Lara Fosbery – Year 12

Have you ever seen an item of clothing literally everywhere, but a month or two later it’s nowhere to be found? The phrase ‘fast fashion’ is gradually becoming part of our collective vernacular, but what actually is fast fashion – and why is it bad? 

Fast fashion refers to cheap, trendy clothing, based on trends popularised on social media or on catwalks. The fast fashion industry produces clothes at an extremely fast rate, in order to keep up with the ever-increasing speed of modern trend cycles.

Fast fashion really took off in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, with the introduction of shops like H&M and Zara, which replicated the designs from expensive or luxury fashion brands with cheaper materials and at a far lower cost to both the retailer and the consumer. With the advent of online shopping, people could shop for in-style clothes whenever they wanted, and the fast fashion phenomenon caught on. Zara’s 15-day process of designing to selling a garment is actually the reason The New York Times coined the term “fast fashion.” 

But unfortunately, like so many modern luxuries, fast fashion is incredibly detrimental to the environment. The pressure to cut production time results in the use of cheap materials like polyester (which sheds microplastics in the wash that run into the water) and toxic dye (which makes the fashion industry the second largest polluter of clean water globally). Even more sustainable materials like cotton put a massive strain on the ecosystems of developing countries when mass-produced, as they require huge quantities of water and pesticides. The dyes and microplastics are frequently ingested by marine organisms, and without proper regulation, real fur has become cheaper than fake fur to produce, because the conditions in fur farms are so terrible. 

The speed at which the fast fashion industry produces clothes also results in an increase in the speed of trend cycles. Until the mid 20th century, there were four fashion cycles in a year – one for each of the seasons. Now it’s estimated that fast fashion brands engage in around 52 mini-cycles a year – or one every week. Fast fashion contributes to a consumerist cycle of constantly wanting more, and since the trend cycles are so fast, there’s no need for companies to prioritise sustainability and longevity, because the clothes will inevitably be thrown out before they start to deteriorate, in favour of new, on-trend clothes.

So what can we do?

Firstly, learn to identify fast fashion brands:

• Lots of different styles, many based on current trends
• Extremely short turnaround time between when a trend is seen on social media/the catwalk and when a store starts stocking it
• Offshore manufacturing
• Limited stock – in order to encourage quick purchasing
• Cheap, low-quality materials

Secondly, don’t buy into the culture of constant trend following. Invest in good quality pieces that will last longer. Even avoiding fast fashion half of the time is better than nothing. We all have individual consumer power, so we must do our best to stop buying fast fashion and pressure companies to stop engaging in unsustainable and unethical practices. Small changes make big differences.

For more information check out:

• The True Cost  
• The Ugly Truth Of Fast Fashion – Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj on Netflix