’s share of global manufacturing value-added at roughly the high twenties percentage-wise (around a quarter to a third of the total, depending on the metric and year). China is also the world’s largest goods exporter — a level of concentration that reshaped global supply chains, consumer prices and corporate strategies. ChinaPower Project+1

That concentration brought enormous benefits to global consumers: lower prices, massive product variety and faster innovation cycles. It also changed the balance of economic power. When manufacturing capacity is geographically concentrated, decisions taken by governments, corporations and financiers in a few places ripple across the world — affecting employment, communities and even national policy choices in far-away towns and cities.

The unfairness that sits behind cheap price tags

If we look past the punchlines and the memes, there are human and environmental costs that too often get priced out of the sales page.

• Workers and labour rights. Global brands rely on long, layered supply chains. Academic and NGO work over decades has repeatedly shown that poor working conditions, long hours and low pay remain problems in many parts of the apparel and electronics supply chains — not as inevitable facts of nature but as outcomes of competitive pressure, weak enforcement and responsibility gaps across multiple actors. Holding a label like “Made in X” doesn’t automatically tell you whether the people who made the garment had safe, fairly paid work. PubMed Central+1

• Environmental costs. Manufacturing is carbon-intensive. A large share of growth in global emissions over the past decade has come from manufacturing activity — and because so much of the world’s manufacturing output occurs in a handful of countries, those environmental burdens are concentrated too. The climate and local pollution costs of turning raw materials into finished products are part of the true price rarely reflected in a retail tag. Guide to Chinese Climate Policy+1

• Economic imbalance and vulnerability. Heavy dependence on a single country or region makes supply chains brittle. Disruptions — from pandemics to transport snarls, trade tensions or political shockwaves — hit consumers and producers everywhere. The same dynamics also make it harder for other countries to rebuild local industry because investment and economies of scale have already shifted. The results are uneven: cheap goods arrive in rich-country shops, while the jobs and environmental toll remain elsewhere. OECD+1

Who is responsible? (Hint: it’s complicated)

Blaming a single country for global patterns is both unfair and unhelpful. China’s growth as a manufacturing hub is the product of policy choices, infrastructure investment, comparative advantage, and demand from global retailers and consumers. Western corporations (and their shareholders), fast-fashion business models, logistics firms, and consumer behaviour all play a role. At the same time, governments in consumer countries have shaped demand through trade policy, tax incentives and reward structures that privilege low prices over sustainability and fair pay.

That complexity is important because it means there are many levers for change — from corporate procurement policies and consumer choices to trade rules, enforcement of labour standards, and public investment in greener manufacturing.

A human note — the people behind the seam

It’s tempting to treat the people who make our clothes and gadgets as an abstract cost line. But the human reality is more vivid: a factory worker who assembles components in a ten-hour shift, a parent who budgets household expenses, or a rural town where an electronics plant changed the local economy — these are lives shaped by global demand. I won’t invent a real person’s story here, but imagine a composite: an assembly-line worker who takes pride in craftsmanship, worries about overtime during peak seasons, and hopes the job will pay for their child’s school fees. That human image brings home why fairness matters — not as a slogan, but as a practical matter of dignity, health and opportunity.

What could make the system fairer?

No single policy will fix everything, but there are practical, concrete changes that help reduce unfairness and rebuild resilience:

• Stronger corporate accountability. Require firms to disclose supply-chain practices, publish audits, and be liable for persistent, verifiable abuses.
• Better trade and industrial policy. Invest in diversified, local manufacturing capacity where it makes sense — not to “bring everything back,” but to reduce fragile single-point dependencies and create quality jobs.
• Environmental pricing. Incorporate carbon and pollution costs into product prices so consumers and businesses make decisions that reflect true costs.
• Support for workers. Improve enforcement of labour standards, support collective bargaining and fund retraining and social protections where industries shift.
• Consumer awareness. Demand transparency and buy less when products are clearly priced below the true cost of fair pay and environmental care.

Closing: outrage, wonder — and responsibility

Balenciaga’s shredded jacket is simultaneously ridiculous and revealing. It’s a cultural provocation that tells us something about status and meaning in a consumer age. But its sudden sell-out also helps expose a deeper reality: the objects we wear and use are made inside systems that transfer risk, reward and harm unevenly across the world. Saying “everything is made in China” misses nuance, but it’s a shorthand for a real concentration of productive power — and for the responsibility that follows.

If we want fashion, electronics and other modern conveniences to be sustainable and just, the solution won’t be to scold a factory town or boycott one country. It will be to rebuild incentives so that human dignity and the planet become part of the price we pay — and part of the pride we take in what we buy.