You've probably heard the term "fast fashion."
Fast fashion is used to describe cheap and trendy clothing that comes in and fades right out of style within weeks. Most fast fashion retailers release new items several times a week.
Fast fashion retailers make their money by releasing, selling, and replacing trends on an almost-daily basis. What does this do? It keeps consumers coming back—more and more frequently—to ostensibly stay on top of any new and emerging trends. With Instagram influencers, endless ads, and celebrity endorsements, trends are born, live, and die at breakneck speed.
Fast fashion companies have become infamous for cheap and exploitative labor, stolen content, and disastrous environmental impact. With average 2-4 week production cycles, fast fashion companies are releasing up to 24 collections per year. This kind of lightning-fast consumerism leads to many problems—not the least of which is the environmental impact.
"The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined." -Business Insider
The average American sends 81 pounds of textiles to landfill each year. This excessive waste is not limited to "fast fashion" brands either—some luxury brands have found themselves under fire (no pun intended) for literally burning millions of dollars' worth of their excess stock.
We understand that fast fashion appeals to limited budgets, especially when building up a wardrobe for work. In reality, fast fashion fosters a dependency on its consumers, meaning we end up spending more money on items that will not last an entire season. To help offset some of this, we put together a few options so that you can shop—and dress—more responsibly.
To tackle our own habits in our closets, we are using the three Rs of recycling + our very own R, rethink.
Reduce fast Fashion Consumption
Are you the kind of shopper that stops by your favorite store "just to take a look" on your way home from work? More often than not, do you end up "picking up a few things" without a second thought?
Stores that stock fast fashion alternatives list these items at an insanely low price. How are they able to sell a t-shirt for seven dollars? It's because they produce units at such a massive level, they are able to list items at an extremely low price. Our first tip here is to reduce. No, we aren't going to hit you with a Kondo approach, but Marie may not be that far off.
Before buying something because it's inexpensive or part of a BOGO deal, think about a few things. Do you really need this item? Are you buying it because you have a space in your wardrobe for it or simply because it had an attractive price tag? Think again.
Aside from saving the environment, you'll be giving your bank account a break. The trick of fast fashion is this: even though you are buying more items at a lower price, you are also bamboozled into thinking you need to stay on top of every trend. This leads to more shopping trips, more online "window shopping," and more thoughtless purchases.
Rather than trashing every foolish purchase you've ever made, be more mindful about your habits. When you're buying clothing, buy what you need. Think about the items you most often wear. Instead of funneling money into trendy items, stick to your tried and true.
Reuse Existing Items of Clothing
Our second tip is to reuse.
You can approach this in several ways. In fact, "reusing" clothing has become easier than ever. To try out reusing, we signed up for Armoire, a subscription-based clothing service that allows you to rent an unlimited amount of clothing—four pieces at a time. Instead of buying all new clothes for work or special events, Armoire allows members to rent and return four items at a time—on an unlimited basis.
You can use Armoire to rent an impressive dress for a conference, to zhuzh up your weekly work wardrobe, or to simply mix things up in your closet—all without the ramifications of either buying fast fashion or trying to stretch your budget to buy high-end clothing. During our trial, we got to wear pieces from designers (!!) like Anna Sui, Mara Hoffman, and Vince.
You can also enact some reusing within your own closet. Instead of buying new garments, challenge yourself to a week wearing pieces of clothing you haven't worn in a few months—or even a few years. Attempt to "wear" your entire closet before re-wearing your tried and true items—we all have a few of those. If you find that you still don't care for these items, donate them to a second-hand shop.
Recycle Pre-Worn Clothing Items
We've all been taught from a young age to recycle our plastics, metals, and papers. But what about clothing?
Fast fashion clothing is swiftly beginning to take up a lot of space in landfills. Most clothing is now made of polyester, a petroleum-based fiber that requires large amounts of fossil fuel to manufacture. If that wasn't bad enough, polyester is also a non-biodegradable substance—and it takes anywhere from 20 to 200 years to degrade.
The production of polyester-based clothing has far outpaced clothing made from natural fibers over the past 30 years. As such, it's more important than ever that we don't buy off-hand fashionable items—only to discard them months later. Instead, consider buying and selling at second-hand, vintage, and thrift shops. Not only will you be diverting clothing from a landfill, but you will also stop participating in a system that pirates creativity, pays workers poorly, and takes a huge part in destroying our environment.
Even if you're looking to wear some of the trendier clothes out there, you might be surprised at how many on-trend items you can find at a second-hand shop or on an app like Poshmark. That's how fast fast fashion really is!
Rethink How We Consume
We are trained from a very young age to become hyper-consumers. Bad shopping habits can't be unlearned overnight.
Like we touched upon in the "Reduce" section, we might need to rethink how we act as consumers. At a high level, some brands dedicate themselves to offering more sustainable solutions. Brands like Eileen Fisher and Patagonia even buy back clothing from their own label and resell them at a discount.
Huge, worldwide problems like fast fashion can't be fixed overnight. However, that doesn't mean it isn't worth the effort to be mindful when you pull out your debit card. Be mindful of what you're buying, why you're buying it, and what impacts your purchases make—on mistreated factory workers, on creatives whose work is being stolen, and on the environment.
After reading this, take a good look at your closet, your bank account, and your buying habits. Separate what you need from what you want. Separate what you want to wear from what you need to own. Hit mute on all of those pesky Instagram ads. Unsubscribe from the barrage of retailer emails we all receive. Ignore the superfluous mid-season sales. Be mindful about what you actually wear, what styles are really "you" and not a passing trend, and—most importantly—how seemingly small decisions you make can have far-reaching impacts on humanity and on our environment.
Here are some great places to buy ethically-sourced new clothing made from recycled fibers, completely recycled items, and handmade garments directly from the creator.
- etsy
- eBay
- tentree
- Girlfriend Collective
- Krochet Kids
- Everlane
- Eileen Fisher
- Patagonia
- thredUP
- Poshmark
- The Real Real
- PACT
If you're looking for more information on fast fashion and its impact, here are some great resources. We even created a Pinterest board to get started on gathering great ideas to dress more environmentally-conscious.
- Is Fast Fashion Destroying Our Environment?
- By the Numbers: The Economic, Social, and Environmental Impacts of "Fast Fashion"
- What is Fast Fashion?
- 8 Reasons to Rethink Fast Fashion
