Fast fashion- is clothing really worth this much?

We wear clothes every day without ever really thinking about it. Nowadays you
can buy a t-shirt for as cheap as 0,80 € at certain shops and the trends that
newly emerge can be bought in stores only a short amount of time after
appearing on runways. You might be wondering how this is even possible. Well,
this question can be answered with no more than two words: “fast fashion”.
Fast fashion usually describes cheap,
trendy clothing that is supposed to
bring the newest styles to the market
as fast as possible. The shoppers can
then buy them while they are still
popular and dispose of them as soon
as they are replaced by another trend.
You can recognize fast fashion brands
by the fact that they have many styles,
the clothes that are available in stores only a short time after first appearing and
their manufacturing is done in other countries.
First, let’s talk about the origins of fast fashion. Before the 1800s, clothing
generally was not very cheap and the making of clothes was a long process.
During the Industrial Revolution clothes started to be made in factories in bulks
which sped the production up a lot. The introduction of the sewing machine was
also a big factor that caused prices to drop and a huge increase in the scale of
clothing manufacturing. The fashion industry truly picked up speed in the 1960s
when there were many new trends and companies had to keep up with the
demand for cheap trendy clothing. It is also around this time that brands started
opening factories in developing countries.
It is important to know that fast fashion has a huge impact on the environment.
The fashion industry alone is responsible for 10% of the global annual carbon
emissions being topped only by the oil industry. Additionally, a lot of water is
needed to produce clothing. One ton of dyed fabric can take up to 200 tons of
water to produce and what is even worse is that as most manufacturing is done
in countries where environmental laws aren’t as strict untreated water from
factories is dumped directly into lakes or rivers.
Another shocking statistic is how many clothing items are then thrown away. In
the USA, 84% of all clothes end up in a landfill each year. These clothes then sit
in the garbage for decades or even centuries. Polyester takes 200 years to
decompose and Nylon isn’t great either with a minimum of 30 to 40 years.
While decomposing these materials also pollute nearby areas by releasing micro
plastics.
As mentioned previously fast
fashion companies mostly produce
their clothes in factories in
developing countries. The workers,
that are mostly female and can be
as young as 14 work for 14 to 16
hours a day for very small wages.
While they work, they are exposed
to harmful chemicals and many
workers develop respiratory issues due to dust and air pollution. They must
work in unsafe working environments and building codes often get ignored in
order to fit in as many people as possible into a factory. An example for this is
the 2013 Rana plaza incident where an eight-story building collapsed on its
workers killing 1130 people and injuring more than 2500 after additional floors
were built without a permit. There had been multiple warnings about the
building being unsafe, yet employees still had to work.
It is important to remember that no piece of clothing is worth a life so here is a
list of things you can do to stop supporting fast fashion.
1. Buy less - before buying something you should ask yourself whether you
actually need it and if you are going to wear it for a long time.
2. Buy from environmentally friendly brands - research the company before
buying from them as many brands that claim to be sustainable truly are
not.
3. Don’t throw away your old clothes - instead you can donate them, sell
them or repurpose them in some other way.
4. Buy second hand - consider buying your clothes second hand as you
thereby reduce waste and the general demand for new clothing.
I hope that these tips were helpful and that more people will now try to make a
change.
Pictures from Hannah Morgan and Rio Lecatompessy at Unsplash.