What is Fast Fashion? And Why is it Bad?
The fashion items that are neither recycled nor donated.
What is a fast fashion?
I am sure your mom doesn’t allow you to eat fast food, but you eat because it is tasty, delicious and bad for the body. Just like fast food, fast fashion is trendy, available in various designs, and bad for the environment.
If you have been in a Eco-friendly space for a while, you have probably familiarized yourself with the “fast fashion” term. If you are new to this space, then a well welcome!
In this blog, I will tell you the history of fast fashion, from where it has come, why it is bad, what’s wrong with this fashion, and why you should avoid it.
What is fast fashion, anyway?
Fast Fashion is a term specially defined for the clothes that are trendy, inexpensive, and unsustainable.
But, don’t mark my words, learn the exact meaning of the fast fashion from a few different sources.
Recently, the phrase “Fast fashion” has gained huge acceptance in the market due to its cheap price and rapid production. Now of all sounds good, what’s the problem?
Fast fashion utilizes non-recycled, cheap quality-based materials to produce clothes that harm the environment and human-well being.
Why is fast fashion so inexpensive?
When purchasing fast fashion clothes, have you ever thought about why they are available at the cheap rates?
What do you expect from a $5 t-shirt? Would it run longer? Of course not. They are made from a low-quality raw material that is neither recycled nor destroyed.
Fast fashion is available at a low price because it allows brands to take a good advantage of people shopping behavior (buy more at less price) and exploiting the planet.
What’s wrong with fast fashion?
In the last two decades, we have seen a big revolution in the fashion industry i.e clothes have become cheaper, and the trend cycle has sped up.
In today’s time, the fast fashion brands produce about 52-micro seasons per year. This implies, at least one new collection every week.
Thy are playing with our minds by creating more seasons so that we will buy more clothes to walk along with the fashion season.
Companies like Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 launch 400 styles a week on their official sites.
These brands are getting immense profit from fast fashion. But, their sales efforts are devastating the environment in a number of ways-
water usage.
Microfibers.
Greenhouse gases.
Deforestation.
Toxins.
Human Rights.
Author and great fashion journalists have said in her documentary “True Cost”- “Fast fashion is not free. Someone somewhere is paying for it.
The rapid production of clothes, low quality, and trend replication has disturbed the lives of two things- The environment and the labors involved in the production process.
Companies that produce fast fashion use toxic chemicals, harsh dyes, and synthetic materials like polyester that dip into gallons of water where the clothing is made and at home where clothing is washed. The toxic water goes into the river directly and creates water pollution.
Compared to slow fashion, fast fashion is not regulated effectively because the company aims to produce lac of clothes in a little time. And they don’t use machines to sew all the clothes, they hire labors at very a low wage and treat them very badly.
Children are generally work in the fashion industry. The companies hire them at a meager wage. And that’s also a reason why the clothes are available at the cheap prices.
Why fast fashion is culture of waste?
Maybe the most concerning issue with fast fashion is the way of life it makes. The excess of cheap things means we start to view clothing as cheap and disposable.We end up purchasing all more regularly and saving items for a shorter time. What’s more, this culture leaves us with an abundance of clothing waste. So, what really happens to these unwanted clothes? Charity shops are now saying no to cheap clothes. These clothes end up burned in the landfills, or ship abroad.
The Rise of Slow Fashion
However, after exploiting the planet and human rights, the whole fashion industry is guilty. Just because to increase revenue, they have committed many crimes against the environment and people.
To retain a good reputation in the market, many brands are now coming forward to join a slow fashion movement that supports sustainability, fair wages, low-carbon emission, quality, and durability.
If you ask me how to avoid fast fashion, my answer will be opt for slow fashion.
Believe me, buying one-time wearable, low-material based clothes are just a waste of money.
Instead of buying three shirts at a cheap price, buy one t-shirt made with sustainable fabric.
