Why Fast Fashion SUCKS? Here are 3 reasons…

In today’s world of instant gratification, conspicuous consumption and social media influencers, fast fashion seems to have hit its mark. It’s not just a product of this depressing system, but probably also a cog in the machine; redefining consumer expectations around pricing, turnover, quality and fashion as a whole. Aside from the obvious fashion disaster of the rise of lumo latex bodycon dresses, fast fashion has a host of other really significant adverse impacts on society and the environment. With higher CO2 emissions than both the shipping and international flight industries combined, I don’t believe this is something that we as consumers can just ignore.

The problem is (as most problems are) multi-faceted. Our key players are the brands themselves, consumers and influencers. Now, as a consumer myself, I am the first to admit that the lethal combination of consistent exposure to the latest fashion trends on social media and the opportunity to have these trends for myself with minimal cost or effort, can be pretty difficult to resist. However, my hope is that this piece will help us all to think twice before clicking “Checkout”. So, here they are: 3 reasons why fast fashion SUCKS.

reason #1: FAST FASHION IS DESTROYING THE PLANET

Junk in, junk out (as they say). Turnover times are increasing, with some online retailers uploading around 120 new items a day! The research suggests that these items do not spend much time being useful additions to society. Instead, fast fashion has been described as an “influencer to landfill” business model with its contribution of 92 million tonnes of waste yearly (according to a 2020 statistic). Many items are only worn once before being chucked away.

I guess we should be happy for the items that actually get worn, because fashion retailers are notorious for overstocking. The go-to solution usually would involve burning or destroying excess inventory, but recently these methods have come under fire (get it?). Although brands have to protect their identity (they do not want millions of pounds of unsold stock circling GumTree or Craigslist), it seems ridiculous that they actively stock such vast quantities, but only expect to sell half at full price! In 2019, 235 million items of clothing were sent landfill.

It’s not just the finish line of this supply model that is problematic. Unfortunately, it seems like everything fast fashion touches turns to dust (or waste, or pollution… You get the gist). Microplastics from synthetic materials cause marine pollution and become part of the food chain, inevitably ending up in our stomaches. The industry as a whole is responsible for 10% of global emissions. I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot like it is causing both a toxic internal and external environment… I wonder how much of the world’s current health problems – obesity, cancer, Alzheimer’s etc – we could attribute to the fast fashion industry? That’s a topic for another day. Needless to say, fast fashion is destroying the planet!

reason #2: FAST FASHION IS RUINING THE NEXT GENERATION

In the midst of all the current crises faced by society… climate change, racism, inequality, pandemics, declining public health (the list goes on), what the world needs is a generation of empowered, educated and proactive people. What the world needs is real influencers. Unfortunately, through admittedly clever marketing strategies, fast fashion brands have taken the very real issues we as society face and disfigured these issues into a self-serving brand identity.

These brands tap into the world of female empowerment, body positivity, Black Lives Matter, and inclusivity, and use influencers to bring to life the message that we can be empowered and make change through redefining fashion. The real message, however, is that being iconic and consistently ‘on-trend’ on social media are the most important things and that we can have this aspirational lifestyle if we just part with some cash (a hefty 90p to be exact). Describing MissGuided’s “empowerment” persona, Emily Baker said, “It is not about personal, political or social advancement, but [is about] persuading women to spend money.”

The millennial generation is experiencing the opposite of empowerment; they are being taken advantage of. Using social media and influencers to purport the idea that ‘more is better’ in a world where the environment is needing us to STOP is, frankly, irresponsible. Using very real social issues, close to the hearts of many young people, and jumbling them with the “aspirational” life portrayed by influencers is simply dishonest and undermines these issues.

Furthermore, there is something to be said about the impact of fast fashion on young people’s relationship with money and spending. Firstly, there is the fact that fast fashion brands set the standard of clothes being cheaper than a cappuccino. Reinforcing the younger generation’s expectations of clothing quality and pricing is all very well for the fast fashion industry, but ultimately is damaging for the slower, circular economy so needed. Secondly, the influx of the “buy now, pay later” mindset teaches youngsters nothing of saving. Instead, “cash-strapped millennials” are just encouraged to get into debt by companies like Klarna, which have become a go-to payment platform across the UK. This world of instant gratification, more-is-better and aspirational influencers does not care for its indebted consumer base, as long as its customers keep making purchases.

reason #3: FAST FASHION’S PROMISES ARE ALL LIES ANYWAY

When asked what Boohoo was doing actively to empower women, the answer given was, in essence, to “provide them with on-trend clothes.” It’s all very well to be wearing a £2 t-shirt with the slogan Feminism, but what about equal pay for factory workers, supporting female designers or ensuring that your customer base is not being taken advantage of? Well, we’ve touched on the being-taken-advantage-of problem and concluded that fast fashion brands are one big profit-driven marketing manipulator. Missguided, with their majority female employee base, reported a 46% gender pay gap in 2018 and have a number of accusations of copying the work of female designers. Boohoo pays some of its workers only £3.50 an hour.

When you consider that the fast fashion industry’s work force is made up mostly of women (almost 80%), it is clear that these so-called “feminist” values are actually hogwash. Throughout the pandemic, there have been a number of issues around fast fashion brands keeping their factories open and forcing workers to work in Covid-unsafe conditions, as well as withholding payments from employees.

So it’s (more than) fair to say that fast fashion sucks. These items of clothing being sold to women as tools of self-empowerment are being made by workers whose self-worth has in no way been taken into account or respected. Empowerment is so much more than being on-trend, despite the combination of clever marketing and manipulative messaging telling us that we can buy confidence for £1. Besides, what is the point of being on trend when we’ll all be wading through landfills to get to work 40 years from now? Perhaps Boohoo’s executives could use some of their £150 million payout to invest in sustainable material development?