Fast Fashion: Why not?

Name a fashion brand; any brand! Zara, Lululemon, Uniqlo, Shein, Forever 21, and so on and so on. These are the names you might see when you take a look into someone’s closet. While these behemoth stores may cater to different populations, they have one thing in common: they are fast fashion brands.

  Fast fashion is a modern clothing phenomena where clothes are created in large quantities to sell at the lowest price possible. This tactic allows stores to keep up with the rapidly changing clothing trends that dictate modern fashion, with consumers happily snatching up these cheap, numerous pieces. However, this method comes with a catch, as quantity is maximized while price is minimized, and accordingly, the quality is questionable, to say the least. Made of cheap synthetic plastics and not made to last, fast fashion clothes help consumers perfect a one time look for Instagram, but in no way helps the environment in which we live. 

According to the Carbon Literacy Project, the fast fashion industry is the second-largest industrial polluter, accounting for nearly 10 percent of all carbon emissions. To put this statistic into perspective, air travel, an industry famed for its usage of fossil fuels, creates only 2 percent of overall emissions. 

And this makes sense, considering what happens to the mass-produced clothes after its tenure is over. Often designed to be single-use, thereby encouraging consumers to buy more, these clothes have no usage after its ruin. Its immediate future finds it in the bin, then in the back of a garbage truck. Whether it ends up in a waste disposal unit, in a landfill, or goes rogue and enters the ecosystem, fast fashion only degrades the local environment. Synthetic plastics, while easily created, cannot be easily disposed of as they aren’t biodegradable. And as the elements weather the clothes down to dust, the fibers of fast fashion garments only break down into micro plastics, further polluting the environment. 

The environment isn’t the only thing bearing the brunt of fast fashion, for clothing deals that sound too good to be true always have a hidden cost. To be able to afford selling their clothes for so cheap, the clothing companies are in no ways altruistically cutting away at their own profits. More likely, they are cutting costs by cutting corners from their employee’s wages and safety. It’s just simply impossible to ethically manufacture, transport, and sell a T-shirt for under five dollars. The human cost evens out to factory workers working below minimum wage, in dinky environments and long hours, just so a comfortable, first-world citizen can be cheap and fickle with their shopping. 

Therefore, I implore you readers to consider the ramifications of mindless shopping. Is the neon pink and green shirt (that you’ll wear once and forget about) worth buying for a singular look? Is environmental degradation and human endangerment a worthwhile price for a fuzzy tank top? Just by asking questions like these, consumers are more likely to consider their own role in the economy and the world, allowing for changes to happen, first at the local level, and expanding to larger stages. Mindful spending can and will change economic structures, allowing consumers to save money, humanity and the environment all at once.