The Price Tag of Fast Fashion
- yikes aashi
- Sep 8, 2020
- 4 min read
By Aashna Singh
I have been constantly exposed to fashion and clothing; whether it be through the ForYou page on TikTok, random posts on Instagram, or browsing online retail stores like YesStyle and AliExpress. Recently, popular online retail stores, such as Shein and Romwe, are gaining traction. Because of the companies’ ability to surpass their competitors’ prices while also keeping up on the latest fashion trends—many people are buying them in hauls, or in large quantities. However, these companies depend on fast-fashion. Fast fashion is “an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers.” Although fast fashion is allowing for fashion to become affordable and attainable, it comes at a great expense: it causes great damage to the environment and exploits unjust labor in third world countries.
The question arises, “How do these stores provide such low prices that seem too good to be true?” Fast fashion just recently emerged in the 2000s due to the consumers’ demand for wanting to wear the high-end designs displayed on the runways at Fashion Week events for a fraction of the original price. It became especially popular with more consumers willing to buy dupes. Retail companies, who are dependent on fast fashion, prioritize having a high stock of inventory for dirt low quality. Stores like H&M produce “hundreds of millions of garments per year...earning their profit out of selling an ocean of clothing.”
Prior to the emergence of fast fashion, the fashion industry typically created garments for two seasons: Spring/Summer (SS) and Fall/Winter (FW). However, due to the mass production of clothes, the typical cycle now runs on at least one new clothing line every week, thus creating approximately 52 fashion seasons a year. This has caused the fashion industry to work at a rapid rate, working faster and faster by the season to create even more, with a competition between fast fashion and traditional fashion houses. The year-round calendar has caused clothing designs to become recycled. It also has led to the appropriation of intellectual property from individual-owned businesses.
As there is the mass production of clothes, the quality of clothing suffers. When retailers purposefully sell low-quality clothes, clothes are designed to not last. Eventually, when clothes fall apart, people go back to get more clothes. As time progresses, this detrimental effect from consuming fast fashion contributes heavily to the environmental damage crisis. When these clothes are thrown out, they don’t decompose into the environment. Moreover, because the value of these garments is so poor, consumers are more willing to throw them out and fill their closets with the next better trend. This has caused an exponential increase in pollution.
The pioneer of fast-fashion, Spanish retailer, Zara, is able to create over 18,000 designs a year. They are able to produce these designs in a span of 3 weeks. However, who is making these clothes? Companies who utilize fast fashion often outsource and exploit workers who are desperate for money. These companies provide little to no attention to their workers by: having unsafe working conditions, underpaying their workers to keep them tied to their jobs, and even going as far as exploiting children who have no other place to turn to. To these workers, massive corporations are the devil in disguise, offering a deal that cannot be passed up and yet also forcing them to work in brutal conditions.
The disturbing repercussions behind fast fashion aren’t hidden from the public eye. With the help of social media, more of fast fashions’ inability to follow proper ethics and morals are showcased to the world. Even popular mainstream celebrity and millionaire, Kylie Jenner, founder, and owner of Kylie Cosmetics, is experiencing backlash for underpaying her Bangladeshi workers.
But what’s the alternative of fast fashion? Many people answer this by saying to shop at ethical businesses. Ethical fashion is used to describe ethical fashion design, production, retail, and purchasing. However, ethical fashion doesn’t exist. Not all consumers share the same views of morality and ethics when it comes to purchasing something so personal. It’s used by companies as a vague term to gain more consumers. Instead, people should understand that their standards of what is ethical are unique to them, and they should follow brands that fit their definition. In this case, all these brands need to be transparent instead of using the vague term “ethical.”
On a personal note, I admit that I am guilty. I am consciously aware that I should spend less to get more items, rather than spend more for fewer items. I am also not in the financial situation to not shop at fast-fashion retailers. “Ethical” franchises tend to mark up their prices extremely high, and I can’t seem to rationalize even spending $20 on a shirt. However, realizing the dehumanizing effects of fast fashion, I would rather shop “ethically,” based on my own values. Although I won’t be completely cutting off my toxic relationship with fast fashion, I will be taking a step back and evaluating how I spend my money. I will try to lessen my consumption and try to wear out all the items I already have. If you know me, you know how much I love to buy new clothes, so this is definitely a huge challenge! But, I need to take the step to help create a more sustainable world. And I hope that you are able to take that step with me.
Contact Aashna Singh at s.aashna20 ‘at’ gmail (dot) com
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