Fast Fashion: A Disposable Society
This blog post was written by Liluye Staff Writer, Katie Hutchinson, who is a driven and compassionate environmentalist and humanitarian.
There is a popular shopping district in Kansas City called The Plaza. This past week while visiting my family, my mother and I sat outside a cafe there drinking an iced coffee watching groups of young women in solid color crop tops, wide-legged jeans, cross-body bags, and bulky sneakers pass us repeatedly; H&M, Forever 21, and Zara bags in hand and smiles spread across their faces.
I have nothing against individuals who want to stay on top of what is popular. I’m drawn to a lot of these new looks myself; even purchasing from the same stores, because as much as I hate to admit it, a cute $20 floral dress is hard to beat. Shoppers and I know exactly where to find the things we want any time of the year without breaking the bank. The problem isn’t that a company is offering a wide array of options year-round or even fresh new styles biweekly (compared to higher-end brands that release looks only in the spring and fall). The issue is the impact these businesses have on the environment and the workers they exploit creating a huge amount of fashion products.
In other words, fast fashion is cheap, but trendy clothes are as quickly discarded as they are demanded! What happened is companies using “synthetic fibers made it possible to manufacture cheaper (and in many cases less durable) clothes; new trade policies led to a globalized supply chain. Companies shifted production offshore, where environmental regulations were less stringent, or nonexistent, and garment workers sometimes earn[ed] 20 times less than in the U.S. Clothing got massively cheaper” (Monroe, 2021).
According to Dana Thomas of the New York Times, “more than 60% of fabric fibers are now synthetics, derived from fossil fuels, so if and when our clothing ends up in a landfill (about 85% of textile waste in the United States goes to landfills or is incinerated); it will not decay” (Thomas, 2019).
Unfortunately, producing clothing at this scale and speed requires an excessive amount of natural resources, too, such as the cotton that has to be grown, dyes that color it, etc. Not to mention the laborers who have to pick it, where the remaining dye goes, and those who are affected in the area from the waste.
In addition, when fast fashion products are discarded, they have to go somewhere. They usually end up in waterways, polluting countries that sometimes don’t even take part in the industry, on other sides of the world. Even when it’s sent to second-hand clothing dispensaries, the garments themselves can be found to be unsellable; ultimately winding up in the same mountainous clothing pile in the backyard of a developing nation that is then forced to deal with the consequences.
In 2020, a story by journalist, Barbara Davies, spoke of a landfill containing rotting, discarded fast fashion items containing so much methane that it exploded outside of Accra, Ghana (Davies, 2020).
Berg et al of McKinsey Research disclosed in their 2020 report (before the impact the pandemic had on the online fast fashion industry) that in 2018 the fashion industry contributed 4% of the global greenhouse gas emissions and it’s looking to project upwards. While 4% seems like a very low number and those who aren’t statisticians can’t easily comprehend the impact, researchers explain that this measly 4% is the same amount that France, Germany, and the UK combined emit annually (Berg et al, 2020).
Nonetheless, there are easy ways to spot fast fashion products to reduce our carbon footprint, if you are unsure. One way is to see if a store has thousands of different styles, and if they are constantly up to date on the latest trends. Also, check where the product is made (on the inside product labels). If it’s a country where you think that laborers could be cheap and exploited, consider doing some research. For example, “according to ITUC, the 10 worst countries for working people in 2021 were Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, Myanmar, the Philippines, Turkey, and Zimbabwe” (Burrow 2017). Lastly, if the garment is made with polyester or a cheap material that degrades quickly after a few times washing it (microfibers from polyester pollute waterways significantly), it’s probably made by a fast fashion company. Just know that stores like Zara, H&M, Shein, Forever 21, PrettyLittleThing, and ASOS are hurting the environment.
It would seem like most consumers want trends, a deal, and a clean conscience. However, I hate to break it to you, but if you are paying $5 for a shirt that has a label stating, “[insert brand name here] used sustainable materials,” and it lines up with the newest fashion trend, you’re probably being misled. Sure, a particular company could be upcycling production for a couple of hundred items, but what about the other thousands filling the shelves around it?
To summarize, fast fashion is expanding to meet the consumer’s market demands, but this expansion and the impact it has on the environment, is cataclysmic. The only way we can stop this harmful pattern is to change our consumer habits, forcing these companies to improve their supply chains.
Post Sources
• Fashion on Climate. Date: August 26, 2020. Written by: Achim Berg, Anna Granskog, Libbi Lee, and Karl-Hendrik Magnus. (McKinsey)
• The fast fashion trash mountain: Shocking report reveals today’s cheap clothes are so badly made they often can’t be resold – and end up rotting into a toxic soup in Africa. Date: February 25, 2020. Written by: Barbara Davies. (Daily Mail)
• How Fast Fashion Is Destroying the Planet. Date: September 3, 2019. Written by: Tatiana Schlossberg. (The New York Times)
• Top 10 worst countries for workers’ rights. Date: June 15, 2017. Written by: Sharan Burrow. (ethical trade)
• Ultra-fast Fashion Is Eating the World. Date: March 2021. Written by: Rachel Monroe. (The Atlantic)
• What Is Fast Fashion and Why Is It So Bad? Date: April 1, 2022. Written by: Solene Rauturier. (Good On You)