With social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram becoming increasingly popular, trends are consistently going in and out of style. It is almost impossible to keep up with. This has led to an increase of traction to “fast fashion” shops like Zara, H&M, Forever 21, and Shein. CNN describes Fast Fashion as a business model that focuses on producing garments in bulk as quickly as possible to match current trends. When Zara first opened, it prided itself on having a design developed for consumer purchase in the store in just fifteen days.
Currently, the fashion industry accounts for ten percent of carbon emissions. Since the year 2000, the number of garments being created has doubled. It is estimated that consumers buy sixty percent more clothing now and wear them for half as long. For companies to make money and sell clothes that fit these microtrends, they sell the clothes really cheap, and make them even cheaper. The primary fabric used in these clothing items is polyester which takes about 200 years to decompose and releases tons of microplastics back into the food chain. Additionally, fast fashion brands heavily rely on cheap labor to produce their clothes. According to Geore Washington University, of the seventy-five million factory workers in fast fashion factories, only two percent of those employees make a livable wage. These factory workers work long hours, in inhumane conditions, and still cannot afford to support themselves or their families. Child labor is also popular amongst fast fashion factories.
Clearly, fast fashion is wrong. It is not sustainable for the environment and uses unethical means of staffing in order to create the clothes. So, how do we implement sustainable fashion? Sustainable fashion relies on consumers investing in clothing pieces that they can wear for a long time. Similarly, it means buying less products and supporting second-hand clothing stores as well as vintage clothing. Repurposing old clothing is also important with upcycling initiatives rising in popularity.
How do we collectively implement sustainable fashion to the vast majority of the public? Well that starts with influencers and celebrities. Both influencers and celebrities determine what is trendy and what is in style. Whatever they choose to promote as a collective is the direction that fashion will take. All of these celebrities and influencers are payed by brands to promote different products. This includes the fashion that they choose to promote.
As a society, we are far from implementing sustainable fashion. We are far too caught up in social media and matching the trends, that investing in wearable clothes for years is not happening. The fashion industry has a strong marketing campaign that focuseson making money through high sales, and sustainable clothing brands do not have the money to invest in that luxury. Sustainable clothing brands are more expensive than fast fashion brands, which means they are less likely to be chosen by the consumer, as they can buy more options for the same cost of one sustainable article of clothing. Real financial investment needs to be made in order to make sustainable fashion the norm amongst the general population. Until then, we will continue to see the rise of fast fashion brands.
Sources:
Aglet. “The Influence of Celebrities in Fashion Design: Fashion Design.” Villioti Fashion Institute, 12 May 2022, villiotifashioninstitute.co.za/the-influence-of-celebrities-in-fashion-design/#:~:text=The%20relationship%20between%20celebrities%20and,flock%20to%20emulate%20the%20look.
Chan, Emily. “What Does Sustainable Fashion Actually Mean?” Vogue India, 12 Apr. 2021, www.vogue.in/fashion/content/vogues-ultimate-guide-to-sustainable-fashion.
Maiti, Rashmila. “Fast Fashion: Its Detrimental Effect on the Environment.” Earth.Org, 4 Mar. 2024, earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/#:~:text=The%20Dark%20Side%20of%20Fast%20Fashion&text=It%20dries%20up%20water%20sources,of%2050%20billion%20plastic%20bottles.
McDonald, Amaya, and Taylor Nicioli. “What Is Fast Fashion, and Why Is It so Controversial?” CNN, Cable News Network, 24 Nov. 2023, www.cnn.com/style/what-is-fast-fashion-sustainable-fashion/index.html.