The term “fast-fashion” has become a prominent term lately, but are we actually aware of its impacts?
Fast fashion describes trendy clothing that is quickly coming in and out of style. Just go into your closet and check the labels on your clothing, chances are that most of your clothing is from fashion brands. So how did we get caught inside this fast-fashion trap?
The hard truth
80% of garment workers are women between 18-35 who have no access to maternity leave. These workers are forced to work between 14 to 16 hours, 7 days a week under poor working conditions. In Bangladesh, sweatshop workers will earn $30 per month which is way below the living of $60 a month. Since 1990, due to hazardous working conditions, more than 400 workers died and thousands have been wounded in 50 factory fires.
Whilst there is a high demand from consumers for high fashion at a low cost, fashion retailers produce this demand by selling a ton of profitable clothes. Having said that, here are the 3 truths that the fashion industry doesn’t want you to know
1. The fashion industry makes you feel “out of trend” after one week.
Instead of replenishing their stock, they replace the items that sell out with new items of a different style, making our one-week-old clothes feel older than they truly are. With new trends coming out every week, this makes us consumers buy as many garments as possible, just for the sake of being trendy.
2. There are lead and hazardous chemicals on your clothing.
Garment production and unregulated factories have resulted in toxic chemicals often used to create vibrant colours, prints, and fabric finishes. Not only is this harmful to the workers that have to deal with these chemicals, but these chemicals can also enter our bodies through our skin just by wearing the garments. Harmful toxins are dunked into streams and rivers, polluting the water and soil of nearby areas.
3. Clothing is designed to fall apart.
At the end of the day, fashion retailers only care about the profit from the ocean of garments they are producing. Over half of all the clothing ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of production. 5% of all landfill space is textile waste. Brands also choose to incinerate their old stock than donate it because they claim it “ruins their image.”
Fashion as the second-largest polluting industry
- 1 garbage truck of clothes is burned or landfilled every second.
- Making a pair of jeans produces as many greenhouses gases as driving a car for nearly 70 miles.
- Each year 1.3 trillion gallons of water are used in the fabric dying process.
- A third of plastic pollution in the ocean is due to the microfibers from synthetic clothing.
A victim of fast-fashion? Here is what you can do!
Sewing
Whilst this might seem silly to most of you, producing your actual clothes is the main course of action to prevent from falling into the fast-fashion trap. You are also more likely to love it and wear it for longer.
Purchasing from independents sellers/thrift shops/second-hand clothing!
Support small businesses that carefully handcraft their work. Apps like Depop and Etsy are two apps that are working against fast-fashion. Through Depop, one can sell and even purchase second-hand items from individuals all around the globe. Recently, numerous Maltese influencers have been setting up their own Depop account to encourage this movement. Etsy focuses on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. One can find various items such as clothing, toys, home décor, etc.
Donating
It is that time of year again where the shift from summer to winter clothes leaves us wondering why you even bought certain pieces of clothing. And if this isn’t an annual thing for you, then I suggest you do it anyway as you can now earn some extra cash for decluttering your wardrobe!
This year, during EWWR, S-Cubed will be organising a thrift shop at quad between the 28th of November till the 2nd of December. You can either be their customer or lend a helping hand by donating your unwanted clothing for them to sell.
The money owed to the applicant will be given some time after the event, either by Revolut or cash, depending on the applicant’s preference. If an item is not sold, it will be returned to the applicant with the presentation of their ID Card. The price of the garment will have a small margin added to it at sale that will go to a charity related to the cause.
With thrift-shopping, you aren’t just saving your pocket money but you are also saving the environment.
