One Girl’s Slow Journey Towards Sustainability (and how marketing is VERY important)
(haha get it slow… as in slow fashion? I crack myself up)
‘Fast fashion’: inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends (Oxford, n.d.).
In the past, I never really grasped what the term meant, and didn’t have a clue about what it meant outside of “ooh, cheap andcute? What a steal!”. From the ages of fifteen to seventeen, when I was first coming into my own and finding my own style, fast fashion wasn’t just the easiest option for me to find cute clothes, it was the only one I considered.
I used to shop on Carousell- until I was seventeen, I barely ever stepped into physical stores because I thought it would be too expensive to buy things full price, especially when you could find similar pieces online for only a few dollars. When I started going to poly, I would go to Cotton On and TEMT with my friends and on occasion, buy something (clearly that Carousell mindset carried over just a littlebit).
When I started illogicalextreme, though, it quickly became clear that my old practices weren’t going to cut it- around the same time, I saw the words ‘thrifting’, ‘sustainability’ and ‘slow fashion’ being brought up a lot- so I did my research. And what I saw horrified me.
(I’ll run over some of the most horrifying things here, and list my citations and some noteworthy articles on the last page, as well as link some videos that helped me.)
Every second, approximately one garbage truck worth of clothes is burned or dumped (World Resource Institute, 2019).Over one thousand, one hundred garment workers died in 2013 in the Rana Plaza factory collapse with thousands injured- many garment factories in Bangladesh were not even made to house clothes. After the disaster, wages for the workers rose- to a measly $68 US dollars a month(Racked, 2018). Five hundred thousand tonnes of microfibres are released into oceans annually- mainly plastics that won’t break down- and the fashion industry is the second greatest consumer of water worldwide, and responsible for 20% of all water pollution (Business Insider, 2019).
That’s all from three articles. I read over thirty different articles denoting other, equally horrific, facts just researching for this essay. So, what does this mean?
To me, these all come from one thing: the rate at which clothing is produced, and the quality of said clothing.
The reason pollution rates, emission rates and water usage have accelerated in the fashion industry isn’t just because there are more factories and more workers now; it’s also due to the rate at which they’re being produced. ‘The average person buys 60 percent more items of clothing every year and keeps them for about half as long as 15 years ago, generating a huge amount of waste’ (Sustainable Businesses, 2019). This is the result of trends ebbing and flowing faster than ever- companies are pumping out clothes at the highest rate in history to supply the demand and cash in on as many trends as they can. The fashion industry used to have two major seasons to showcase new designs, but some fast fashion brands have jacked it up to as much as fifty-two. That’s every week!
When I put it like that, I think it suddenly becomes very easy to see how unsustainable a cycle like this is- especially when you bring the life expectancy of those pieces back into the equation. I’m not even using the word ‘unsustainable’ here in reference to the sustainability movement, I’m just talking about how this isn’t feasible. Having to design new pieces and have them go into production instantaneously, pumping out millions of units of different pieces every week, having them shipped into stores worldwide… how much care do you think can be afforded in any of the steps in that vicious process? Exactly.
So, let’s come back to me for a second (narcissistic, I know). When I stopped reeling in horror over the facts and my personal epiphany about my hand in killing the planet, what did I change?
Firstly, I did my research on individual brands labelled under fast fashion. I looked at their business practices to see how they matched up with… basic human decency… and got about what I expected: H&M, Stradivarius and Fashion Nova all pay their workers poorly, in addition to Topshop, Victoria’s Secret, Forever 21 and Stradivarius, once again, having had cases made against them for treating their workers poorly (Minimalism Made Simple, n.d.).
So, after I had sufficiently grown a distaste for those brands (and like fifteen more), I looked to alternatives. I started thrifting more- Salvation Army (also known as Praisehaven), Something Old Something New, SSVP, New2U- they were all places I had already been, but now I started looking at them as less of places to save money, and more of places that I could patronise with said money. Not only do the people running thrift shops tend to curate the pieces donated to them, but a good number of them run charities as well. Additionally (especially with better-known thrift shops like Salvation Army and Refash), brands sometimes drop off unsold merchandise to be sold at lower prices- I’ve found some real hidden gems for way cheaper just by going to Salvation Army once a month or so to browse.
I also started reworking my own clothes! I found that the waistlines and hems of pants are easiest to alter for me, so I usually stick to that; but don’t underestimate how altering a piece or straight up reworking it, sewing little flowers on the collar- these all make a surprisingly drastic change to not only how the clothes look, but also how you feel about them (at least for me). Plus, it automatically makes it a little different from the clothes being sold in stores, and quite literally tailored better for you- all it takes is a little effort and getting over that learning curve.
Lastly, I wrote down some rules for myself- these are the standards that I hold myself to, but everyone and their standards are different.
1. I set a limit on how many fast fashion pieces I would buy annually, be it preloved from Carousell/Instagram or brand new. I made a ‘fast fashion hit list’ with ten empty slots, and I won’t allow myself to exceed ten- hence I automatically become more discerning in pieces I’m interested in, and inadvertently cut down on shopping overall.
2. I established what I am and am not okay with- I concluded that I’ll try as hard as possible to not shop in stores, but if a piece is preloved on Carousell and would go to waste otherwise, I would be more lenient.
3. I only bought pieces I was sure had a place in my wardrobeand that I could style in outfits I knew I would wear. For me, that meant they couldn’t be too warm, otherwise my heat-sensitive ass would automatically want to wear it less.
In addition to all that, I also took a long, hard look at my wardrobe. What could I donate? What pieces did I wear most often- and why? I’ll list my tips and tricks on the last page.
Even after all that, I have to admit it’s tough. I still get caught off guard by trendy pieces in malls, and my eyes still stray to preorders on Carousell. I just admitted I still buy fast fashion, but that’s right now- I’m hoping I can cut that ‘hit list’ down every year until I’m sure that I can live without it, or come as close as I can. Two steps forward, one step back is still one step forward, and hopefully on my journey I can encourage a couple people to start on theirs.
I will say one thing: once I learned about how wasteful the industry has become, and especially what people will do to save a few dollars in the production process, I very quickly became disillusioned with fast fashion- and I think many other people felt similarly to me when they went through the same learning journey as I did.
Essentially, all it took for me to do a 180 on fast fashion was one day’s research and some encouragement from my peers on Instagram. Which brings me to my sub-point:
FAST FASHION MARKETING IS A KILLER (LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY)
When I say it’s a literal killer, I mean people are dying for this. Factory fires continue to injure and kill workers. Sea life is being choked to death by the billions of tonnes- yes, billions- in the oceans. The insane amount of water being used to process these materials at this unsustainable rate has dried up entire great lakes and cut off water supplies in third world countries- and the water that goes into production can be released back into the world, filled with dyes and microplastics.
But when I say it’s a figurative killer, I mean it on a less macro, more personal level. Cheap clothes combined with impulse buying kills your wallet- and your wardrobe. A cheap white t-shirt will look cute for all of four wears, and the fourth time out of the wash it’s closer to mesh than cotton. This isn’t just because they’re skimping on production costs- it can also be to ensure that you keep buying from that brand when your clothes fall apart or start looking less flattering- after all, if you’ve bought from them once and liked the product (no matter for how long a time period) you’re more inclined to go back. The price is good, the clothes are cute- what’s not to like?
That line right there is where they get you. Because there are so many short-term pros to buying fast fashion, it becomes so much easier for the cons to not even cross your mind. We’re all guilty of this- an attractive price can blind you to the fact that it’ll become more expensive than paying a higher upfront cost in the long run.
Inherently, I don’t think it’s bad for you to shop fast fashion. You can’t blame consumers for wanting new clothes when the companies you see most often in malls have spent millions of dollars on marketing to convince billions of people of why they’re the best option to look cute, presentable, good, on trend.
Nor do I think anyone can be faulted for wanting to save a dollar here or there- in theory it’s easy to save for a sustainably made hundred dollar dress by not buying five pieces for twenty dollars apiece- but when trends ebb and flow and you’re seeing cute clothes on Instagram, on the train, in every mall, it becomes much harder to stick to your guns. And at the end of the day, it’s natural to feel ‘safer’ with many different pieces to fall back on than one piece that’s beautiful, but that’s still only one piece of clothing that might not be suitable for every occasion.
However, change takes time, effort and sometimes sacrifice. Maybe it doesn’t sound viable to completely cut fast fashion out your life- but maybe avoid Cotton On the next time you’re in the mall, or unfollow Fashion Nova on Instagram! Baby steps.
At the end of the day, nobody can be 100% ethical with their purchases. Even sustainable companies have their shortcomings. I only hope that what I’ve written here helps provide a new perspective on how our purchases matter, and hopefully (my fingers, toes, eyes and tongue are crossed on this) you’ll do your own research! And come to your own conclusions. I can’t tell you what to think, but I can give you something to think about.
Okay, I’ve gone on long enough.
TL;DR:
- Fast fashion is cute but deadly
- Also, it dies on you in months
- There’s a reason you’re buying and discarding clothes frequently
- There are also ways to change those habits!
- There are grey areas and nuances in everything, but there’s always something you can do to help the situation just a little bit.
Thank you so much for reading this (unfortunately long-winded) essay, and I hope somewhere in the mess, I helped a little bit. I would love to hear your feedback in the comments here, on the post, on Tumblr, in my DMs- and I hope we can all walk the path to sustainability together.
Love,
Alicia (@illogicalextreme)
