Article by Erin Atluri

Is Fast Fashion Ethical?

The unknown cost of fast fashion

Look inside your wardrobe: which brands do you see? H&M, Zara, Forever 21, GAP, Topshop, all common brands that everybody knows. All of these clothes are taken for granted, many people don’t think past these chain stores. These brands are all known for their cheap and never-ending supply of clothes. They spew out endless different styles of clothes changing their whole inventory in weeks. While these clothes may be cheap, they have a surprisingly large amount of consequences that come with them.

Many of these clothes have horrible quality and start fraying, tearing, and becoming washed out in months. To replace these cheap clothes, people often go back to the same stores in a matter of months to continue the cycle of buying. There are also many ethical issues involved with the productions of these clothes. Many of these companies outsource labor to countries with looser labor laws allowing for cheaper and more dangerous labor. Even though there are more sustainable, ethical, and higher quality clothing out there, many people are simply unaware of these alternatives and take their clothes for granted, causing them to choose the fast fashion alternative.

“The fashion industry is one of the biggest in the world, accounting for 2% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Unfor“A single synthetic gartunately, it’s also now one ment can generate more of the biggest polluters in the world—second only to than 1900 micro plastic fioil.” This quote may surbres in one washing maprise you since the word pollution often brings up chine cycle.” words like trash, oil, gaso-

line, and maybe even cows. How could clothes possibly contribute to pollution? Well, people are wearing way more clothes than they have ever in history before. Many of these clothes come from fast fashion brands that “75 million people mass produce clothes with materiare making our clothes al like polyester which are made of plastic created from oil. Sewn poortoday. 80% is made by ly in an effort to put quantity over women who are only 18 quality, these clothes wear and tear a lot faster than their cotton coun– 24 years old.” terparts. Many fast fashion brands also have micro seasons causing them to replace whole inventories weekly and simply discarding old clothing instead of donating them and creating huge amounts of waste. Some high end brands like Burberry also used to be a part of this and would simply burn all old clothes in an effort to keep their clothes expensive and high end, but have recently stopped and apologized. The cheap quality of the clothing causes people to discard them at an alarming rate, “we now send 85% of the textiles we buy to landfill every year.” Once they throw their clothes away they go back to fast fashion stores to replace them only furthering the cycle. Polyester also holds another threat to the environment with microplastics. When clothes created with polyester are washed, they release microplastics into the ocean. These microplastics work they’re way up the food chain back to us not only harming the ocean life, but also the people who consume it. Even though cotton may help the quality of the clothing, there is still a huge environmental waste that it entails. Most cotton used in the fashion industry is non organic.

To grow, it uses pesticides and causes water pollution. Usually grown in third world countries, inorganic cotton can be detrimental during droughts and often harms the aquatic life near it.

Not only is fast fashion detrimental to the environment, it is also harmful for the people who work in the industry. Almost all fast fashion companies outsource their labor to third world countries like China and India. Most of these women make around 3 dollars a day laboring away for more than 12 hours in sweatshops to support their livelihood. By exploiting these people, fashion company CEO’s are able to make millions or even billions of dollars each year. Many of these women are also uneducated and aren’t able to afford an education. Many of these sweatshops also employ children, locking them

into a low paying and borderline abusive environment just so they can help their families make ends meet. Many of these factories have horrible working conditions which can cause it’s employees, “to suffer from lung disease, cancer and reproductive issues.” The low pay only continues the cycle of poverty for its workers who are unable to afford education let alone their own necessities. In 2013, the Rana Plaza Factory collapsed, killing 1134 people who were working inside of it. It also injured over 2,500 people leaving many unable to work or even function anywhere near the level of a normal human being.

Many people knew of the fault line like crack in the building, but were forced to come to work if they wanted to be paid at the end of the month. Stuck in rubble for over 16 hours, they were left with crushed limbs, hands, spines, and forced to live in poverty without proper care. After the incident almost nobody was given compensation by either the government or the company. In total only 3 people out of the thousands injured and dead were given compensation which they had to relentlessly fight for. Due to this incident many companies were forced to fix up their sweatshops, rebuilding fire exits and having hazards removed, but once again, these buildings renovations are starting to expire, not meeting up to the safety standards put in place, with CEOs that have no interest in fixing them. Even worse, the old union that helped get these sweatshops renovated has disbanded due to heavy pressure by the anti union companies. This collapse was just like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company that burned down in 1911 during the industrial revolution.

Locked in by faulty fire exits, around 200 workers were burned to death. This also prompted new laws to be put into place, but those laws were not upheld very well by any factory owners. This only shows how even though it has been more than a hundred years, conditions in sweatshops haven’t improved at all. Fast fashion is not only harmful to the environment, but also abuses and takes advantage of employees creating these clothes.

“The best way to be sustainable when shopping for clothes is just buying what you need instead of buying everything you think is cute or because it is cheap.” Just like how my interviewee, May Jiang, has stated, the main

problem caused by fast fashion is simply the over consumption of clothes.

People keep buying clothes that they only wear once or twice and discard it afterwards creating huge piles of trash in landfills. Many people do this due to micro trends and feel like they need to keep up with what’s new, but it’s simply unnecessary and a waste of money and materials. “Globally, we now consume about 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year—400% more than we were consuming just two decades ago.” There is obviously not a necessity for people to consume this large amount of clothing. Simply by buying only what you need, we can all significantly reduce the amount of textile waste we are producing. This will not only help free up landfills, but will also lower the amount of carbon emissions and water waste the textile industry creates. Other alternatives are thrift shopping and donating which can extend the life of your old clothing. Also buying higher quality clothing might cost more initially, but will last much longer than a shirt from H&M. Companies like Patagonia have recycling programs where old clothes can be returned, patched up, and sold for much cheaper than before. These clothes also last a very long time and are super durable. But, beware of recycling initiatives in fast fashion companies like H&M. They have a program where people can donate old clothes and get cashback for more H&M clothes which keeps the money in the brand and keeps you coming back. The key to being sustainable is simply being aware of what you are buying and making sure to only buy clothes that you need.

About The Author

Erin Atluri is a highschool student that attends Freestyle Academy. She choose to attend this school due to her love of Ghibli Films.

At this school she has learned a lot about animations; from walk cycles to set designs. She enjoys playing video games and eating food. In the future she wants to make 3D character models and backgrounds for video games.