You get my pun kind of??? like scare you cause its Halloween?? No? okay, sorry for breathing... Anyways, I love this topic so so much, and I genuinely think its something we should discuss as a country and society as a whole. Especially my general audience I would say of younger 20s women, and my mom. Hey mom!! this is for you too babe ;) Now, I think there are a couple things that I should put out as a disclaimer and for credibility purposes before I write this post. One: I do not have my PHD or any higher intellectual credibility in terms of journals or articles published, so basically what I am saying is that I have not done published research. Two: my freshman thesis for my Honors College was on this subject in part; it was titled "An Analysis of Streetwear, Fast Fashion, and Sustainable Clothing," and I will be doing research with my school on Luxury Goods next semester; therefore, I have done some research on the subject and do actively still look into the topic. So I kind of have some reputability, yuh. Three: I UNDERSTAND GUYS THAT FAST FASHION IS AFFORDABLE I GET IT I REALLY DO. like we all want to buy clothes and stuff so we can have more, but I will get into it soon why it just is not sustainable for our environment upon other things. But I do want to acknowledge that I understand the PAIN!!! With that being said, without further ado, lets talk about fast fashion.
When I say fast fashion do y'all know what I mean? The first one you should think of is Shein. We're gonna use her as the prime example for this, but I think we should also firstly define fast fashion. Essentially, the fast fashion model and structure targets consumers and current fashion trends to continuously cycle out and in new products; it banks on the idea of trends going in and out of style and being discarded frequently to make room for new trends. Basically, these companies WANT you to participate in micro trends to get you to continuously buy more and more clothing. Let's dive EVEN deeper. Initially, there were eight traditional seasons. Think seasons as in NYFW. However, these fashion retailers made a calculated approach to stimulate sales, and the seasons, as of my paper in with information from a source in 2016, reported that there are now 24 distinct seasons. THINK OF HOW MANY TRENDS AND CHANGES THERE ARE. The number of seasons TRIPLED. That is so crazy to me. Now let's connect the dots. With there being so many trends, what are they encouraging: fast consumption and production. The products made from your favorite retailers like Shein, and even Zara and H&M are all ready to go as soon as possible in preparation for the next wave of trends. Not only that, but the price is lower to increase sales for the consumer that is being targeted, and of course the quality of the product is not as good why??? LETS SAY IT. BECAUSE THE GARMENT WILL BE THROWN OUT IN THE NEXT MONTH WITH THE NEXT SEASON!!!! You picking up what i am putting down?? they purposefully make these garments s*** so that you have to repurchase more and with new trends it doesn't matter throwing something out because its not in style. Think of how many times you have done that.....So think of the structure as this and I will use myself as an example (this is the only example I could think of, not that these will necessarily go in and out of style):
Julia sees cute motorcycle boot trend
Julia: OMG I WANNA BUY THAT NOW
runs to shein
finds it for cheap and buys it
gets the order fast
Julia: yay i love my boots
*sees someone wearing ballet flats*
Julia: wait i need ballet flats more than motorcycle boots
Julia throws out motorcycle boots and buys ballet flats on shein
cycle continues
Lo and behold, the fast fashion structure is created. Now again, we acknowledge that fashion trends tend to work in cycles coming back, but girl, i know you didn't keep your skinny jeggings from aeropostale did you??? thats what i thought. Now that you have some background, let's think of the impact. Now, yes it is nice to have a lot of clothes, I love clothes obviously and I would love to have one of those huge wardrobes filled with vintage pieces. But how many of those do you actually keep right now? That are good quality? How do you think the prices are so low? Where do all your discarded pieces of clothing go after a trend is over? AHA!!! our issue arises.
Remember this -> Fast fashion model: products will be purchased fast, be diverse and affordable, and last for short periods of time with changing trends.
Okay lets think of the discarding of pieces. Again, from my paper, in average, and this may have changed, Americans throw out sixty-eight pounds of textiles PER PERSON PER YEAR and buy only sixty four items of clothing. You get what I am saying there, that s*** adds up. OVERCONSUMPTION. Next, fast fashion, such as its production process, has a huge carbon footprint to the point that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) literally deemed the actions of the production process hazardous, so they HAD TO MOVE OVERSEAS! That is why production is primarily in China, a country that is known for not having strict laws or policies regarding this, which leads to its thick air pollution, water pollution and land degradation. I won't go too in depth in that with statistics or science behind it but you get what I am laying down. Production of these garments=bad. Some production even resulted in drinking water in China becoming so bad from hazardous waste sites that 190 million people became sick. BRUH. Now girl, how do you think these prices get so low??? hmmm, it's not the little price fairy :) No, in underdeveloped countries, workers are given jobs with unacceptable working conditions and small wages, working 14-16 hour days seven days a week, which potentially increase during peak season. Because their wages are so low, THEY CAN'T REFUSE OVERTIME. like girl you thought your overtime was bad at Applebees when you had to stay 5 minutes after close; think of these, often, women and children, CHILDREN, working for that long in poorly ventilated conditions breathing in toxic substances and enduring physical and emotional abuse. yeah girl, Appleebees aint that bad. Not only that but half the time these buildings LITERALLY BURN DOWN. In 2013, Rana Plaza collapsed killing 1134 garment workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. But do you hear about this?? no become economic gain is obviously more important for these corporations.
Soooooo, do you get my point now? One, we are specifically targeted by these companies because of our habits and have fallen into the trap :) Two, our overconsumption has DIRECT impacts on the world environmentally and socially. Now, me blogging this is not to make you hate yourself and your life for consuming. Girl i bought stuff from there before I did research. Like I still buy stuff from Zara and H&M from time to time. It is genuinely so hard to invest in new sustainable pieces because they are often soooo expensive, so I truly get that. I think that is something these companies need to consider when advocating for change, and yet, I understand their production costs are probably higher so its hard to lower prices. So that is where we get stuck my friends. The option I propose, Thrifting. Share your clothing. Invest in pieces that will LAST through time. I get it, we are going to consume clothing. Just be more intentional.
Also, if you ever wanna read my paper, I will gladly send you it!!
