Fast and Sustainable Fashion: Why You Should Care and How to Clean Your Closet

In the last few years, the conversation about fast fashion seems to get more and more relevant. It has come to the public attention that frequently going to the mall and buying new clothes each week isn’t something to flex, but something to be ashamed of. The sheer amount of negative effects outweighs the idea of having a cute new shirt to wear. But why should we avoid fast fashion? How can someone make the transition from fast to sustainable fashion?

What is fast fashion?

The Merriam Webster definition of fast fashion is “An approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers.”. The idea behind fast fashion can be understand by its name: cheap clothes made quickly so that people can follow trends and still save money – or at least, that is the idea they want to sell. Before fast fashion, fashion was produced four seasons a year, and was seen as something reserved for high society. The Industrial Revolution was the beginning of modernizing the fashion system and making it more accessible. With time, clothing was being made quicker and cheaper than ever before. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, fast fashion had become what we know it as today. The idea of being able to look chic for less was the new craze.

Stores like Zara and Forever 21 have become extremely popular for their cheap yet trendy clothing. But at what is the true price of these pieces?

While haute couture and designer brands typically produce four collections a year (with the exception of certain brands still creating pre – seasons and Resort collections), fast fashion brands like Zara and Forever 21 will produce a new “collection” of designs a week. This makes the customer stay interested in the diversity of their favorite stores and never get bored. These new collections also give the customer the feeling that they need to participate in the latest trends before a piece goes out of style again. This all leads back to the capitalistic idea that mass – producing and buying these new products right after they are released is necessary to be trendy and cool. The idea of trends itself is meant to sell more so that these companies get even richer while exploiting others, but the consumer isn’t meant to realize that. Under capitalism, there will always be human lives being ignored.

Exploited workers in developing countries are underpaid and abused.

Why is fast fashion so harmful?

The stylish pieces of clothing may seem fashionable and cheap from a distance, but it is produced with the cost of underpaid workers, many that are even children. The 2015 documentary The True Cost showcased the terrible conditions live in. In order to sell clothing at such a cheap price, workers (who are 85% women) are not only underpaid but abused. Journalist Eliza Brooke explains how one woman interviewed in the film says that when she and a number of other workers attempted to form a union to demand higher wages, they were locked in a room and beaten. These workers work 15+ hour shifts in unsafe factories, many times exposing themselves to harmful chemicals and risking their lives to make these garments. It’s hard to overlook disasters like the Bangladesh garment factory collapse, where around 2500 workers were present and many were killed or maimed. This is the harsh reality for these fast fashion workers: they are exploited, abused, even killed – just for these companies to sell cheaper and cheaper clothing in order to make more and more money.

The 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, where around 2500 people were inside the building at the time of the disaster.

Besides harming human lives, fast fashion is one of largest contributors to contamination – 6% of all landfill waste is clothing. Fast fashion is created with cheap fabrics, usually polyester or other blended, plastic fabrics that are impossible to recycle. Due to how fast fashion is meant to be used for only a few wears, the pieces are disposable and will quickly fall apart so that the consumer will go back to the store and buy the newest collection. This normalizes the concept of disposable clothing and the way that using the same outfit more than once is unfashionable, which with time adds to the growing pile of cheap clothing in landfills.

The creation itself of these cheap fabrics and the transportation of them contributes to the industry’s carbon emissions, water consumption, textile waste and use of chemicals, which as stated before, harms the workers as much as it harms the environment. The lack of governmental supervision in these developing countries where the clothing is produced leads to doubts as to which and how much of these chemicals are used to create our clothing.

How can we change the industry before it’s too late?

From an inside – out perspective, companies need to begin by ethically producing there clothing; meaning paying their workers correctly, making sure they work in the proper conditions, and using eco – friendly materials. This could mean using recycled materials or lessening the use of contaminating materials like polyester and investing in the use of cotton and other fabrics that will last. That being said, ethically sourced clothing and high-quality materials will come a larger price than before, but it’s worth the price if it’s a piece that you know you will love and use.

Speaking of the customer, we as buyers need to understand fashion on a deeper level than before. Yes, it is nice to have new clothing; yes, you may want to follow that new trend; but before purchasing something from a fast fashion company analyze your decision. Will this piece of clothing last me a few years? Do I like it enough to use it regularly? Can I make a variety of outfits? Is my purchase worth it?

Thrift stores allow used clothing to be given new life, and many people even customize or adapt their clothing to match their style via thrift flips.

A few simple ways to start switching from fast to slow fashion is evaluating why exactly do you buy from fast fashion. Is it because it’s cheap? Is it because it’s trendy, and you adore everything they sell? Realize that the majority of the time, you can buy similar pieces from thrift stores, small local businesses, or larger sustainable stores like Patagonia or Reformation. The internet has also blessed us with a plethora of sources to get started on making your own clothing, if you’re interested.

It’s important to understand that sustainability itself is a privilege, and simply telling somebody to make the switch from fast to slow fashion is ignorant. Not everyone is able to purchase from sustainable stores, that many times are too expensive, or don’t have access to thrift stores. Sometimes fast fashion is the only choice! A harsh reality is that you will probably never be completely free from fast fashion, but that’s okay. As long as you are trying to make a difference and spreading the knowledge about the reality of this industry, you are contributing to change.

Don’t overthink the situation. One of the simplest ways to lessen your contribution to fast fashion is to just buy less. Buy clothing when necessary and when you know your purchase will be worth it. If you have the resources, next time you want to buy a new outfit, think about more sustainable options. One of the many pros of buying sustainable is the diversity it adds to your closet; thrift stores, small businesses and handmade clothing offer many unique pieces that can help shape your style into something truly yours! Remember we are in a process of change, and though it may be taking it’s time, every purchase you make is contributing to the fall (or rise...) of fast fashion.