WHAT IS FAST FASHION?
Fast fashion is the rapid production of trend-driven clothing for a consumer to purchase, wear a couple times, then throw away. These clothes are made so quickly for so cheap, the manufacturers can afford to sell them for extremely low prices. It feeds into the idea that “outfit repeating” is uncool or unacceptable, and that because of this it is necessary to shop for new, trendier clothes as much as possible.
The way we dress has shown our status for thousands of years. Each piece of clothing was hand crafted and carefully fitted to the wearer of the garment, therefore, clothing was expensive and the common population didn’t own more than what was needed. The 1800’s brought on the start of the industrial revolution, jumpstarting the production of clothing and garments. Factories producing textiles and clothing sprung up all over the world. Local dressmaking shops made clothing for the working class who couldn’t afford a personal seamstress or can’t sew themselves. These shops then became ‘sweatshops’ that became the blueprint for modern clothing production. In World War 2 fabric rationing led to the standardized production of clothing. Rather than individually tailored to people, garments were mass produced in a range of sizes to fit everyone.
Fashion companies produced clothing four times a year until around the 1950’s. Starting in the 60’s companies went from producing well made, timely pieces of clothing made to last for as long as they could, to cheaply produced trend-based clothing in order for the new generation to express themselves. In the 1990’s and 2000’s the fast fashion industry in America was skyrocketing. Because of the rapidly changing trends in fashion, clothing didn’t need to last as long as before. This led to the decrease in quality and increase in production speed we see in many clothing brands today. The decrease in quality meant that clothing brands were spending less money on making the clothes and could sell them for less money.
The fashion industry worked towards the normalization of rapidly buying and discarding new clothing pieces, leading to massive amounts of clothing waste. In the last 20 years the amount of textile waste has doubled from 7 to 14 million tons in America alone.
Globalization has made it possible for local cultures to influence things past country lines. These influences apply to fashion, turning what used to be a locally-based industry into an international one. Global markets have allowed for international brands to exploit local labor laws in order to cheaply mass-produce their products. These clothes are produced for next to nothing, and much of the cost paid by the customer is shipping and handling.
These stores can be anywhere, from the mall to online. Super cheap online stores have become more popular because of the convenience and often cheaper pricing. But, it’s important to remember that even though clothing might not seem super inexpensive, that doesn’t mean it’s not fast fashion.
WHY FAST FASHION IS BAD?
Environmental Impact
There is a very negative impact on the environment from fast fashion. It has affected the oceans, rainforests, and air. 10% of global carbon emission is said to have been from fashion production. That is equivalent to the European Unions’ Carbon Emission each year.
Many brands that fast fashion brands use such as polyester, and nylon can take over 300 years to biodegrade. Scientists have concluded / discovered that around 30% of microplastics (small non-biodegradable plastics) in the ocean come from textiles like polyester.
Fast fashion (as it is geared towards trends) often is the cause of fashion cycles or eras, which basically means that there is more demand for new clothes that are “on trend”. As soon as one thing is out of style or no longer “on trend” many people just simply throw out the clothing they bought, to make room for more. That creates so much waste, and is (quite obviously) not good for the environment.
If these people were to donate their clothes, to, say, Goodwill, or Austin Pets Alive Thrift, many people could re-discover them, and they would be reused.
Labor Laws
Although there are laws about how many hours, how old you must be, and how much you are to be paid, many larger corporations can (wrongly) get away with hiring underage workers, paying their workers too little and more.
Prohibition of the Formation of Unions
In most factories there is prohibition to forming unions, to enable people would not be able to exercise their legal right to defend their rights collectively. If a group were to form a union, there is a high probability they would be beaten.
Forced Labor
In some places forced labor is used, an example of this is when, once a year adults and children (women and men) are removed from their jobs, children even removed from school and forced to pick cotton.
Child Labor
Around 170 million children are forced to work each year. In many places you can exchange your child for 3-5+ years to work, and you receive minimum wage. Child labor is common in the fast fashion indistry, particularly, because it requires low-skill.
Iquabal’s Story
Health and Safety Conditions
Fires, injury and disease are common in the workers’ environment. Employees work with no ventilation, inhaling dust and other toxicities. On top of this, verbal and physical abuse are regularly faced by the workers. Many buildings in which the workers are in have collapsed due to the poor conditions. In Bangladesh, in 2013, there was a fire that killed 1134 workers.
Hours
Garment workers generally work inhumane hours. 14-16 hours a day each day of the week, 7 days a week. These people sometimes work till 2-3am in the morning to meet a deadline for their company, and if they’re hours are done, but the company asks them to stay and they don’t they would be fired.
Wages
Many brands say “we pay our people legal minimum wage”, and even brag about it. Although it is legal minimum wage, it is the bare minimum for the workers and their families. In places like China and India the legal minimum wage is about ½ to ⅕ of a living wage. In reality these companies are bragging about paying their employees 5 times less than they should be.
Not Everywhere But There
It may not be everywhere that all of these are true, or any of them, as a matter of fact. The point is, that it is happening in a lot of places and it’s not okay.
Economy Impact
The fast fashion industry has been able to lower and drive down prices of these articles of clothing, while small businesses and sustainable businesses are having to raise their prices. As customers want certain things, and many of these people who want “certain things”, are teens feeling the need to have the clothes social media tells them they need. In general, teenagers do not have a lot of money they can just spend whenever they’d like, and so, it’s easier for them to buy the clothes they “need” for cheaper.
In short, small, local and sustainable businesses have a lot of difficulty staying open because of the constant demand of people (customers) wanting lower prices, and larger corporations can lower their prices, so they do, making their products more available to more people.
Many people (including myself) believe fast fashion is not ethical and ESPECIALLY not sustainable. CO2 emissions from fast fashion are expected to rise by 77% from 2015 to 2025.