17 - Opinion (State, National, or International Issue)

The Real Cost of Fast Fashion in Our Consumeristic Culture

A worker making clothes in a SHEIN factory (Getty Images).

Fast fashion has become a booming industry within our materialistic society. According to Vogue, fast fashion refers to "quickly produced trends sold at low price points." These clothing items are being made and consumed at rapid rates that our planet and people cannot keep up with. 

Many popular brands partake in fast fashion, such as SHEIN, Zara, Forever 21, and H&M. These brands sell popular, often poorly-made clothing items at low prices by sourcing them from locations around the world with lax labor laws. Consumers purchase from these brands despite the labor exploitation and poor quality for two main reasons: one, the rising cost of living in the global economy, and two, the desire to have trendy clothing. 

Social media has had a major impact on the consumption of fast fashion by speeding up the phases in which clothing trends come and go. From lavish shopping hauls to influencer collaborations, the digital landscape, supported by major brands, has succeeded in creating a foundation for excessive consumer culture. These brands utilize a variety of marketing tactics to incentivize viewers to buy their clothes in order to keep up with current fashion trends. 

Taylor Lorenz on the SHEIN influencer trip in June 2023 (Video Link in Photo).

TheRoundup provides some statistics on the environmental impacts of the fast fashion industry:

• It is the second-most polluting industry in the world. 
• It accounts for 4% (2.1 billion tonnes) of the world's total carbon emissions.
• 87% of clothing material ends up in landfills.
• It takes 2000 gallons of water to make one pair of jeans. 

These statistics don't even cover the impacts that the fast fashion industry has on the people who work in it. The individuals who work in these clothing factories often make extremely low wages, with workers in Bangladesh (the second largest garment exporter in the world) making a measly $113 a month (Vogue). 

As a society, we need to focus on creating a more sustainable fashion industry model. While the blame is in large part due to the greed of large clothing corporations, it is our duty as consumers to try our best to not fall into the trap of staying on-trend. It is not environmentally friendly to purchase from fast fashion brands, and it contributes to the poor working conditions that individuals are forced to perform in. We must urge these brands to adopt more sustainable business practices and understand the importance of resisting the impulse to buy clothes that we don't necessarily need.