Fast Fashion

You’ve probably heard the term Fast Fashion more times than you would want. And you have experienced the irritating moment of coming back to purchase the shirt you saw yesterday and it’s no longer available. But do you actually know what Fast Fashion means, how it works and how it affects YOU?

The Fashion Industry used to be based on catwalks available only for industry members who would eventually buy the trends to sell them to the public or market them to inform the public about what was “IN” that respective season. That is all history now; in a reality with a global and digital society where anyone has live access to fashion shows. A reality that moves at the speed of light and fashion houses, in the attempt of keeping up with it, release more collections per year than anyone can process. The Fashion Industry is now a democratic industry available to everyone everywhere; it is affordable and magazines are no longer the ones dictating what we will wear this summer. And that’s great, isn’t it? Or is it just too good to be true?

That’s where Fast Fashion comes into the picture. Strictly speaking, Fast Fashion is an industrial model in which trends from the catwalks are taken and made available fast to the market at low prices by manufacturing quickly and cheaply. Familiar with the term “New Trends Daily”? A manufacturing process that used to take 6-12 months now takes as short as 2 weeks for Fast Fashion companies. This has translated into inhumane working conditions in which workers (mostly women & at times children) are not allowed bathroom breaks, work in high risk factories prone to collapse or fire and are payed a misery, among others.

Communities are not the only victims of this model, the environment is too, deeply marked by it. As ridiculously low clothes prices were made available by fast fashion companies, we all expect to pay less for them. The prices that reflect the true cost of the garments now seem overpriced. It’s easy to overlook that those prices are made available to us by poor working conditions and quality. The cheapest materials possible are used, hence creating products that are literally disposable. Materials that are in addition being used in unsustainable amounts so you can be trendy at this weekend’s party only to become out of style next month. You can afford it after all, so why not, right?

Once disposed in a landfill those same materials will take decades to decompose as they are made with synthetic, petroleum-based fibers. Furthermore, the chemicals used in their printing and dyeing processes contribute to fashion being the second most polluting industry. The water dying of textiles uses the equivalent of half the Mediterranean Sea every year. Moreover many factories dispose of their chemicals in public waterways. Consequently 1/3 of China’s population lacks access to clean drinking water, just to name an example. Not to forget that these chemicals are released back into the water when we wash them.

So, in the desperate need to provide with the latest trends at the most affordable prices, the Fast Fashion model has created fashion addicts that must have the latest handbag they saw on Pinterest a month ago. And they must have it now because tomorrow it won’t be in store (since the space is needed for the upcoming flash trend). Fast Fashion has changed consumption patterns dramatically, so much that between 2000 and 2008 our consumption of textiles increased a shocking 47%! This bulk impulse shopping is our reality, but we can turn this around and once more evolve the fashion industry, this time by leading the change instead of being led!

Interesting to know that more than 30% of a garment’s climate footprint occurs after it leaves the store. Let’s do it!

1. Avoid buying all the latest trends only because you can.
2. Buy pieces you will use long.
3. Get inspired online and decide what you will buy before heading out to the shops.
4. Buy better quality clothes & accessories meant to last and that are not hazardous. See our post on fabrics as a guide.
5. Be informed, know who, where and how your garments were made.

In short, listen to the incredible Vivienne Westwood, “Buy less, choose well, make it last”!

K.C.E.