By Sreejita Das
There has been a sudden influx in fast fashion websites, and a large population of people has opted to buy from these sites and stores, due to insanely cheap prices and constant sales. The idea of fast fashion is to create mass quantities of clothes following current trends in the world. Since trends change rapidly, clothing industries have to keep up with this change in order to maximize profits. In essence, high speed to create cheap articles of clothing to sell at an elevated price. Major brands that are notoriously known for fast fashion are: H&M, Zara, Princess Polly, Romwe, Nasty Gal, Shein, Urban Outfitters or Victoria Secret.
So, how did we get to fast fashion? Well….the clothing industry did a major shift in the 1960’s, largely due to the younger generations. They participated in the rejection of norms and stereotypes and used fashion as a method of expression; the clothes that they wore happened to be cheaper and changed all the time. The swinging 60s was a decade for social reform and a change in the fashion industry, as they now had to keep up with the drastic change in consumers. People were no longer buying out of necessity, but rather pleasure and leisure; therefore, the fashion industry could no longer sell clothes depending on the season and necessity. Prior to this wave, the fashion industry mainly sold depending on the time of year and, therefore, only had four shipments of clothing: winter, spring, summer and fall. Before the 60s, each shipment of clothing lasted on average 3 months, and in comparison to modern day, each wave of clothing lasted on average 5 weeks. This means that there are 73 shipments of new products sent to stores, which is incomprehensible.
These shipments are heavily promoted on social media, with the most prominent being Instagram. How often have you seen an A-lister celebrity post an ad for Fashion Nova along with a discount code? Not to mention, alongside these ads on social media, there is a large amount of spam emails with too many emojis in the header, hoping they catch your eye. Similarly, if you search up Zaful try on hauls on YouTube, there’s video after video, both positive and negative. These positive videos usually contain a discount code and further promote this industry and almost glorify the discounted prices, without ever discussing the effects of fast fashion. However, if you’ve taken the time to read the comment section, they often mention the unethical aspect of this business. As these youtubers and celebrities promote these clothes, without doing research into the company, younger audiences are quick to accept the grandeur behind these fashionable cheap clothes, because at surface value that is what it appears to be. Fast fashion relies on the consumer being enticed to shop. As annoying as it may be, it works. Consequently, this is a large aspect of the business model; the idea to sell a fantasy to a group of people.
This constant change in clothes attracts people and draws them online or to stores to take a small peak to see what is new, even if they don’t intend to buy anything. This also ties into constant desire to be stimulated. The brain in this modern age feeds off the constant stimulation, and dopamine, which we often get by looking at clothes we envision ourselves in or appear to look cool. How often do you catch yourself going online shopping when you have no intent of buying anything? This has become habitual to stimulate ourselves and plays a large role in the allure of fast fashion online.
This is unrelated, but another aspect of the fast fashion industry is their cheap prices in comparison to competitors. People bask in the feeling of getting the cheapest price for an article of clothing, and fast fashion as a way of getting their money’s worth and feeling the satisfaction of getting the most for that hard-earned dollar. However, when making decisions such as these, ethics and consequences should be considered, which I’ll delve into further on. A point to note is that with the increase in student debt and lack of leisure money, many don’t have the option or the finances to spend on ethically made clothes, so they turn to fast fashion in efforts to look “cool” with their counterparts and still manage to have their own identity.
When it comes to the clothes themselves, companies intentionally sacrifice the quality of clothes in order to reduce costs and maximize their prices. They’re able to sell their clothes at a largely inflated rate, due to marginal cost in production because of the unethical working conditions. Due to the high demand, the working conditions are atrocious and are often made in third-world countries, such as Bangladesh, then imported to first world countries . The clothes are made in sweatshops by children and women for less than $3/day, practically non-existent wages. If youtubers and celebrities are not willing to address the ugly truth behind fast fashion, how is the general public supposed to make a non-biased decision?
Synthetic and non-degradable fibers are the most common fabrics used when creating fast fashion. Natural fibers are derived from animal sources, which take longer to create than chemically-made fibers and are more expensive than synthetic. This is why synthetically made clothes are cheaper and more affordable than natural. These fabrics are man-made by adjoining monomers to make polymers which look like strands of plastic woven together.
These fabrics are created chemically, using oil derived products. These fabrics typically resist ignition longer than natural fibers; however, if they do catch on fire, they melt (in the same way plastic does) and attach to the skin, creating severe burns. Synthetic fabrics are more durable, retain colour better, can be waterproof, do not wrinkle, and have elasticity, properties natural fibers don’t have. These properties make it extremely desirable, as they can be easily manipulated to have desired characteristics but, at what cost? The production of synthetic fibers contributes widely to pollution: fast fashion contributes to 10% of global emissions, and is expected to contribute to 25% of emissions by 2050. They deplete water sources and produce chemical waste that runs off into the environment.
Furthermore, fast fashion incidentally promotes “throw away culture”, once the shirt is no longer in style. It justifies throwing it away and buying new ones. This is not sustainable at all, not to mention the waste in the landfills by perfectly good clothes. Since these clothes are non-degradable, they don’t decompose easily and take around 20 years to start decomposing; if they do, they release micro-fiber particles in nature, harming the biodiversity. The micro-fiber particles are found in fish guts, and due to bioaccumulation, animals farther up the food chain, such as humans, will have a greater amount of these particles. The other clothes that are thrown away to landfills, sometimes get incinerated, once again contributing to pollution. An eco-friendly way of getting rid of clothes would consist of: donating to a thrift store, participating in a clothing swap or simply finding alternative uses for the clothes, such as upcycling.
In essence, make informed decisions about the companies you are buying from and try to make the most eco-friendly decisions possible.