Fast fashion is taking over our lives; here’s how to take them back

Fast fashion has made its way into most people’s social media feeds at one point or another, as its prevalence with Gen Z communities continues rising. Fast fashion is a design, manufacturing, and marketing method focused on mass production of clothing. Sellers like Shein, Romwe, and Fashion Nova first became popular with the rise of TikTok influencers. During quarantine, influencers would post massive hauls of trendy clothes. It was cheap, easy to order, and new styles were always coming out. However, ultra-fast fashion has found itself at the forefront of public controversy with its unethical, and non eco-friendly practices. Ultra-fast fashion multiplies the effects of regular fast fashion and moves at an even faster rate than regular fast fashion, products can be on the drawing board, moved to production, and out for sale in less than three days. 

Ultra-fast fashion feeds into the ever-growing pit of hyper-consumerism. When an influencer has an item, it trends on social media, and fast fashion sites are quick to make cheap dupes (copies of a certain design or style) at a rapid pace, making the trend much easier and cheaper to circulate and speeding up the trend cycle.  In fact, the trend cycles have shortened from a decade to as little as three to four months since the 2000s. Shein added anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 individual styles to its app each day in 2022. This outrageous amount of new clothes keeps the fashion cycle moving too fast to even wear the piece before it’s “outdated”. 

So, what do people do with it? Throw it away. It’s estimated that Americans throw away 81.5 lb of clothes each year, and is only set to increase.

The factories themselves are problematic as well. Fast fashion factories release 10% of worldwide greenhouse gasses per-year, escalating the climate crisis even more. Because of how quickly these products are made, they are made with low-quality materials such as polyester and nylon. These materials take millions of years to degrade and continue to create landfills. Furthermore, to keep up with the demand for cheap clothing, more and more labor is required. The average fast fashion worker earns 2-6 cents per clothing piece and works 12-hour shifts. This is the only way the clothes can be so inexpensive: the materials and labor costs are much less per piece of clothing than the sale price in order to maximize profits. 

Most teens work minimum-wage jobs and have much less disposable income for sustainable clothing. Many teenagers buy into fast fashion because of affordable pricing and trendy pieces. Of course, lower- and working-class, and/or plus-sized people with fewer clothing options who have no choice but to shop with fast fashion are not the sole contributors to this issue. Influencers who constantly promote these companies with $200 hauls every month are inspiring the hyper-consumerism causing the issue. 

However, with all of the horrible effects of fast fashion, there are many alternatives that are much more environmentally friendly, and that are very accessible. Here are four of my favorites:

Thrifting

Who doesn’t love a good thrift? Places like Goodwill and Plato’s Closet are gold mines to find clothes. Clothes will have a much nicer quality and last a lot longer. The prices can be the same if not lower than ultra fast fashion. Furthermore, when you put in the work to find the perfect piece, it will mean so much more to you and feel more unique. 

Local thrift stores:

Goodwill: 1901 Hill Ave, Montgomery, IL 60538

Aurora Thrift Store: 285 Montgomery Rd, Montgomery, IL 60538

Plato’s Closet: 572 Illinois Rte 59, Naperville, IL 60540

Invest in more quality, less quantity

If you have $80, instead of buying five pairs of jeans on a fast fashion site, you can spend it on a nice quality pair of jeans that will last much longer than the other five pairs would. It will also cost less in the long run to have a pair that lasts 10 years and costs $80 rather than having to replace them every year for $20. Of course, this means having more disposable income, which is not something everybody has access to, so for this, try your best with what you can afford. 

Really consider before buying an item

Ask yourself questions like, how can I style this? Am I only buying this because I saw it on social media? Can I pair this with more than one other piece? It will make you think if this is something you really like, or will just end up in the back of your closet.

Upcycling / Making your own clothes 

You can either make the clothes by hand if you’re really crafty or you can get something from the thrift store and create something new out of it. Not only is it amazing for the environment, it’s also a new hobby to take up!

Overall, fast fashion is here to stay; however, if each person can contribute their best to slow the fashion industry and help sustainable fashion become more prevalent, we can all benefit.