In today’s fast-paced world, it is easy to get caught up in the ever-changing fashion trends cycle and the temptation of cheap online clothing deals. This blog post will break down how fast fashion operates, as well as its environmental impacts.
We will also provide practical steps on how we can all do our bit to combat fast fashion and make more ethical and sustainable choices throughout a garment’s life cycle. This includes advice on how to shop more sustainably, all the way through to how to dispose of your old, unwanted clothes more mindfully.
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast fashion refers to specific practices within fashion production that result in very rapid production of low-quality garments. Fast fashion is a rapidly growing industry that has caused controversy within both fashion spaces and among environmentalists. This is because of the unethical business practices used to make fast fashion possible, as well as the environmental impact.
The goal of fast fashion is to rapidly produce and sell trend-driven clothing, with a focus on fast turnaround times and low production costs. Fast fashion is designed to capitalise off the ever-changing fashion trends, encouraging consumers to buy more and buy often.
The Key Characteristics of Fast Fashion Brands
Fast Production and High Volumes of Items
Fast fashion brands focus on rapid production times, which helps them keep up with trends as well as influence trend cycles. These fast times also allow fast fashion brands to encourage over-consumption and repeat ordering, offering their customers new products very frequently – sometimes even daily!
Low Costs
In order to appeal to a large number of customers, fast fashion brands prioritise low costs, often at the expense of product quality, labour and environmental concerns.
The Lifecycle of Fast Fashion
The lifestyle of fast fashion refers to the garment’s journey from its conception to its disposal. All clothing garments have a lifecycle, but fast fashion garments are known to have considerably shorter life cycles. A typical life cycle of a fast fashion garment is:
- Concept & Design
- Sourcing & Production
- Advertising & Distribution
- Arrive to consumer and wear around 7 times
- Disposed to landfill
Whilst this tends to be the cycle for all clothing garments, the process is accelerated for fast fashion garments. According to earth.org, some fast fashion brands can get a garment from concept to distribution in as little as 2 weeks. This is a stark difference from traditional fashion retailers, which usually have a concept to distribution timeline of almost a year.
The process is also accelerated at the end of a fast fashion garment’s life cycle. Cheaper clothes and a focus on ever-changing trend cycles mean that these garments hold less value to the customer, and the low retail cost means customers may opt to buy new clothing over utilising what they currently own.
These factors speed along the life cycle of fast fashion clothing, resulting in more clothes being consumed, and in return, more clothes ending up in landfill.
The Fast Fashion Environmental Impact
The practices which make fast fashion possible have a large environmental impact in a variety of ways, including:
Pollution of Water
The process of turning raw materials into clothing items involves a lot of chemical usage, which is damaging to the environment. This includes dyes, garments, and sealants. To save time and money, some fast fashion companies dump the contaminated water used in these processes into local rivers and streams, affecting both water used by the locals in the area for drinking and bathing, as well as harming the local ecosystems including plant life and animals.
Excess Use of Water
The production of textiles requires vast amounts of water. WWF claims that it takes 20,000 litres of water to make 1 cotton t-shirt. This excessive use of water depletes local water sources, leading to water shortages in our ecosystem.
Elevated Greenhouse Gas Emissions
An excessive amount of greenhouse gases are emitted throughout various stages of garment production. To keep costs down, most fast fashion garments are made from cheap, synthetic fabrics such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic. These materials are derived from fossil fuels, and using them produces high levels of carbon dioxide.
Greenhouse gases are also elevated due to the transportation and global supply chain tactics that most fast fashion brands use to save costs. Instead of having the entire production process of a garment happen in one place, fast fashion companies spread their production facilities all around the globe. While this might be the more cost-effective option for the fast fashion brand, the excessive shipment and transportation of materials and garments has big negative effects on the environment.
Excess Waste Generation
As the materials used for these clothing items are often very low quality, it is sometimes cheaper for these companies to throw away excess fabric instead of investing time and resources into repurposing it.
This is also a similar attitude to what consumers have on these garments. Low-cost items feel more disposable to the consumer, especially when these fast fashion brands have quick turn-around rates, encouraging consumers to constantly buy more. This attitude of clothing being disposable and not being seen as a long-term investment by the consumer encourages excess waste.
Shorter life cycle of clothing
The low-quality materials used by fast fashion brands means garments are less durable and more prone to wear and tear. This shortens the life cycle of these items of clothing, which typically aren’t made to last as long as higher quality clothing. This adds to the demand for new clothing, driving up production rates, as well as resulting in more clothing ending up in landfill.
Why Do So Many People Shop Fast Fashion?
If fast fashion has such a detrimental effect on the environment, why is it that so many consumers continue to buy into these brands? Multiple reasons have contributed to fast fashion becoming a $106 billion global industry, including:
- Affordability – These unethical practices allow fast fashion brands to keep their costs low and sell clothes for a lower price than other fashion retailers. This draws in customers who cannot afford to shop at more sustainable retailers.
- Lack of Awareness – Many consumers are not aware of the unethical practices in which these companies operate, they might not be aware of the effects of fast fashion or may be unsure of alternative options.
- Pressure to keep up with trends – Some consumers may be susceptible to being influenced by the extremely fast trend cycles that fast fashion retailers push. They may feel pressured to keep up with the trends offered by these fast fashion brands, which is difficult for traditional retailers to keep up with whilst still adhering to ethical practices.
How Can We All Do Our Part To Help Fight Fast Fashion?
We can all do our part to help fight fast fashion and promote sustainable and ethical practices, this can be done by:
Buying Less Clothing
Re-wearing and re-purposing the clothing we already own is the best way to fight fast fashion. It is easy to be tempted by new trends and good deals, but focusing on using what you already have in your wardrobe and buying less is the best way to tackle excess clothing waste. When purchasing new clothing, higher quality garments will typically last longer and be more durable than cheaper alternatives. This means you won’t have to replace the clothing as often, saving you money as well as reducing your clothing waste in the long run.
Support Ethical Brands
Whilst all clothing manufacturing has a negative impact on the environment, choosing to shop at a company which prioritises sustainability, selling clothing which is made from organic or recycled materials is less damaging to the environment than shopping fast fashion.
Buy Clothing Second-Hand
To increase the lifecycle of garments, we should all do our best to shop second-hand. Doing this will help reduce the demand of new garments being manufactured, as well as preventing usable clothing from ending up in landfills, resulting in less waste.
Dispose Unwanted Clothing Properly
When getting rid of clothing you no longer want, it is important to dispose of them correctly so that they don’t end up in landfill.
Clothing can be donated to charity shops or thrift stores so that it can be bought by others, or if you are looking to make some money from your old clothing, try selling your garments on online reselling apps or at a car boot sale.
Upcycle Your Old Clothes For Cash
Another option to clear out your old clothing sustainably is through a cash for clothes service. With the convenience of donating to charity shops mixed with the extra cash earned from selling online, cash-for-clothes services are a great and convenient way to sustainably get rid of old clothes, shoes, and accessories in bulk. At Worth Its Weight, we will weigh your unwanted items and give you cash in hand in return. Your items will then be sent to communities in need, prolonging the garment’s life whilst providing for those less fortunate.
Fast Fashion Environmental Impact FAQs
Is it Okay to Wear Fast Fashion?
When it comes to clothing consumption, it is important that we all do our part to help the environment. It may be unrealistic for everyone to only buy sustainable clothing, as this can usually be more expensive and less accessible than fast fashion. When shopping fast fashion, it is important to still be mindful and not to overconsume, only buying what you need and making use out of what you already own.
How Can You Tell if a Brand is Fast Fashion?
Fast fashion brands are typically identifiable by their rapid production and product turnover rates, their low prices, as well as their lack of transparency. Online checkers such as goodonyou allow you to search for brands via their sustainability ratings, helping you make more informed decisions of where to shop.
When was Fast Fashion Introduced?
Fast fashion that we know of today started to gain popularity in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, with brands mass-producing low quality clothing to keep up with demand and rapidly changing fashion trends. The fast fashion industry continues to grow in both volume and profit every year.
