Sustainable Solutions to Fast Fashion: The Cultural and Social Considerations ​ 1

Sustainable Solutions to Fast Fashion: The Cultural and Social Considerations

For most consumers, going to the mall and buying a shirt from H&M does not involve

much thinking except for that of style, color, and price; the social and cultural implications of the

shirt do not pass their mind. Questions like “under what conditions was this shirt made?” and

“was this shirt made with environmentally sustainable materials?” are not being asked by

consumers because they either are not aware of the issue of fast fashion, or they want to ignore it.

Fast fashion is low cost clothing that emulates current luxury trends and utilizes rapid

prototyping, small batches, large variety, and floor ready presentation to achieve that goal (Joy et

al). American retailers outsourcing their textile manufacturing to third world countries to meet

the demands for fast fashion consumption leads to an environmental strain on resources for

communities that produce the clothing, substandard working conditions for employees, and poor

quality clothing for consumers.

Without consumers, fast fashion would not exist. Fast fashion was created in the 1960s as

a part of the counterculture movement and it exemplified the attitude of the protesters by

dismissing the long-lasting clothing of older generations and creating ephemeral clothing that

showed the quickly changing culture and aesthetics of youth. The popularity of cheap clothing

rose at the same rate as disposable income in the United States (Maxwell).​ ​In our current era,

where younger generations are still quick to differentiate themselves from those older than them,

why have consumers not migrated back to handmade in the United States clothing? The first

reason is the price. Companies who use sweatshop labor focus less on the quality and more on

the quantity. By not giving each item individualized attention, they can charge less for it.

Creating clothes that are handmade with high quality materials and practices takes time because
 Sustainable Solutions to Fast Fashion: The Cultural and Social Considerations ​ 2

workers care whether there is a mistake or not. Companies who have sustainable manufacturing

processes have to charge more for the clothes because they need to pay workers for their time.

Unfortunately, luxury brands are starting to adopt characteristics to keep themselves competing

against their emulators. The other reason is availability. Fast fashion has saturated America’s

malls and often left consumers who are sustainably aware with no other option. Stores that are

known for sweatshops and waste like H&M, Forever 21, and Zara sell readily available fashion

in person, while retailers that focus on sustainability like Everlane and Reformation (Amed et al

53) have few physical stores and rely on online purchases.

The sweatshops being utilized by the aforementioned companies are harming the

environment and their employees. Synthetic dye used in most textile creation processes does

more than dye the clothes. According to research by Sibel Ozkurt at Pamukkale University with

the Department of Pulmonary Diseases in Turkey, being exposed to the dyes used in the textile

industry can lead to respiratory issues such as cough, phlegm, and bronchitis (Ozkurt). If the fast

fashion industry is causing medical issues with their employees, that shows that their processes

are not sustainable. These employees are suffering from problems that citizens in first world

countries face, but it is different because they are caused by unethical practices and lack the

resources that developed countries have. Once the dye leaves the factory, it is not done harming

innocent people. China and Bangladesh, both important countries in the textile industry, do not

have laws against chemical dumping into open water. When in a water source, the dye

adulternates the drinking water for the community and pollutes the water that crops are given

(​Lellis et al​). With no clean food or water citizens are left with few options. Communities that

have textile factories are already impoverished, and dumping dye into one of their few resources
 Sustainable Solutions to Fast Fashion: The Cultural and Social Considerations ​ 3

is inhumane. In addition to textile factories dumping chemical waste into open water, they are

also releasing microplastics. According to The State of Fashion 2020, an annual McKinsey &

Company report, the fashion industry is responsible for 20 to 35 percent of microplastic in the

ocean (Amed et al 52). Not only is the fashion industry harming the communities that produce

the textiles, but it is also having a global impact on our oceans. It is entering the fish that people

consume and the digestion of plastics can lead to issues with hormones.

Employees in the textile industry are suffering economically as well. Fast fashion

companies can “develop a new design and have it in retail stores within two weeks” (Hall). That

is good for consumers because they can have popular fashions within the time that it is still

trending, but it puts a strain on the textile makers. According to the 2006 Bangladesh Labour

Act, adult workers are allowed to work forty-eight hours a week on normal pay and anywhere

from fort-nine to sixty hours a week to receive overtime benefits (“Garment Workers” 56). The

minimum wage there was raised just last year in 2019 from around $62 U.S. Dollars per month

to around $94 (“Bangladesh Minimum”). These numbers hide the true situation in the country

because most textile employees work undocumented overtime, some over eight hours per week,

to meet the demands of the fashion industry. Their hourly pay rate is only around 36 cents. If

these employees are not at home spending time with their families, they should at least be getting

the compensation to help their families out because that is why they are working in the first

place. Although, the monthly salary from a garment factory is not enough money to afford an

apartment in Bangladesh, and that is not including other necessities such as utilities and food

(“How Much”). Countries that depend on fast fashion companies to support their economy are

not likely to raise their minimum wage much anytime soon because the companies that employ
 Sustainable Solutions to Fast Fashion: The Cultural and Social Considerations ​ 4

their citizens can move their operation to a country that has a lower minimum wage to keep their

spending and prices down (Saito). The workers are stuck in a situation where they are being

overworked with no compensation and the environment they are working in is causing medical

issues.

The final issue that the fast fashion industry causes is poor quality products. While this

may seem insignificant compared to previous problems, it is actually the source of them. Fast

fashion retailers do not expect their garments to last longer than ten washes (Joy et al). This

leaves consumers dissatisfied with their products and as a result, they shop at other fast fashion

stores with the same quality products made my workers not earning a liveable wage. Not only

does it hurt the consumer because their money is not being used to buy clothing that is held to a

high standard, but it hurts the textile workers across the world. When clothing begins to show

signs of use or if it goes out of style, it will most likely be thrown away. The United States

Environmental Protection Agency reported that in 2014 over ten million pounds of textiles out of

the sixteen million that were thrown away ended up in landfills (Hall). Clothing does not

decompose easily, so the discarding of out of style clothing increases the already large issue of

landfills. There are better alternatives to throwing away old styles, such as donating or upcycling

the clothes.

To answer the question which sparked this research-should fast fashion retailers in the

United States continue to outsource labour to keep up with the demand for fast fashion?- the

ethical answer is no, but companies will not leave these third world companies that easily. The

best solution would be implementing a law in the United States that requires workers who make

items imported into the United States be paid the United States minimum wage and for
 Sustainable Solutions to Fast Fashion: The Cultural and Social Considerations ​ 5

independent inspectors to monitor the conditions in the factories where goods are produced.
 Sustainable Solutions to Fast Fashion: The Cultural and Social Considerations ​ 6

Works Cited

Amed, Imran, et al. ​The State of Fashion 2020.​ McKinsey & Company, ​The State of Fashion

2020​,

www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Retail/Our%20Insights/The%20state

%20of%20fashion%202020%20Navigating%20uncertainty/The-State-of-Fashion-2020-fi

nal.ashx. PDF.

Bangladesh Employers’ Federation. ​A Handbook on The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006. ​BEF.

2006.

https://www.ilo.org/dyn/travail/docs/352/A%20Handbook%20on%20the%20Bangladesh

%20Labour%20Act%202006. PDF.

“Bangladesh Minimum Wages 2014-2019 Data: 2020-2022 Forecast: Chart: Calendar.”

Bangladesh Minimum Wages | 2014-2019 Data | 2020-2022 Forecast | Chart | Calendar​,

tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/minimum-wages.

“Garment Worker Diaries.” ​Bangladesh_Data_Portal,​ Microfinance Opportunities ,

workerdiaries.org/gwdiaries/bangladesh/story_html5.html.

Hall, Jenny. “Digital Kimono: Fast Fashion, Slow Fashion?” ​Fashion Theory: The Journal of

Dress, Body & Culture,​ vol. 22, no. 3, May 2018, pp. 283–307. ​EBSCOhost​,

doi:10.1080/1362704X.2017.1319175.
 Sustainable Solutions to Fast Fashion: The Cultural and Social Considerations ​ 7

“How Much Does It Cost to Live in Dhaka, Bangladesh?” ​Trusted Clothes​, 11 Aug. 2017,

www.trustedclothes.com/blog/2015/09/30/cost-to-live-in-dhaka-bangladesh/.

Joy, Annamma, et al. “Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands.”

Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture,​ vol. 16, no. 3, Sept. 2012, pp.

273–295. ​EBSCOhost​, doi:10.2752/175174112X13340749707123.

Lellis, Bruno, et al. “Effects of Textile Dyes on Health and the Environment and Bioremediation

Potential of Living Organisms.” ​Biotechnology Research and Innovation​, Elsevier, 13

Oct. 2019, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452072119300413.

Maxwell, Kelly. “The True Price of Fast Fashion.” ​BUST,​ 2014,

bust.com/style/12307-the-true-price-of-fast-fashion.html.

“Our Stuff - Company.” ​Reformation​, www.thereformation.com/pages/our-stuff.

Ozkurt, Sibel, et al. “Respiratory Symptoms and Pulmonary Functions of Workers Employed in

Turkish Textile Dyeing Factories.” ​International Journal of Environmental Research and

Public Health​, MDPI, Apr. 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366600/.

Saito, Yuriko. “Consumer Aesthetics and Environmental Ethics: Problems and Possibilities.”

Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism,​ vol. 76, no. 4, Fall 2018, pp. 429–439.

EBSCOhost​, doi:10.1111/jaac.12594.