Trends, fashion, style, all essential aspects of all generations. For some teenagers
and young adults, looking good and trendy is as important as the air we breathe.
"Follow the trends" they say, "you´ll only look good if you use the clothes everybody is
using." There is no denying that nice clothes make you look and feel good, confident,
and empowered, but at what cost? Most people buy at trendy stores without thinking
about the way those clothes were manufactured. We look at the clothes tags and it reads
made in Bangladesh, made in Vietnam. We often glance over these things and don't realize that overseas, on the other side of the world there are people suffering in factories where your trendy clothes were made. And on top of the violation of human rights that take place in the mentioned factories, the environment is taking a hard blow as well.
About 20 years ago, the way clothes were sold changed. Clothes became cheaper, trend
cycles sped up, and shopping became a hobby. This is when the world saw the start of
fast fashion and the global chains that now dominate our high streets and online
shopping. Then, in 2013, the world saw what was really happening. The Rana Plaza
clothing manufacturing complex in Bangladesh collapsed, killing over 1,000 workers.
That’s when buyers started questioning fast fashion and wondering what was the true
cost of the $5 t-shirts they were so happily buying. To understand the problem we must
know what fast fashion is first.
Fast fashion can be defined as cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at lightning speed to meet consumer demand. The idea is to get the newest styles on the market as fast as possible, so shoppers can snap them up while they are still at the height of their popularity, and then, sadly, discard them after a few wears. Fast fashion stores are easy to pinpoint: they sell thousands of styles, the number of clothing pieces is limited, and they use cheap and low-quality materials.
Fast fashion’s impact on the planet is huge. The pressure to reduce costs and speed up
production time means that environmental corners are more likely to be cut out. Fast
fashion’s negative impact includes its use of cheap, toxic textile dyes, making the
fashion industry the second largest polluter of clean water globally after agriculture.
Cheap textiles also increase fast fashion’s impact on the environment. Polyester is one
of the most popular fabrics. Unfortunately it is derived from fossil fuels, contributes to global warming, and can result in microfibers being added to our oceans. But even “natural fabrics” can be a problem at the scale in which fast fashion demands are produced. Cotton requires enormous quantities of water and pesticides in developing countries. This results in risks of drought and creates huge amounts of stress on water basins. And we should not let out the fact that human rights are violated in these workplaces. Companies employ workers from low-income populations, who are often women and children. These workers have an abnormal schedule of 14 hours, 7 days a week. Overtime work can´t be refused due to the risk of being fired.
Just like all problems in the world, there are ways we can stop fast fashion from taking a toll on the environment and on the lives of those employed in the factories. We can choose to buy second-hand clothes and choose eco-friendly fabrics. It is important to try and avoid fast fashion stores and choose better lasting clothing. Trends come and go, but we have one planet, we cannot buy another one when it gets worn out. Mind the places you shop, take care of the planet we were given, and remember, you don't need to follow trends to be stylish.
Comments