Op/Ed: Fast Fashion

Avoiding fast fashion is a way in which we can make the world a more environmentally friendly and ethical place, while saving a lot of money.

There is no denying that we live in a consumer culture. CBS reported that Americans see several thousand ads a day which is insane. In a class I took freshman year, I learned that many of these ads are very discreet too, so we may not even know that we are being advertised a product or idea.

Fast fashion, what Merriam Webster defines as “an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers” is very common in today’s world and can seem like a win-win situation with the low price tag and trendy options.

However, most items purchased from these stores are not made of quality material or timeless design. This results in having to repurchase clothing and this expense adds up quickly. In addition, the clothing that ends up being thrown out turns to landfill, along with the absurd amount packaging in American products.

The World Resources Institute provides some staggering statistics that show how wasteful fast fashion truly is. To make one cotton t-shirt, 2700 liters of water are used up. Let that sink in.

In addition to the environmental impacts of fast fashion, the ethics of fast fashion stores are very questionable. The Los Angeles Times wrote an article that pointed out the harsh reality that many of fast fashion employees work in sweatshop like conditions for a small amount of pay. I believe someone else’s dignity and rights to being fairly paid outweigh my superficial desire to own a copycat shirt that I saw a model wearing on a runway.

I am not trying to accuse customers of stores like H&M and Forever 21 as being horrible since that would be very hypocritical as I don’t know very many people and am not a person who has never shopped at these places. My underlying point is that there is an extreme lack of education surrounding what fast fashion stores truly entail and the more people are educated, the better.

When I found out what my ten dollar shirt really costs in the long run just several months ago, I began to be a much more conscious consumer. All it took was a mentor in my life to educate me and I could not be more grateful.