an environmental and moral tragedy

A yellow crop top. A blue oversized t-shirt. How about a red ribbed tank top? Exploring a clothing website these days is inevitably paired with an overabundance of styles and choices. Ultra-fast fashion companies set up outsource their labor and maintain their storefront online. Through offshore factories, companies exploit workers by providing less than necessary wages for workers and unsafe working conditions. Even dismissing the appalling factory conditions, the clothing produced by fast fashion companies causes major environmental problems. Companies produce a monumental amount of waste from clothing consumers never buy in the first place. In addition, the fact that clothing has become so cheap reinforces the notion that the clothes bought are disposable. Chances are your favorite clothing store contributes to this.

so what exactly is fast fashion?

Big companies start to mass produce their items in other countries, many of which the working conditions are very bad with extremely low wages. People buy these clothes for low and affordable prices to keep up with ever-changing trends: specifically 88% of Americans. So why exactly is this harmful? It starts with two reasons.

One: Environment. All these mass-produced clothes that remain unsold usually get burned, as it’s cheaper than trying to recycle everything. Less than 11% of companies actually put in the money and effort to recycle unsold clothes. These burned clothes release toxins which can pollute waterways and the air. The domino effect after that will inevitably harm animals and people. In addition, fast fashion companies use an enormous amount of water. One pair of jeans made takes 2,000 tons of water! Even after the production of these clothes, each time you wash the synthetic fabrics, they release microplastics into the ocean. 

Two: Workers. Even if you don’t know about fast fashion, buying clothes from these companies fuels underpaid working and child labor. The more these companies earn profit from people, the more workers are hired with low wages. Studies show that less than 2% of these workers actually earn a living wage. That statistic is very real and terrible for the ones suffering to sustain their household off their hard-earned wages.

how to recognize a fast fashion brand

There are some different questions to ask yourself when trying to avoid a fast fashion brand.

1. Are there garments unusually cheap? This might seem hard to accept, but unfortunately the cheap pricing of clothes tends to mean that the company might have outsourced production from another country.
2. Do they restock with new styles very often? They could be buying production cheaply by providing workers with low wages
3. Do they proudly mention their production sourcing (where they produce garments)? If not, they might be trying to hide it- which is a bad sign.

what you can do

It might seem like this problem is way to big to solve, especially as one person. However, you can take small steps to help stop fast fashion.

1. Buy a 30 dollar quality shirt, instead of the 8 dollar shirt you wear once. This concept is called slow fashion. It might be less affordable, but it would mean you’re doing you’re part in helping.
2. Buy second hand, from goodwill or other thrift stores. This is affordable, and these places are a good resource for people that want to buy sustainable items.
3. Have a reuse mindset, to stop buying clothes and wearing them once. Thrifted clothes are also fun to find, which is a benefit. Certain marketplaces sell upcycled clothes to people.
4. Find sustainable brands. Scroll down to find sustainable brands and their reviews.

You can also donate your used clothes. This is fast and easy, because donation centers exist everywhere. All you have to do is take your clothes and drop them off. Find your nearest location with this donation and thrift store locator

sustainable fashion companies

Finding clothes that aren’t fast fashion seems impossible to navigate, but the resources are infinite.

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