A great compromise – style or sustainability
I really enjoy fashion and keeping up with current clothing trends. In a society when these are constantly changing, it is difficult to stay in the loop at times. It seems like trends are in and out of popularity like a flip of a switch. I often do find these trends cute, such as wearing a certain fit of jeans, wearing a puka shell necklace, or parachute pants. I want to wear these outfits and keep up with the trends, but it is difficult when these pieces are so expensive. Especially as a broke college student, I’m not really interested in spending $150 on a pair of pants. Hence why fast fashion websites like Shein, H&M, and Zara are so appealing to me and to other people in my same demographic. When I need an outfit for one occasion, for example, a football game, I do not want to spend a ton of money on it, as I know I will never need to wear it again and I don’t care about it being durable. I think that fast fashion websites are successful for people with the same thinking as me, I want cheap but stylish clothes, and I am willing to sacrifice on their quality.
While this is a very appealing concept, it comes with its downfalls, and a large one is the sustainability aspect. According to this video by The Economist, 30,000 tons of clothes are put in the waste in the UK every year, which is the largest growing category of waste in the country. A spokesperson for Savanna Rags, a sorting plant which sorts discarded clothes and distributes them to Africa, Europe, and across the UK, said that he has noticed a decrease in quality of clothes over the past few years. Because of this, the plant is forced to process a lot more clothing to get the same amount of clothes that are of the quality that they can actually pass on.
This contributes to so many clothes being put in the waste every year. Because these pieces are not of the best quality, people often put them in the waste after only a few wears. Because these pieces cannot be reused, they are simply thrown in the trash which has significant impacts on our environment. The severe impact of clothing waste was surprising to me when doing research because I feel that other aspects of waste are more talked about in society, like plastic waste.
This issue will be very difficult to solve because the fashion industry still needs to run and be successful, so it will continue to use the business model which is most successful. Others like me may have the same idea to buy cheap and poorer quality clothing, so these businesses will stay supported to continue this.
Stores also use the marketing technique of “if you don’t but it now, you won’t get it”. They may have sales which are only within a few days, or may insinuate that a product will no longer be available if one doesn’t buy it right when they see it.
Some brands are making improvements to this like Rent the Runway, which allows users to rent clothes for a few days at a time so that they can get more uses out of each piece of clothing. Patagonia also has many repair centers that they encourage people to send their clothes to so that they can be repaired and reworn rather than thrown away.
It will take great reform in order to change this problem. First, these businesses are so successful because of the ideology that people want cheap clothes. I don’t personally see this being changed any time soon, as people are always on a budget and looking for the easiest way to be a part of a trend. Additionally, businesses work on this business model, and because it works for them to get business, I don’t see them changing it any time soon. It would take great understanding of this issue from people in order to change the concept of fast fashion, and honestly, because of the stubbornness that people often exhibit I unfortunately don’t see this changing.
I find fast fashion both intriguing and scary for the future of our world. I am guilty of buying into the cheap clothes and “sales” that are more often not made in large factories in third world countries by a starving child, yet I don’t truly understand the global impact being so out of touch with others reality. I thought the story about the waste in the UK was really interesting as I’ve watched a few documentaries about fast fashion that have really tapped in to the amount of waste we produce as a part of such a booming industry. I see the attempted push for more sustainable clothing, but I wonder when marketing and advertisements will cling onto this as a NEED, not just a luxury style of clothing. It is definitely going to be a challenge for the coming generations on how we can satisfy our shopping desires for cheaper clothing while also managing to control our waste.
This topic of fast fashion does interest me as I used to buy from Shein quite a bit. I indulged in the fact that I could buy so many items for such a small fee. I would be able to buy over 10 items for the price of two items in an average retail store. The consequences that you have described in your post are exactly why I have since turned away from the fast fashion world. It of course has been an investment on my part to stop following trends so closely and instead buying items that I know I will use for longer than a few months. The content in your post about clothing waste is information that everyone should be aware about in regards to giving in to fashion trends.
Hi Olvia! I love the fact that at the end you make it very apparent that this problem is most likely not going to be solved. I feel like a common thing within this generation is people get so stressed out over things like fast fashion and they say it needs to change but typically they never realize how difficult it actually is to change. I think a really nice point you make is the fact that as a student in college it is hard to afford high quality clothes but you also want to fit in and look good so that is why so many girls get fast fashion. The other day my roommate spent 300 dollars on Shein. She got an entire new closet and of course people are complimenting her outfits as well. I think that is a diffuclt part too, everyone typically likes the clothes from Shein so whenever you are getting complimented on your Shein clothes you want to buy more. This is a really interesting topic you thought of!