e Breeze

from FASHION, page 27

Trends

Fast fashion companies also use trends to attract customers. According to UQ, fast fashion clothes aren’t only cheaply made and priced but also “copy the latest catwalk styles and get pumped quickly through the stores in order to maximize on current trends.”

When clothing companies are on the pulse, buyers can’t help but indulge. If there’s a new style, they want to be a part of it. As Collective Fashion Justice said, “there used to be four fashion seasons. Today, there are 52 micro-seasons.”

By playing into a buyer’s desire to be on trend, fast fashion brands promote mass consumption; consumers must consume at the same rate the producer is producing. This isn’t a healthy cycle for either party and only results in more waste and harm to the environment.

SHEIN is the perfect example of this. Time Magazine cited an investigation that stated SHEIN added “anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 individual styles to its app each day between July and December of 2021.”

Time also credited SHEIN’s social media presence to its success: it reached its young, susceptible audience through social media advertisement and use influencers to promote their clothing. Time describes this strategy as “widely successful” — contributing to SHEIN being “the world’s most popular fashion brand in 2022.”

Clothing lifespan

Cost, quality and trends combine to create another issue: These clothes ensure customers will come back for more.

If clothes don’t last long because they aren’t made of quality materials and/ or the clothes go out of style, consumers will be looking to buy again. Companies recognize these cycles and use them to their advantage.

Collective Fashion Justice cited this strategic move as “planned obsolescence” — clothes that are “designed to wear out or become unfashionable.”

This just adds to the number of ways that these brands encourage people to buy clothes frequently and in bulk.

What next?

Forbes said Generation Z is concerned about climate change and wanted to take action. However, it’s also the people keeping the fast fashion industry booming. Forbes cited a report that claims one in three Gen Z consumers said they “feel addicted to fast fashion.”

Companies use low costs, trends and short closet life to keep customers coming back. These are unsustainable, yet addicting, practices. After all, not many people want to pay for expensive clothes, dress “out of style” or wear the same clothes for an extended period of time.

So, what will break the cycle? Either fast fashion brands have to dissipate or the current culture of fashion has to. If one doesn’t give, we’ll be stuck in an endless loop of worker and environmental abuse.

CONTACT Mary Mabry at mabrymm@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on Instagram and Twitter @Breeze_Opinion.