Fast Fashion - Is It Worth It?

By: Alli Meehan

What does Forever 21 have in common with Peabody Energy Company, one of the leaders in coal production and distribution? They both cause pollution and environmental problems as a result of making a profit. “Newsweek magazine ranked Peabody Energy 493rd of 500 in their 2012 Green Rankings due to their environmental impacts of extracting burning coal, and for Peabody’s dismissive attitude toward environmental stewardship.” (polluterwatch.org) Forever 21 is one of the leaders in the fast fashion industry, and is responsible for the largest surge of cheaply made clothing in history.

Who Are the Culprits?

Fast fashion is defined as the industry where production processes are expedited in order to get new trends to the market as quickly and cheaply as possible. (investopedia.com) Large companies like H&M, Forever 21, Kohl’s, ZARA, Brandy Melville, Nike, and Urban Outfitters have found themselves under that title. They, among many others, contribute to the environmental crisis of our generation, the permission and implementation of sweatshops in foreign companies, and the swindling of an entire population of consumers.

The Neverending Cycle

It is no surprise that fashion is more popular than it has ever been, as trends come and go at lightning speed with the influence of social media. As consumers purchase new clothing, they get rid of things deemed “out of style.” That seems to be the obvious cause-and-effect relationship, but often overlooked is the implications of this attitude of spending. The typical consumer, disposing of an average of 81 pounds of textiles per year, does not recycle their old clothes or resell them, and instead throws them in their trash bin, eventually getting shipped to a landfill. While this not only increases the general pollution of the planet, it expedites the decay with harmful chemicals in the product’s fibres. For clothing to be made cheaply, efficiently, and sold quickly, corners are cut. Cotton takes longer to grow than a chemical and a synthetic fabric, and are cheaper when bought in bulk. Due to the fabric being inexpensive and made from less-than-perfect material, it does not last long in a consumer’s closet. It will rip, deform, and become useless in a short time. Then, as the consumer realizes their product is unable to be worn, they repurchase the same product at a low cost. Then, rinse and repeat this process until the customer has spent hundreds on a ten dollar shirt over the course of a few years.

What’s the Solution?

The obvious response to this is to buy better quality clothing. It would save the environment and the bank accounts of the innocent customer. The only reason that more people don’t buy nice quality clothing is because of the steep price that needs to be paid upfront. Spending $100 on a nice shirt hurts the soul of a person more than spending $10 on a low-quality shirt, even if they have to spend ten times more on ten terrible shirts in the long run. But the implications of this process are severe. There are now ten more low-quality shirts in the local dump, poisoning the ground with pollutants, rather than have a great-quality shirt that stays in the wardrobe for years, and is later passed on.

Final Words

Ultimately, this is not something many customers may be doing voluntarily. Some do not even realize they are doing it. Education is the best way to change this system. Customers should be aware of what they are purchasing, where it is from, and how long it will last with them. Then, they can make any decision they like. They can purchase low-quality clothing should they desire to. But now, they will understand what it takes to have that item.