Fast Fashion

Recently there has seemingly developed more of an awareness of ‘fast fashion,’ particularly if you find yourself spending a lot of time on tiktok. You will either see videos of people buying a ridiculous amount of clothing from places like Shein or Zaful or you will find videos of people attempting to highlight the importance of not buying into fast fashion. I like to believe that I try not to contribute to fast fashion too much but as someone who likes to sort through every item I own at least once a year [I cannot stand clutter] and also being a student I perhaps avoid fast fashion much less than I should.

I suppose I should start by properly defining what fast fashion is or rather what I interpret it to be. Essentially I have always viewed it as cheap clothing that is made using [usually] exploitative labour in another country – usually a third world country or an emerging one. The reason that it is called ‘fast’ is because it replicates trends in a cheap way and so they quickly fall in and out of style and because of how cheap they are people become more prone to throwing them away when the latest trend emerges and they feel the need to match it. Similarly with shops like Shein you can often find cheaper alternatives or ‘dupes’ of more high end items which people are more likely to buy if they don’t really have the money to spend on the more luxury brands. Particularly if the trend is going to fall away fairly soon.

Perhaps it is because there has been a dramatic shift in the way that trends come and go in recent years that this discussion about fast fashion has become more prominent. Or it is arguably because Gen Z have supposedly become more woke and so they find themselves confronting social and environmental issues. Whatever the case, it is clear to me that fashion moves at such a quicker pace than it seemed to do in previous decades. This might be a result of the immense growth of globalisation and social media, which allows things to spread across the world more readily. Therefore whatever the trend is, it is picked up at a much quicker pace until the next new thing becomes popular. When I think back to a year ago – during the first lockdown when almost everyone downloaded tiktok – it seemed that cow print and sweater vests were hugely popular. Some people will still wear these items but it is perhaps not considered as trendy any more. Now there seems to be a significant growth in the popularity of Y2K fashion [something I am not particularly fond of but that’s personal preference]. There are obviously items of clothing that will stick around, such as the baggy jeans, but it is this supposedly ‘trendy fashion’ that fast fashion plays into.

Of course there is nothing wrong with following trends, that is the basics of being interested in coming across as vaguely fashionable. However, the problem is, if you are sourcing large quantities of clothing from these fast fashion websites then you are becoming part of the problem. What is that problem you might ask? Well it is the problem that, stripped down to the very core, fast fashion is bad for the environment. The use of foreign labour means these clothes need to be shipped across the globe in large quantities and for a cheap price and so there will obviously be a significant amount of fossil fuel that goes into this distribution. Similarly, people’s readiness to throw away these items means they might go to landfill which contributes to environmental waste [particularly if it is shipped to another country to be recycled]. So it is clear that these websites are detrimental to the environment. They also often exploit workers as they want to make the clothing as cheap as possible and so will go to countries where the wage can be legally very low. As a result of the high demand of products these workers are made to push out such large quantities of items for such a small living wage that it does ultimately seem exploitative to me. So if you have a conscience it might make you less willing to buy from these fast fashion shops.

I am aware though that not everyone throws items away as much as this article might imply. People often resort to buying from fast fashion places as it is far less costly and so it fits more easily into their budget and a lot of people are able to keep their clothes for a significant amount of time. I mean I am loathe to admit it but I often buy vest tops and t-shirts from Primark for my holidays as they are cheap and so if they get covered in sun cream and other foreign items I am less concerned about it. Although I do attempt to hold onto these items until they are almost completely unwearable. Items that are expensive or more local are the better option as they are more likely to last much longer and are able to withstand more wear and tear. A local online shop I am particularly fond of is P&Co which is based in Birmingham and produces good quality clothing. But… it is quite expensive – particularly if you are a student like me. A bowling style shirt I bought from them created an eighty-pound dent in my account. So there does become this fine line between being able to afford the conscience you need to be considerate about the environment in every aspect of your life. Of course it is not accessible to everyone.

The only advice I can really suggest – not that I am a significant font of knowledge – is to follow your own trends. To wear just what you want to and as a result it is more likely that you will be able to keep hold of a lot more items for a lot longer. If you like them you will [most likely] always like them. However, if you have bought them just to seem fashionable and fit in then you will grow out of them much sooner as they will ultimately become considered ‘hideous’. However, if you follow your heart and wear what makes you happy then you are more likely to look around for the items, to wear them for a lot longer and be willing to spend a bit more money on them, to ensure their quality [you’ll want them to last]. Fast fashion is not completely avoidable, like I have admitted above, there are many items of clothing that I have owned or still own that have been a part of this fast fashion trend. But if they are few and far between then I think that is completely acceptable and understandable. Everyone needs to be making an effort to hold onto their clothes for much longer and make sure that when they are buying them they are sure they will want to be wearing them in five years time. All it takes is a handful of people to start making these little changes and others will take notice.