Planet- Fast Fashion and consumption
Fast fashion has democratised fashion, the whole tenet of Zara founder Amancio Ortega (Costa. A, 2017). Today, clothing shown on the runway is accessible to people from all socioeconomic groups. Therefore, lower-income individuals can buy more styles for less money. Fast fashion has provided an answer to the capability’s perspective through its creative supply chain. However, most fast fashion clothing is not built to last (Niinimäki K. et al. 2020) and is typically made of inexpensive synthetic fibres like polyester. Polyester can take up to 200 years to break down, which is highly alarming for an industry that produces more than 100 billion new garments annually (Allon G,2022). This is precisely why ‘Responsible consumption and production’ is one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The overconsumption encouraged by fast fashion has negative impacts on the world’s finite natural resources, globally it is estimated that 20% of all water pollution is caused by the dyeing of textiles in the fashion industry (The World Bank, 2019).
Wearing sustainable or second-hand clothing, on the other hand, might be perceived as a privilege because of the numerous constraints in place, which is the antithesis of fast fashion consumption. Many sustainable fashion companies lack broad size ranges, and there is undoubtedly a high-cost barrier, limiting variety for numerous consumers. There are basic requirements of consuming ethically that consumers may lack the time and resources to avoid for the sake of sustainability. Regarding price barriers, another substantial problem with fast fashion is that it causes society to undermine the hidden costs of production such as labour costs and energy resources like oil which are integral factors in garment production (EMF, 2017).
The main argument here is that the volume of clothing produced by multinationals is worsening the negative impact that fast fashion has on the environment. Therefore, when someone urges another to “purchase ethically”, they are expecting each individual citizen to fix the problems caused by large corporations. One can purchase all the vintage and second-hand clothing they want, but Primark continues to produce mountains of disposable fashion at an ever-increasing rate. Essentially, it is obtuse to expect the working class to make up for the wrongs committed by multinationals, especially when those wrongs involve the items that they depend on to thrive in society (Thomas, D. 2019). What’s concerning is that it costs money and takes time to try to “consume ethically”. Not everyone can afford to entirely give up their spending habits, so we cannot expect everyone to do so. But it’s crucial that we in the ‘first world’ at least try. The more rapid the world achieves the sustainable development goal of ‘responsible consumption and production’, the more likely it is that the incredibly destructive fast fashion system will collapse.
Bibliography:
Costa, A (2017) ‘ZARA’S CASE STUDY: The Strategy of the Fast Fashion Pioneer’ ISCTE Business School https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/15686/4/master_ana_morgado_costa.pdf
Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H. et al. (2020) ‘The environmental price of fast fashion’. Nat Rev Earth Environ 1, 189–200. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0039-9
Allon G. (2022) Business Insider ‘The fashion industry’s dirtiest secret’ https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-fashion-christmas-shopping-clothes-returns-shein-zara-waste-mountain-2022-12?r=US&IR=T
The world bank (2019) ‘How much do our wardrobes cost to the environment?’ https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/09/23/costo-moda-medio-ambiente#:~:text=If%20demographic%20and%20lifestyle%20patterns,of%2050%20billion%20plastic%20bottles.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF)(2017). A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future. ellenmacarthurfoundation.org https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/A-New-Textiles-Economy_Full-Report.pdf
Thomas, D. (2019)’ Fashionopolis: The price of fast fashion and the future of clothes’. London: Head of Zeus.