Sweatshop Dead Cheap Fashion is a Norwegian reality television show that was broadcast in November 2014 on Aftenposten. The TV series follows a group of three young fashion bloggers named Anniken, Frida and Ludwig who had been invited to live in the same conditions of textile workers in Cambodia. Swapping their privileged lives in trendy Oslo for a situation more dire than they could ever imagine. In the fourth episode we hear Anniken lamenting “What kind of life is this?” when the bloggers aren’t able to spend more than the equivalent of $6 worth of food – a huge step back from the $600 Anniken can spend on clothes every month. Beginning like an exciting social experiment, the blogger arrive in Cambodia to realise that their bathrooms back in Oslo are larger than a Cambodian’s entire house. They meet girls of their same age who earn a meagre $130 a month and their first reactions are:  “She doesn’t know it’s bad, though” or “It has been like that all their lives”. As the series move on, the bloggers realise that not everyone has it as easy as they have. Funnily enough, both Anniken and Frida became activists for the cause after their first-hand experience. They complained to Aftenposten for not broadcasting the terrible conditions in which the workers who put together clothes for H&M are employed. The Swedish fast fashion giant met with the two bloggers and have been asked to improve the working conditions. Later on, the issue was also debated by the Norwegian Parliament.

The entire show can be viewed on Aftenposten’s website, complete with English subtitles. Watch the trailer below.