Fast fashion is a global wide industry that creates in style clothing for cheap prices, stores like H&M, Zara and Shein provide consumers clothing and accessories quickly and at low prices, making the process of buying clothes easier than ever. However, behind the scenes, the truth of how these clothes are produced is brutal. Between intense labor the workers endure, major harm to the environment and a stigma around only a few uses of clothes, is the fast fashion industry worth it?
The whole concept of fashionable clothing without spending much money revolves around the idea of speed. Manufacturing, producing and delivery needs to be done at an efficient pace in order to keep up with the amount of orders received. In order to satisfy customers, companies are put under pressure which often leads to poor working conditions for employees. In countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, workers don’t even make a livable wage and often work for long hours in hazardous conditions.
The industry is not only harmful to workers, but the environment as well. Since trends are so quick to change, clothing is manufactured from types of fossil fuels such as synthetic fibers. Around 70 million barrels of oil are used each year just to produce polyester, a type of synthetic fiber. Clothes produced in the fast fashion industry are of poor quality so they can only be worn a handful of times before being thrown away, done in a way to keep people buying more items from their websites. According to Projectcece.com, this setup has led to roughly 18.6 million tons of wasted clothing each year, with around 85% of that number ending up in landfills.
One of the more major problems for the environment surrounding fast fashion is the contribution to water pollution. According to Earth.org, many brands have contributed to the 93 billion cubic meters of water used throughout the production process. In order to give color to fabrics, companies are using dyes and chemicals which often end up in rivers and lakes, leaving the fashion industry one of the biggest water polluters for bodies of freshwater in the world. Every time you put your fast-produced clothing in the washer and dryer, the synthetic fabrics shed tiny plastic particles known as microfibers. According to Neunomads.com roughly 500,000 tons of microfibers end up in the oceans each year causing harm to marine life.
Social media has also been a big factor in the promotion of fast fashion. Influencers who support fast fashion or are sponsored by these companies target younger audiences who are easily influenced by clothing trends. The constant cycle of people feeling the need to buy, wear and post in cute outfits, just to end up throwing the clothes away after a few wears is only contributing to the waste problem.
While the fast fashion industry makes stylish clothing more accessible, the harmful effects are not worth its convenience. Rapid production is the direct cause for poor working conditions, harm to the world and mass amounts of waste. The culture social media has created has only worsened the issue over the past years. While fast fashion is convenient, it is worth considering the detrimental impact it has towards workers and the planet.
