A phenomenon that has swept through social media platforms and activist outlets, fast fashion is the result of a mass rush to get fashion trends from the catwalk to consumers as quickly as possible. Fast fashion has become an enormous political issue due to its humanitarian and environmental impacts.
The concept of fast fashion arose from a need in the fashion industry to produce massive amounts of clothing with the utmost speed. This quickness in production allows whatever trends are popular right now to get to the market while they are still fashionable.
Fast fashion makes clothes that were once seen as unfathomably sophisticated and chic accessible to a wider market of people through speedy production and low prices; however, these low prices consequently demand lower production costs, deeply impacting the wages of garment workers.
In order to produce clothes as quickly and cheaply as possible, clothing companies rely on the labor of underpaid employees. This often occurs in countries such as Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam, where incredibly low minimum wages, combined with flexibility in labor laws, allow companies to manipulate the labor force. Companies such as Fashion Nova have also crossed labor boundaries within areas such as Los Angeles, paying employees as little as $2.77 an hour and forcing workers to operate in unsafe and contaminated workspaces, according to the New York Post.
While fast fashion is often seen as a purely humanitarian issue, it bears a heavy weight on the environment as well. More than 60 percent of fabric fibers are synthetics that come from fossil fuels and do not decay, according to WBUR. In fact, the concept of fast fashion itself encourages wastefulness through its simple goal of keeping up with whatever trend is current and disposing of whatever is no longer in style.
Despite the vast negative impacts that fast fashion has on both workers and the environment, it is widely utilized because of its efficiency and consequential profit. Many major clothing lines, such as Zara, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, and SHEIN, rely on fast fashion in order to get their products to customers as quickly as possible.
Without intervention, these companies can continue to manipulate the workforce and drain environmental resources indefinitely. This creates a moral quandary for consumers as well, as it is difficult to afford more sustainable, “slow fashion" brands.
"Slow fashion" relies on locally grown materials and labor on a local or domestic scale. While slow fashion is a much better alternative to fast fashion in regard to its environmental impact and moral ramifications, it is difficult to find affordable slow fashion brands. The market then turns again to fast fashion brands for lower costs, creating a vicious cycle of consumerism and wide-reaching detrimental impacts.
To help ease this cycle, action can be taken on by individual consumers, as well as larger companies and policymakers. If one is financially able to, they should try to purchase clothes from more sustainable alternatives, such as Everlane and Armedangels. If one is not in a financial position to buy from these brands, try to reuse clothing for as long as possible. Additionally, try shopping at second-hand stores or participating in clothing swaps to decrease clothing waste and counteract some of the negative environmental impacts of fast fashion.