Fast fashion is an everyday term used in the fashion industry, and not particularly for a good reason. It is the name used for brands that mass produce items of clothing at a quick pace and a relatively low cost – meaning there is usually unseen behind the scenes of poor ethical practices. It is commonly described as the quick turnaround from the catwalk to the stores.
Following on from last weeks blog, fast fashion disregards any kind of CSR as it is bad for the environment, the potential use of child labour and unsafe working conditions as well as unfair pay for factory workers.
But if fast fashion is so bad, why is it in such popular demand? Well, as a 22 year old obsessed with clothes, it is far to easy to go online to a fast fashion brand and buy the latest trends at a cheaper price at the click of a button compared to higher end slow fashion brands. But what can be done to prevent the exploitation from fast fashion?
So what is bad about Fast Fashion?
- They often exploit the use of child labour:
- The International Labour Organisation stated that approximately 170 million children and exploited by child labour in the fashion industry.
- They don’t pay their factory workers:
- Brands are able to reduce their prices by not paying their factory workers. Pretty Little Things was come under fire quite recently for paying their workers £3.50 an hour after Molly-Mae was appointed Creative Director (This is discussed further in one of my other blogs).
- Producing items out of unsustainable cheap materials
- Not only can they keep the prices down buy using cheaper materials, the making of the clothes through unsustainable quick methods releases carbon emissions and causes pollution.
Unfortunately, the statistics in 2021 demonstrate the ethical and environmental damage caused by fast fashion:
- 93% of fashion brands do not pay their factory workers a living wage
- 3 out of 5 items of clothing from fast fashion brands end up in a landfill within a year of buying
- Fast fashion is responsible for 8-10% of gas emissions
- Polyester takes over 200 years to decompose
Again, PLT had a massive backlash when it had a 99% off sale, selling clothes as little as 8p. Critics posted on Twitter about how the cheap cost was not worth the amount of carbon emissions and pollution this sale alone would create, from packaging to postage. They were criticised all over social media for promoting fast fashion.
How do Fashion Brands get away with Fast Fashion?
Quite simply, they are cheap. We live in a day and age where prices of everything is constantly increasing, so why wouldn’t consumers go to cheap fast fashion brands and buy ten items of clothing at the price of one item from a higher end brand? It creates a cycle, fast fashion clothes are cheap because they are manufactured cheap and thus do not last as long. Customers are happy to pay little amounts for poor quality clothes just to throw them away a month down the line and buy more, increasing the amount of waste.
Are Brands becoming more Sustainable?
Fashion brands are becoming more aware of their social responsibility and acting upon this. Most brands now have a CSR page outlining how they aim to tackle the damage of fast fashion through limiting waste and sourcing ethically.
In 2019, Zara stopped using synthetic fibres from fossil fuels in its clothing products and stopped use of plastic bags in all stores in its attempt to becoming more sustainable.
PLT, probably my favourite example if you haven’t realised by now, has quite a lot of information regarding sustainability. Not only do they demonstrate their efforts of sustainability, they have a blog outlining what customers can do whilst still purchasing from them:
- Repairing garments before replacing
- Rewearing – I must admit that I struggle to do this one!
- Recycling old clothes
- Washing clothes on a cooler setting and using a mesh laundry bag to stop microplastics entering the water system was an interesting one
Another interesting fact I was reading about reducing emissions and becoming more sustainable was about shipping these garments. Not only does the postage and packaging affect the environment, but the transport of delivering these items to peoples houses.
Some fashion brands offer an eco-friends delivery option – DPD aim to becoming green by using electrical vehicles, green packaging and waste management. Other ways is for customers to choose for their items to be delivered to a lock box such as the amazon lockers which prevents the over use of vehicles stopping and different houses. Although fast fashion is not environmentally friendly, it has began its move to becoming more sustainable.
Emily x
PR Fashion Label 
Leave a comment