In 2019 and 2020, the Trend Summits, a fashion event aimed to raise awareness on sustainability and responsible practices, organized fashion events in Los Angeles, Madrid, and Berlin to showcase sustainable fashion by featuring items that promote social responsibility within the textile industry and modern-day consumerism. Under the principles of sustainable fashion, companies are urged to apply more ethical standards in designing, producing, and marketing fabrics, while consumers are similarly pressured to purchase garments from sustainable brands and to think twice before discarding their clothes. Coupled with the growing awareness in environmental damages caused by fast fashion, sustainability is gaining traction as a new standard in the fashion industry.

During the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s, the textile manufacturing market boomed thanks to more efficient production lines and automated machines. These advances were coupled with cheap labor, whereas outsourcing was a key to cutting manufacturing costs. Even today, many popular clothing brands sign contracts with factories in countries such as India, China, Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar, where low hourly wages and poor labor conditions are the standard. Violation of labor rights often leads to protests; for instance, workers at an H&M factory in Myanmar started a violent riot on February 9, 2017.

Fast fashion is a type of clothing production that emphasizes trendiness and affordability. By providing a wide array of choices in colors, style, and designs, retailers appeal to an ever-wider range of consumers. According to Professor Koo Bonkuk (Fashion Design Department, State University of New York (SUNY) Korea Fashion Institute of Technology), this is a case where brands accurately meet the needs of customers who prefer to wear trendy clothes. Add the relatively cheap price into the equation, and many companies have been able to boost sales on the back of this strategy.

The photo above is credited to Tshirt Superstar http://www.tshirtsuperstar.com/

The Creation of Replica

Fashion is deeply rooted in the “big four” fashion capitals – Milan, New York, London, and Paris – all of which greatly influence the fashion industry with their own unique heritage. These cities are most well known for their extravagant fashion weeks, where designers and brands present their most recent collections on the runways. This is where the competition begins; designs are readily stolen from the runways and duplicates that are much more affordable to the average customer are manufactured. Professor Koo explains that fast fashion brands look for the trendy details in designer clothing and add them to their own products in order to release more goods to the market.

The combination of mass production and high demand is what creates “52 micro-seasons,” a system where a new season is pushed out each week, in contrast to the traditional two-season schedule with spring/summer (S/S) and fall/winter (F/W). However, fast fashion is not only about making clothes quickly; rapid consumption and disposal of clothes ultimately feed the unhealthy cycle of fast fashion. Cheaper price tags reduce both financial burden and ethical responsibilities for consumers – when combined with overall lower quality of fabric, buyers are more inclined to purchase large amounts of trendy items and dispose of them later without guilt.

The Downsides of Fast Fashion

The most alarming side effects of fast fashion are mainly associated with environmental damage, which includes excessive usage of water. According to the Water Footprint Network, an organization working on the water crisis, producing bales of cotton requires 2,500 liters of water. To put this into perspective, National Geographic explains that this is enough drinking water for one person for 900 days. In addition, synthetic fibers such as polyester further contaminate the already-damaged ocean. Polyester is essentially plastic, which means it is not biodegradable and leads to the accumulation of pollutants into the ocean.

However, the literal toxicity of fast fashion products hits particularly close to home for consumers; according to Fashinnovation, a global platform connecting business and fashion, perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are found in products manufactured by brands such as H&M, Uniqlo, Mango, Shein, and Zara. Linked to liver toxicity, cancer, and changes in the immune system, PFCs – also known as “forever chemicals” – contaminate the environment permanently as they are non-biodegradable. Another family called phthalates pose danger to male and female reproductive systems, lungs, kidneys, and livers once exposed to the skin, are found in products such as lubricating oil, hair spray, and polyvinyl chloride plastics used in manufacturing medical tubing and garden hoses. Garments are soaked in these chemicals to treat them during the manufacturing process. According to Remake, an American nonprofit organization, when these chemical-laden clothes are used by unwitting consumers, they become exposed to phthalates through skin contact and inhalation.

Realizing the multifaceted impacts of fast fashion, several organizations have taken action to prevent the environment from further deteriorating, particularly water sources. Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Fairtrade International have been working with production areas that recycle effluent water from manufacturing by removing water utilized from finishing operations and educating consumers to reduce water use. Similarly, Fashion Revolution promoted sustainable manufacturing of clothing and hosts public events where experts are invited to educate the public to raise awareness on these topics.

In line with this, Professor Koo mentions that the public has been showing more support for movements against fast fashion, including zero Waste, slow fashion, and minimalism. The main goal of zero waste is to reduce energy and resources consumed in the process of making clothes as close to zero as possible. For instance, “cut and saw” is a specific method used to cut fabric that effectively reduces wasted fabric by changing the pattern arrangement or simplifying the pattern prototype automatically. On the other hand, slow fashion and minimalism encourage a more mindful attitude towards the production and consumption of sustainable clothes. Iconic fashion designer Vivienne Westwood says it best: “Buy less, choose well, make it last.”

Sustainability is not a trend, but a mindset that people should consider and strive to adopt. Both the textile industry and consumers alike must be at the forefront of the battle against fast fashion; the slowing down and refashioning of fast fashion can only become a reality through dedication to change and continuous education.