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The development of fast fashion has changed the clothing industry rapidly over time. The term fast fashion refers to the way retailers produce new items for their stores more quickly than ever before, the production time for designing, making and producing these clothes on such a large scale has decreased from what used to be a six month job to a turnaround in a matter of weeks. Companies like Zara and H&M are some of the first retailers to use fast fashion and because of that are some of the biggest fast fashion retailers in the world with a consumer base buying from them as much as every two weeks. Because of the fast turnaround in production, fast fashion is known to have ethical problems and the retailers tend to find it difficult to be sustainable in the industry. From child labour to exploiting workers, fast fashion certainly has some issues regarding ethics. Comparing the way in which garments are constructed for fast fashion retailers to high fashion more expensive clothing can explain why the clothes we buy from shops like Zara and H&M are in fact so cheap. Very expensive items made in Parisian Atelier are expensive because the expert labour has been properly paid.
In terms of sustainability within the fast fashion sector of the fashion industry, fashions footprint is growing and getting worse. According to Lucy Siegle, we are now consuming more fiber and more clothes than ever before – in the UK were up to around fifty five kilograms of textiles per man, woman, child and possibly pet. This brings up worries such as water being wasted and the oil and land needed to produce clothing on such a large scale and so often. Things need to change, either the way the industry is run or the minds of the consumers as to how much the really need to purchase. Wearing vintage, shopping in thrift stores and up cycling clothes is becoming more and more on trend with the likes of ASOS and Urban Outfitters joining in on the ethical trend. Even H&M have started a campaign for customers to donate unwanted clothes which will then be recycled into the fibers for new garments. These ideas are not only reducing the production of new garments but also reducing the waste of clothing already purchased.