From bombers to crop tops and cool jeans, fashion trends are continuing to make their way into our lives. And this is all a result of social media and its influencers.
The Negative Effects of Fast Fashion and Price We All Pay
There’s a huge business opportunity for tons of brands all over the world when it comes down to fast fashion.
Being trendy in this era has never been easier than it currently is. Some of the low-budget clients can get new additions from online retailers at pretty much the cost of a latte.
But this doesn’t come at no cost – especially to the environment.
Sustainable and ethical fashion is becoming popular by the day even in the midst of all the harm emanating from the fashion industry.
The Impact of Fast Fashion
Fast fashion represents low-quality clothing that is produced on a large scale by workers paid incredibly low salaries.
This is all in an effort to enable retailers to sell the clothes at unbeatable prices.
Many of these clothes come from cotton. And while cotton is natural and people assume it is eco-friendly, the reality is quite different.
This is because the production of cotton depends on the heavy use of pesticides.
Did you know that 11% of the world’s pesticides and 24% of the world’s insecticides are used to grow cotton? In addition, cotton requires a lot of water.
For just one kilogram of cotton, producers use just about 7,000 to 29,000 liters of water. Isn’t this a heavy price to pay for the environment?
It is also intensive for the communities living near the cotton production areas.
What Is Driving Fast Fashion?
Mainly, the low prices account for the huge interest in fast fashion. Who doesn’t want to look great for a fraction of the original pricing of high-end clothes?
After all, its aim is to replicate the high fashion and ensure that as many people as possible can afford it.
It not only involves the use of cotton but also nylon and polyester. The emergence of fast fashion, therefore, has led to the increase in wastewater by up to 20%.
As much as it has helped people save some money, it has affected the environment in a great way.
The main purpose of fast fashion is to produce cost-efficient products that can respond effectively to the fast-changing tastes and preferences of consumers.
And the aim is to achieve this as quickly as possible so that the customers don’t change their minds.
Therefore, the main driving force for fast fashion is the price and then the demand by consumers.
Retailers have understood the target market precisely, and they know what people would want most.
They would want a high fashion attire but a low tier pricing that’s pretty much not possible for high-end clothing.
The fast-fashion participants try as much as they can to reduce the time that it takes for each garment to become ready for the customers. This, in turn, keeps the industry booming constantly.
Can Fast Fashion be Recycled?
As we’ve told you earlier, fast fashion is particularly responsible for almost 20% of the wastewater in the world.
In addition, it causes just about 10% of global gas emissions. Just imagine the fact that a single shirt may need about 2,000 liters of water to make.
Most of the fast-fashion clothing comes from non-biodegradable synthetic materials. This means that you cannot recycle them easily.
In essence, most of these pieces of clothes just end up in landfills. It is estimated that the textile industry takes up about 5% of the entire space in landfills.
The fast-fashion industries lead to the emissions of pesticides and dyes, plus a host of greenhouse gases that affect the environment.
A whopping 10% of the greenhouse gases that affect our environment emanate from the clothing industry – with fast fashion being the biggest contributor.
But the colossal demand for this fashion continues to convince the decisions in this sector.
And as this is the case, we will continue to witness the continuous release of these pollutants to the environment.
Fast fashion is leading to a mountain of clothing going to waste each year due to the release of new trends all the time.
Social Impacts
Low wages and poor working conditions are the two main social impacts of fast fashion.
This new era of clothing has made it easier for people to access very costly and expensive fashion at a fraction of the price.
But all this at what cost? Is it worth it at the cost of all the workers and people around communities?
How Businesses Are Responding
As fast fashion continues to take a toll on almost everything. Many companies and businesses are not turning a blind eye to what’s happening.
Businesses are now realizing this and creating sustainable alternatives to items that would traditionally take a toll on the environment.
Such as offering ethical engagement rings over mined diamonds to the ever-growing wedding industry.
Other businesses have positioned themselves to build the sustainability factor into their core business models, such as the social business shoe giant, Toms Shoes, which donates a pair of shoes for every sale they make.
Their unique social business model attracted a cult-like following to their brand, and essentially kicked started the social entrepreneurship trend, where businesses realized building a great business doesn’t have to come at the cost of others.
The gradual shift towards a suitable business model is more evident in industries such as hospitality, where cafes and restaurants have replaced their plastic packaging, spoons, and forks with biodegradable wooden alternatives.
What Can Consumers Do?
Now is the time to do what’s right as a consumer. It is the time to think about the environment and the social welfare of workers.
It’s pretty obvious that you can make a sound decision once you focus on these factors carefully.
As consumers, we have the choice to support sustainable businesses and buy different products.
The decline of fashion giants Zara and H&M over the past few years has been the result of higher consumer awareness of the social impact fast fashion and low-quality products have caused.
More than ever, no longer are consumers faced with the choice of choosing between an inferior yet sustainable product, or the traditional one-time use product.
Final Thoughts
The parting shot is to do the right thing as a consumer and as a business person. This world is for us all and we need to preserve it by all means.
Both businesses and consumers have the ability the choose which direction they want to move in and choose which types of products they want to create or acquire.
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