Definition: fast fashion utilizes trend replication, rapid production, and low-quality
materials in order to bring inexpensive styles to the public. - the good trade
Fast fashion can be traced back to the early 1960s - with an improved standard of life after
World War II, younger generations began to take up new trends, leading to rising demands
to dress fashionably. A large demand for trendy fashionable clothing in short periods of time
began to rise. Adding industrialization to the equation, textile factories and mass production
became more common to reach the large consumerism demand. But it wasn’t until the 1990s
when fast fashion reached an all-time high when the Spanish brand Zara introduced their
business model of having quantitative and diverse clothing at cheaper prices. Since
Then, many fast-fashion retailers mass produce trendy seasonal clothing, allowing them to
introduce new designs and products with low-quality materials frequently. This attracted new and returning customers, generating higher profits in return.
On the surface, this cycle benefits all parties involved. The customers have the option to pick
from a variety of products and the brands could max out their profitability. However, this
business model is both unsustainable and detrimental to more parties in society than it
shows. These household brands often use sweatshops to produce a large amount of
clothing in a very limited period of time. Sweatshops play the core role in the operation and
profitability in the fast fashion industry, as they use cheap materials and labor to lower the
production expenses as much as possible. Sweatshop workers are overworked in horrific
conditions and extremely underpaid by big corporations, with some even employing child
labor illegally. Sweatshops can be found everywhere, from countries in South America,
Africa and Asia, to states like California and New York. According to the world counts, “these
‘workers’ are underpaid to 3 cents per hour, with over 100 work hours per week.”
The exploitation of labor in sweatshops reduces the labor cost in production, allowing clothing
to be sold at a widely affordable price, attracting customers, and prompting up profits in the
short term.
Not only does fast fashion operate on the exploitation of sweatshops and child labor, but it
also profits from the environment. Natural resources on Earth pay a hefty price to generate
and sustain fast fashion. Recent statistics show that the textile industry is the second largest
polluter in the world, right after oil. Supply chains are culprits of air pollution and global
warming, in which greenhouse gases from production and supply chains go up to 10 % of
annual global carbon emissions. Greenhouse gases negatively impact human health in the
long term and cause climate change as it traps heat within the Earth’s atmosphere, leading
to issues like heat waves, global warming, and droughts.
Aside from that, pollution from the textile industry is considered to be one of the most
destructive to the waters. Most clothes from fast fashion contain vibrant color dyes that are
filled with toxic chemicals, all of which are detrimental to the environment, chemicals like
carcinogenic contaminates water in lakes and oceans, and are responsible for the distinction
and deaths of countless animals at sea per year. Textile waste is also piling up in landfills,
the US EPA “In the United States, 85% of textile waste goes to landfills. That 85% adds up
to about 21 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste per year.” Landfills contaminate
the local environment’s soil and water and release harmful gases when decomposing.
If we ignore the obvious warning signs from the apparel industry and we leave it as it is, the
climate impact of its production will increase to 49% by 2030. Fast fashion is both
unsustainable and a violation of human rights and must be put to an end. But what exactly
can we do to ease the situation? Fast fashion is just one of the many elements that add
to the modern-day materialistic consumer lifestyle we all possess.
But throwing out all the fast fashion brands in your closet right now is just as bad, as it adds
to the growing textile waste pile. The first step to an ethical closet is to wear what you have,
and when it comes time to replace worn-out items, you can then look into sustainable and
eco-friendly brands or thrifting instead.
References:
● https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/what-is-fast-fashion
● https://youtu.be/V93Xi5leWHQ
● https://harmony1.com/textile-waste-infographic/
Written by: Quenifer Lung
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