The Devil wears Zara
Fast fashion isn’t a new concept to many of us, it's been around long enough for us to know that! Fast fashion has often been the punching bag for many social and environmental causes to go up against. But what is it about fast fashion that makes it so bad ???
RIP - Rip Into Pieces
Simply put. Planned obsolescence is when a product, in this case, clothing is made poorly on purpose so that the consumer, us, will have to make repeat purchases. Business wise profitable, consumer wise, not so much.
Planned obsolescence in the fast fashion industry results in flimsy fabric that would disintegrate during a simple wash cycle and low quality thread in the seams that is DESIGNED to tear and rip. And what happens when our clothes become unwearable branded rags? We go buy more.
With clothing that is no longer designed to last, we fall into the trap of over consumption, and with it the “disposable mindset” The average number of times a piece of clothing is worn has dropped 36% in the last 15 years alone. Now the average being 7 to 10 times before being disposed of.
Recycling (scams) schemes
“Don’t worry, fast fashion isn’t bad, see, you can recycle it” Many fast fashion companies such as H&M have developed “recycling” scams, I mean schemes, sorry, schemes to silence their consumers inner morals about buying vast quantities of fast fashion, but have you ever looked into where that “recycling” goes. Like many other recycling schemes. I’m looking at you soft plastics, they don't work. Mainly for a few reasons. The main one being quantity.
There is a grotesque overflow of recycling to be processed and the systems designed to recycle it are so new and underdeveloped to process it. So what happens with the excess? Landfill, burned or shipped off to third world countries to decimate their garment and textile industries. It's not a problem for us. No no, because we can’t see it, it doesn't matter right?
Only 12% of a recycled garment can be used to make a new garment. That is due to the blend of fibres in material, the hardware such as zips and buttons and the labour and manufacturing that it takes to deconstruct and then construct a new garment. Nearly impossible on a mass scale.
TikTok trendsetter
They say that you need three things to survive, water, shelter and food. I would argue that there is a fourth. Hauls. Or at least the depiction of mass over consumption, the hashtag #Hauls has received over 48 BILLION views on TikTok alone. Social media is beyond valuable for brands today, and the influence of content creators to showcase fast fashion brands to the masses is a revolutionary marketing technique.
Within these hauls, content creators showcase vast quantities of fast fashion items in a depiction of over consumption. This not only normalises over consumption, but actively promotes it.
30% of all fast fashion garments are returned.
Out with the old, in with the “New Look”
Looking back to when fashion had seasonal cycles, there were four: fall, winter, spring and summer. But now with the global marketplace, and heavy influence of social media, there are fifty two, one for each week of the year.
The introduction of “Micro trends” fashion has had to dramatically speed up stages of the fashion cycle, from growing the cotton (introduce GMO’s) constructing the garment (utilising questionable labour) and the inevitable disposal of garments (hello landfill)
Three out of five fast fashion garments will end up in landfill within a year.
Like many consumers out there, I have fast fashion garments in my wardrobe. Just because I sew most of my own clothes does not mean that I am immune to the reach of the fast fashion industry.
Before “Ford Wardrobe”, my wardrobe used to be filled with fast fashion, and you know what. I loved it. The colours, the styles, the designs, I loved it all. But the thing that flipped the mental “switch” for me was watching the film “The true cost”.
That film was single handedly responsible for me looking at my wardrobe and tracing back the lineage of my clothing. I no longer enjoyed wearing it, I felt uncomfortable, knowing what I had chosen to spend my money on, I was voting for this business model with my dollars and I didn’t like it.
When I started sewing my own clothes, and created “Ford Wardrobe” , the feeling of pride and joy saying “Thanks I made it” when someone asked where I got what I was wearing from was more about taking a stand for what I loved (sewing) than taking a stand for what I disliked (fast fashion)
And so gradually, my wardrobe morphed into one filled with #memade creations and less of a TopShop clearance rack. And whilst I do sew a lot of my own clothes, I also buy selective items. Sewing my own clothes was a way of growing my creativity and having a hobby that relaxes me (most of the time) But, I don’t sew everything, sportswear, jeans, underwear are just a few of the clothing items I don't sew due to their intricacy, hardware and machinery requirement. In this circumstance, I turn to some of my favourite sustainable fashion brands and choose to shop there first. But I will admit, I do still have fast fashion items in my wardrobe, it is inevitable.
The biggest take-away from this is, making an informed choice, if you need to purchase an item of clothing quickly and cheaply, yes, fast fashion is the way to go. But having a bit of background information like the stats listed above might make you second guess the frequency and the extent you purchase at.
Talk soon, Annie xx