What is the true cost of fast fashion?
Never before have we been able to buy our clothes more inexpensively than we can today and because of this, the fashion industry has become the second most polluting factor to our world – which sucks. The fact that fashion changes within a blink of an eye don't help our ‘throw away’ attitude, nor does the rise of social media fame. The consumers of today are oblivious to the horrifying statistics of fast fashion and I honestly think if people knew what damage they were doing, things would start to change rapidly.
 Saving money is on everyone’s minds – including those at the top of the fashion food chain. Producing clothes miles and miles away in third world countries, paying less than any kind of minimum wage and with no working rights for women, children and, even men, is how they save their pennies for themselves -  how selfish. Countries like China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Romania and Sri Lanka are at the top of their game in terms of skills and craftsmanship, producing some of those most intricate and well-made garments around. These are the people that get ZERO credit for their work and are totally forgotten about throughout the whole purchasing experience.
 The worst part of all this is that these incredibly talented people don’t even get paid enough to live!!! What even is that, COME ON! Children are used for their tiny hands and bodies, which can be incredibly dangerous, as well as being paid a fraction of what men get paid. Women often take their infant children to work due to the non-existent childcare on offer. The majority of female workers don’t even get to keep the money they earn; it goes straight into the pockets of their male superiors who don’t get much more than the women anyways. IS THIS A JOKE!!!!
 Of course, the environment is always the one thing that suffers the consequences of our behavior. Chemicals find their way into our water systems, fossil fuels, air pollution, and landfills are the prices our world pays for our high pace demands and lifestyles. A huge 2 million tons of textiles are thrown away each year, which means it has become the fastest growing WASTE product!!
 All I can say is thank god for ethical fashion brands – yes they do exist and more brands need to convert to this way of life, period. Paying their employees a fair living wage, providing them with safe and secure working conditions and training them within specific fields are just a few ways ethical brands support the fair trade system. If more people knew what sacrifices were being made just so they can get a one hit wonder for a night out, then I think lots more people would think before buying into fast fashion.
 The world needs to sit up and listen. We treat our world as if it’s never going to cease to exist as if it’s indestructible – immortal. One day it won’t be able to take anymore and that’ll be the day when people start listening when it’s too late.
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