The Lucrative World of Fast Fashion

Trendy designs, glamorous looks, variety of options, highly affordable clothing and accessories day after day, year after year… How is this possible? The answer is unsettling. Unethical work conditions, low cost labor, cheap quality material, environmental exploitation and promoting a wasteful culture of short use-and-dispose cycles. That’s how the world of “Fast Fashion” dominates the online shopping world.

Why is Fast Fashion an environmental problem?

The fast fashion industry is an environmental, health and human rights problem. It is responsible for 10% of global emissions! There are several big players in the world of fast fashion like Shein, Forever 21, Zara, UniQlo, Victoria’s Secret, H&M, ASOS, Urban Outfitters.. the list may surprise you. Thousands of new designs are stamped out every day and thousands of clothes are churned out daily based on each design. But how is this process made cost effective?

• By using low quality synthetic clothing like acrylic, nylon, polyester made from non-renewable fossil fuels.

• By outsourcing manufacturing to countries with questionable labor laws. Workers are paid by the piece rather than by the hour, to scale up production.

To make matters worse, the manufacturing process consumes trillions of liters of water, massive amounts of energy and uses artificial dyes. It is responsible for 20% industrial waste, contamination of water due to toxic dyes, and creating microplastics that escape into water sources.

Unfortunately, the story does not end here. Fast fashion makes wastefulness affordable!

The glitz and glamor of the fashion world lures consumers into clothing and accessorizing themselves to look like their favorite celebrity or on-screen persona at a lower cost. But within a short time something different gets glamorized, pumped into the market and consumers rush in forgetting all about their previous purchase. Older products, that were not too expensive, are eventually thrown away after a few uses either because they were too flimsy to last or they “went out of fashion”. 85% of fast fashion products get dumped in landfills where they stay for hundreds of years or get incinerated – polluting the air, water and soil.

Combat Fast Fashion with Sustainable Fashion

Earth.org provides a great resource on how to identify whether you are buying from a fast fashion brand. There are several online resources (examples: [1], [2], [3]) to find sustainable fashion brands as well. Amazon offers Climate Pledge friendly options for online shopping, and so does Etsy.

As a consumer, it’s important to “Think before Buy”, and reduce waste.

Ask yourself: "Is this something I really need? Really?".

Look for sustainably and ethically produced goods. If affordability is a challenge, reduce consumption from fast fashion brands – one product at a time, and save money!

It’s within our power to steer this ship away from the disaster being created by fast fashion. The UN has an alliance to apply SDG goals to the fashion industry. But the fast fashion industry thrives because of consumer interest and demand. Products look affordable in the short term but the long term costs and effects are hidden away. Through our consumption practices we have allowed the spread of use-and-dispose culture. The more we buy from these brands the more we empower and enable them to continue with these practices and trash the planet our children live in.