Opinion | Stop buying into ‘fast fashion’
Rebeccah Glaser, Managing Editor
We’ve all been there. You’ve been eyeing a new sweater from Free People or Nordstrom. It’s perfect, just your color, the exact size and … upwards of $100. So you do some quick browsing and come across a similar dupe on a brand website like Forever 21 or H&M and this time, you’ll only be set back $15. Sounds perfect, right? Well, it’s not as perfect as you might think. By clicking the “buy now” button, you’ve created a series of irreversible ripple effects.
What these brands – which include chains like Zara and Topshop – promote is called “fast fashion,” which is when companies make fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers. But while it might not come at much of a cost to you, it costs someone.
The fashion industry is a huge global market. A 2015 U.S. government reportvalues the world industry at $1.2 trillion. (Yes, with a “t.”) And according to the Environmental Protection Agency, 15.1 million tons of textiles were generated in 2013, with 12.8 million tons of that amount discarded. Not donated, not given away. Thrown out.
Many clothes are made from organic materials like cotton, flax, wool and silk, so when they’re thrown away, they don’t just sit there. They start to decompose, releasing methane, which is a greenhouse gas that’s more powerful than carbon dioxide and absorbs 20 times more heat into the Earth’s atmosphere. Because of the rate of the air temperature, even if we had completely stopped emissions as early as 2000, we wouldn’t fully see the effects until the end of this century.
And the environmental impact isn’t the only negative repercussion of our society’s furiously paced purchases. These companies often outsource their labor to third-world countries like Cambodia and Thailand, with employees – the majority of whom are women – working under poorly regulated conditions,according to a report by the Human Rights Watch.
Workers are physically intimidated for not meeting production targets, promised extra pay that they never receive, and are even fired for refusing to work overtime, according to the report. In 2014, more than 100 workers at a Cambodian factory which makes clothing for companies like Puma and Adidas fainted after complaining that they felt hot, according to Reuters.
The solution to this isn’t simple. Companies that engage in these unethical and environmentally damaging practices are all around us. Even The Gap, Inc., a place where I sometimes shop, has been accused of outsourcing its production to companies that use child labor. Buying ethical clothing can be incredibly expensive. Products from companies like Everlane that pride themselves on ethical production are pricey – a simple white sweater can cost almost $70, which most college students can’t afford.
So it’s OK to start small. Buy fewer cheap clothes and instead, save up and invest in a few high-quality, ethical pieces that you know you’ll wear all the time. Instead of throwing your clothes out when you get tired of them, sell them on a community board (like Panther Couture), give them away to friends or donate them to charity. When you need a new sweater, try browsing the aisles at your local Goodwill instead of rushing to the mall.
No one is perfect, and chances are you won’t give up all your favorite brands in one day. But even if you decide just once this month to hold off on buying that $15 sweater, it’s a step in the right direction.