How we’re losing the green component in our clothing A year ago if you’d asked me what fast fashion was, I would stare at you, dumbfounded. But then if you asked me, “Well don’t you know H&M?” I would have said yes, of course. It’s my favourite place to shop. Over the past year, I’ve learned that although their clothes are quite appealing, there are two problems: One, they are the opposite of being sustainable. They’re basically ruining the planet. Two, their clothes really aren’t that great. If you take a close look, most of their clothes are bad quality clothes and don’t ever last for more than a year. Clothing is a part of everyone’s life, whether you consider yourself a fashionable person or someone who would wear the same sweatpants every day if they could because they just couldn’t care less. If you’re like me, you fall somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. Everybody has their choices, but the one thing we can’t deny is that we have all bought a lot of clothing from brands like Uniqlo, Brandy Melville, or Zara. And we’ve never realized the effects these brands have on the planet. What is fast fashion? Brands like H&M are part of a concept called fast fashion, which focuses on bringing new styles to stores almost every week. They copy designs off the runway, created by high-end designers, the ones whose names you all know: Prada, Valentino, Gucci, Dior, Armani, and the list goes on and on. They produce it faster and with cheaper materials, which results in consumers getting brand name designs for slashed prices, keeping them happy. However, this also means that the quality of the clothing is sub-par, and we end up having to get rid of these clothes and buying new ones again. This gives companies like Zara and H&M more business as the cycle goes on and on. What issues are we facing? It’s bad for the environment.The problem is, these companies produce at the cost of the environment. They create chemical effluents and discharge them into rivers near their factories in countries like China, India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, to name a few. If you don’t live near a factory, this may mean nothing to you, but that growing pollution you see in your city? That increase in the number of cancer cases? One of the major contributors of those are companies like H&M and Brandy Melville. You may not be feeling it now, but you soon will. The production process is arguably even worse. They use underpaid, cheap labor, produced using tons of oil, and waste thousands of gallons of water. They also use chemicals and dyes which are unhealthy for the environment. The result of this kind of fast-paced production is that H&M releases new clothes and designs to stores almost every week. What happens when you throw these clothes away? Because they are produced using cheap inputs, fast fashion clothing items are disposed of very quickly. The quality is bad enough that you will need to discard the clothes after a very short life cycle. When you throw these clothes away, most of them end up in landfills. Most of these are synthetic and non-biodegradable. This problem is faced globally, and is increasingly becoming a major issue in many countries. This video explains the pitfalls of fast fashion and how to go about fixing it. The clothes that you donate end up in large processing plants. Because the fibres that these clothes are made of, more effort, machines, and processing have to go into making these clothes ready for reuse. Businesses that value quality are dying. Another problem that doesn’t occur to most is that luxury brands and brands that value quality, like Calvin Klein and Polo Ralph Lauren, are suffering because their business is being eaten away. Even smaller, local businesses like boutiques, tailors, and up-and-coming entrepreneurs are suffering. The whole fashion industry is being uprooted by a handful of fast fashion brands. Designers pour their hard work into making unique pieces of clothing, and invest even more in modeling and showcasing them, and then companies like Zara and H&M come and steal them off the runway. We get them for so much cheaper that we can’t turn the other cheek. This is why I assert that the fashion industry is also suffering. Consumers are beginning to value quality less and less, so the brands that once used to define fashion are running out of business, as well as creative entrepreneurs new to the game. But price is not the only determinant. Look at Lululemon. It’s a Vancouver-based athleisure company, and I still think their clothing is amazing. It’s soft, airy, and fashionable, but it’s also quite expensive. It isn’t necessarily categorized as a fast-fashion brand. A couple of years ago, they were pretty environmentally friendly, but over the years, their clothes have evolved and are made almost entirely of synthetic fibers, which are produced using oil. Oil, that was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of three months. Oil, which is causing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Oil, the fuel we will soon run out of if we don’t use it consciously, because there is a limited supply of it in the world. Lululemon does claim to be sustainable; they’re a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. But we know that they aren’t that green. What you can do instead. You can use one of the many alternatives. You can do the exact opposite of what fast fashion promotes: take it slow. Every time you buy a new piece of clothing, think. Do you really need this? Are you going to use it often? Is it worth your money? Is it ethical? And the golden rule of fashion, does it make you happy? Try buying fewer clothes. Whenever you go to buy something, try investing in better quality. If you’re not too interested in fashion and don’t want to burn a hole in your wallet, try altering your own clothes, buying from thrift stores, local shops based in your city (preferably not a chain), and even DIYing (Do-It-Yourself). This way, you’re contributing to the local economy and helping those around you grow! All is not lost. Look, we can’t expect ourselves to completely boycott fast fashion brands because most people can’t afford to only buy expensive designer clothing. But there is some hope. H&M has launched a Conscious line and are starting to worry about sustainability. Their website recently even added a ‘Sustainability’ page. Similarly, Lululemon advertises sustainability, and Zara has set a goal of offering “the most ethical and responsible products.” That said, I do think that fast fashion companies are starting to care about being ethical in their production process, as they should. After all, if the industry collapses, it will affect them too. If age-old brand names cannot produce any longer, then fast fashion companies will have less “inspiration” for new designs. The takeaway: We don’t know if fast fashion and sustainability can ever pair very well. But things are starting to look better for the environment. Although fast fashion and sustainability are near opposites, brands are trying to be more sustainable. As we’ve just seen, many of them have even started more conscious lines; clothes made with sustainability in mind. But what we can do now is try to choose better. When given the option, make the more sustainable choice. There are so many alternatives to the handful of multinational fashion brands that seem to have taken over the planet. All you have to do is look a little harder. In fact, there are so many alternatives that I could write a whole new post about it. There are alternative brands devoted to sustainability, there are local boutiques, there’s thrifting, there’s DIY. There are hundreds of other choices you could make. And you don’t have to be rich to make them. All you have to do is try. I’m coming up with a list of alternatives to fast fashion, but there are too many things to go over, so I will put it in a new post, coming soon! Stay tuned!
1 Comment
Mark
5/7/2020 07:03:54 pm
This was such a refreshing post, and it's so good to know all of this. Because of how good the marketing of these brands is, we don't really see this side of them. I would really like a list of some sort of other brands we can use instead of this
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