The Fast Fashion Industry
What is it?
Fast fashion relies on underpaid workers to quickly replicate current trends at a low cost.
Who is it for?
-Fast fashion is very present in western culture, and is normally aimed at young adults and teenagers who want to keep up with current trends but do not have a budget to spend thousands of dollars on a single garment.
Why is it an issue?
-Fast fashion production is the second largest source of pollution in the world.
-As can be seen from in the pictures above, the majority of these garments are made by what is essentially modern slaves in sweat shops. They are mainly women and children from less developed countries desperate for work.
-Studies have shown that the consumer often pays more than 100 times what the worker is paid.
-Workers are paid an average of $3 a day, making them the lowest paid clothing workers in the world.
-Since the fabrics used in these clothes are cheap, many of them contain chemicals which are very toxic to people and the environment.
-Fast fashion relies more on physical labor than any other industry in the world.
So... what can we do about it?
There are not many solutions yet, but here are some things you can do to reduce your impact, even for those who like to keep up with trends...
-Many trends stem from those that already existed in the past. For example, 90's fashion is becoming more popular. Browsing vintage and second hand shops can be both fun and great for the planet! Part of the fun of trends is making them your own through making small changes... and you never know what you will find in cute second hand shops or thrift stores!
-Do some research on ethical clothing brands, find well-made clothes that you know you will wear for a while and were sustainably made!
-Try swapping clothes with friends to keep your wardrobe interesting without creating any waste through production!
-And finally, get use out of your clothes. Do not throw them out after less than a month, find new outfits to pair them with to keep them
interesting for you while being sustainable! This has been nicknamed "slow fashion".
What Isn't As Helpful As You Think?
A solution often tried by many is selling their clothes online. The reason this doesn't work is they then end up using that money to buy new fast fashion clothes, and the cycle continues.
How Could We Make This Helpful?
-Sell your clothes online and use the money you earn from it to buy sustainable sourced clothing
-Only sell your clothes after you are sure you got your use out of them
-Sell them on websites like Etsy and Made Trade, ones that purposefully offset their carbon omissions from their shipping
Interested in learning more?
Below are the websites I used for images and research. Feel free to click the links and have a look if you are interested, and please try your best
to educate others on fast fashion!
Sources:
Friendly Turtle. "What Is Fast Fashion and How to Reduce It." Friendly Turtle, Ethical & Concious, 28 May 2020, Accessed 15 June 2021.
Carin, Rin. "Fast fashion, loose ethics: the human and environmental cost of cheap clothing and what we can do about it." The Lovepost, 23 Jan. 2020, Accessed 14 June 2021.
Kashyap, Aruna. "Rights Makeover Overdue in Bangladesh Garment Industry." The Daily Star, 1 May 2019, Accessed 13
June 2021.
Shlossberg, Tatiana. "How Fast Fashion Is Destroying the Planet." The New York Times, 3 Sept. 2019, Accessed 16 June 2021.
Sustainable Jungle Team. "How to Avoid Fast Fashion: 8 Rules for Conscious Fashion Consumption." Sustainable Jungle, 23 Mar. 2021, Accessed 17 June 2021.
Need Help Finding Brands That Sell Slow Fashion?
Try finding articles about slow fashion brands on websites that specifically focus on sustainability, like this huge list on Sustainable Jungle