Fast Fashion-Shndhi Khan

By Shndhi Khan

The Rise of Fast Fashion and Why it's a Problem

What is fast fashion? 

The United States is an example where consumerism is valued above all else. Fast fashion relies on labor practices that maximize the companies profit. This means cheaper quality clothes are being pushed out faster so that the next new thing can become the trend. This becomes a massive problem because of the underpaid labor and cheap textiles that are damaging to the environment. To make the most profit, which is true of most brands today, they use the cheapest fabrics and the cheapest possible labor. This is exacerbated by America's culture of "don't wear the same fit twice". Even the fabrics used to make these garments are unsustainable, usually made out of plastic.

Brands like Shein, Fashion Nova, H&M are a part of our everyday lives. They left an impression on American culture, where the next best thing is the only thing on our minds. Consumerism is a large part of our economy, and companies have such a firm grip on our people like they've never before.

https://www.forever21.com/us/2000445727.html?dwvar_2000445727_color=01

Do you ever just think about the waste you create when you buy from fast fashion brands? Everything is so cheap and affordable but what is the actual cost?

First-world countries often try to deal with their waste by passing it off to another country. But this means that we never see the consequence of our consumerism. No one ever cares about the labor that goes into textile production either, or what happens to the clothes that never sell.

Textiles boomed in profits in 2013 when companies such as Forever 21 were thriving. Retail stores such as Gap and Nordstrom were the norm, where people just do not buy as much because clothes cost more. The rise in fast fashion shows in our pop culture as well, as the 2010s were marked by tacky clothes with unnecessary details that ruin the clothing. Bright colors, graphic prints, frayed or excessive ruffles, all executed in poor quality. These garments are often made with synthetic fabrics that do not degrade, and because they are created so quickly, the stitching comes apart easily. These clothes are made to wear down, to make you buy more. 

Online Shopping

We've all done it, you start your assignment the day it is due. You have all your tabs open, and one of them always manages to be online shopping. Retail has changed over the decade, people are more likely to do their shopping online. But every time you open up an online shop for clothes you see "50-70% off your next purchase, the sale ends in 10 minutes!". They get us hooked into their gimmicks, and for some people, it's an addiction. This is understandable because fashion is something that makes people feel good, me included.

https://www.fashionnova.com/

Not to mention the damage fast fashion companies do to fashion designers, selling off the designs of small creators usually black or brown. Fast fashion companies even steal their advertisements off of these small creators.

 https://fashionista.com/2019/01/fashion-nova-knockoff-crochet-knots-and-vibes-dress

Luci Wilden, a black designer, created the design above. Her design was lifted by Fashion Nova. Nothing ever stops these brands from stealing these designs off of small creators. In this instance, Luci Wilden reached out to Fashion Nova to get her design off of their website. In response, Fashion Nova's team apologized and excused this by saying that a merchant bought one of her dresses and Fashion Nova decided to copy the design (Katz, Evan). There is no protection for these undervalued creators. Artwork is stolen in the name of profit, and the law is in favor of these large companies. How else do these companies bring out new designs every season?

Where is it going?

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/11/8/chiles-desert-dumping-ground-for-fast-fashion-leftovers

These fast fashion companies rely on consumers to keep buying their products. They create these products in countries like Bangladesh or China where they can mass-produce with little to no regulation. Aside from the blaring human rights issues, this mass production is leading to an overproduction of synthetic fibers. These are being piled up in landfills of developing countries such as chile(Aljazeera). So whatever you saw in the stores last season is being thrown away to make room for a new style. The above image shows a woman picking out clothes from a landfill in Chile. Once again there is no mechanism for accountability for these countries. The supply chain is not equipped to handle any social issues it creates.

As shown by the graph above, as the human population grows, so does the production of synthetic fibers. The graph shows a large increase from 2000 to 2018. We are not using all of what we are making.

Textiles take up 20 percent of industrial water waste. A large proportion of textiles use fibers like polyester, made from petroleum. Fibers that do not easily biodegrade and will take 20-200 years to break down.

So what can we do?

There are alternatives to fast fashion. We are conditioned to like the next thing, like how people are more inclined to buy the new iPhone when it comes out. But when you buy a new dress to go to prom you will never wear it again. There are alternatives where companies rent clothes, some of these companies may have prices that are steep but it's better than having that dress stuck in your closet for years until you decide to throw it away. Also buying garments that will last you longer, for years rather than months will also help with this problem. Another option is to buy second-hand clothes from thrift stores, or new up-and-coming apps such as Depop.

Why should we care?

Why is it that, we as Americans feel so entitled to take advantage of other countries and bleed the Earth dry because of our greed? I may be American but I am also Bangali, so it's always at the back of my head. I know people that work at these factories because that is the only option that they have. It's something we take advantage of.  It affects our communities too because we end up buying from large companies instead of the black and brown people who created the designs in the first place. We never see the landfills piled high with clothes or the people who make your shirt. The damage created by the overproduction of textiles is something that we as humans are not capable of understanding. The problem exceeds our life span and unless we are responsible enough to recognize this issue we will only make the issue worse. Fast fashion takes advantage of people to satisfy us from every step of production and that is something that we are too comfortable with.

Citation

Al Jazeera. (2021, November 8). Photos: Chile's desert dumping ground for fast fashion leftovers. Gallery News | Al Jazeera. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/11/8/chiles-desert-dumping-ground-for-fast-fashion-leftovers.

Peters, Greg, Mengyu Li, and Manfred Lenzen. “The Need to Decelerate Fast Fashion in a Hot                 Climate - A Global Sustainability Perspective on the Garment Industry.” Journal of                      cleaner production     295 (2021): 126390–. Web.