The Truth About Fast Fashion

By Kien-Ling Liem, Editor, Trinity College Student

Fast fashion is a forever consuming entrapment of capitalism – the industry, through cheap, illegal labour and excessive waste, gives us little to no affordable alternatives such as sustainable fashion. Fast fashion is defined as ‘a highly profitable business model based on replicating catwalk trends and high-fashion designs and mass-producing them at low cost’. We all know that fast fashion violates human rights and is detrimental to the environment, but trends and society’s wants outweighs our consciousness.

Mass producing clothing stores such as Zara, Forever 21 and H&M make cheap and fashionable clothing through the fast fashion model. This model allows them, and many other clothing stores, to produce clothing at a very low price for a high profit, disadvantaging the workers. A documentary called ‘The True Cost’ interviewed a garment maker, where she explained the horrible conditions that they work in: ‘People have no idea how difficult it is for us to make the clothing. They only buy it and wear it. I believe these clothes are produced by our blood.’. Large corporate industries are ruthless and constantly disregard human lives for money. She then goes on to explain the devastating deaths that occur: ‘A lot of garment workers die in different incidents. Like a year ago there was a collapse in Rana Plaza, a lot of workers died there. It's very painful for us. I don’t want anyone wearing anything, which is produced by our blood.’. We, as consumers, literally have blood on our hands. We have the luxury of being able to purchase new clothing without bearing the ramifications of it. The workers live in fear everyday due to poor working conditions and will continuously be exploited until the industry as a whole takes action.

Image via The New York Times

According to Business Insider, fashion makes up 10% of global carbon emissions: it dries up water sources while polluting rivers, streams and oceans, and 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year. A report in 2018 found that the global pollution caused by fashion industries are dyeing and finishing (36%), yarn preparation (28%) and fiber production (15%). These all have devastating consequences on freshwater withdrawal and resource depletion, which exhausts fossil fuel energies. Furthermore, 20% of clothes are never bought and thrown into landfills, when they can easily be recycled to make other types of clothing. In 2018, H&M had $4.3 billion worth of unsold clothing, which is a repercussion of over producing.

How can we, as consumer, prevent this?

1. Awareness: spreading awareness and letting people know more about the devastating effects of fast fashion is a great way to prevent this. Corporate industries fail to hold themselves accountable, and they rely on consumers for profit. If we act as a whole and boycott certain businesses, large fashion companies may recognise and condemn their actions.

2. Thrift: thrift stores are a great way to recycle old clothing, especially leftover clothes that have not been sold in large franchises.

3. Be wary of the stores you shop at! Buying locally is also an easy way to stop feuling this never ending cycle.