Fast fashion is new and trendy clothing that is sold at a low price and designed to be worn only a few times. Fast fashion allows consumers to see clothes worn on runways and red carpets and buy them online at lightning speed. We have added 6,000 new styles to the site, giving consumers an endless stream of new items to shop. Consumers can now shop for clothing faster, cheaper and more conveniently than ever before. I was. So what’s the problem?
Behind the flashy, brightly colored clothes you’ll find on the sites of Zara, Forever 21, H&M, and Shein, there’s a much darker and uglier story. Fast fashion poses a significant threat to the environment and the workforce it employs.
Clothing manufacturing accounts for 2-8% of our annual greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than all international flights and shipping combined. Additionally, communal laundering of clothing containing synthetic materials accounts for 35% of all marine microplastics and, industry-wide, 20% of all industrial wastewater. The cotton industry heavily uses and pollutes pesticides, affecting people, groundwater and biodiversity. 150 million trees are cut down each year for rayon and viscose. And each year, landfills and incinerators fill up with his 40 million tons of discarded clothing.
Child labor, low wages and unsafe working conditions are rampant in the clothing factories employed by the fast fashion giants. In April 2013 in Bangladesh, 1,132 people died and more than 2,500 were injured when buildings containing five garment factories collapsed. Garment workers continue to face life-threatening working conditions with wages as low as $3.43 per day.
The negative impact fast fashion has on the environment and people is a well-known fact that cannot be ignored. Nevertheless, according to a recent report, the global fast fashion market will grow from $91.23 billion in 2021 to $99.23 billion in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of He is estimated to be 8.8%.
So why does the industry continue to grow at such an astonishing rate? What drives the mass consumption of clothing? Price and convenience alone? Or is it due to the shift to a new culture of consumer spending?
fast fashion and social media
“Buying a dress today is like buying a Big Mac.
– Christina Dean, Redress Founder and CEO
Social media has had a huge impact on the popularity of fast fashion. Many brands use social media to market their products. With thousands of ads on social media, brands reach consumers anytime, anywhere, at any time of the day or night. Exposure to fast fashion marketing is inevitable.
Social media influencers play an important role. Research shows that there is a positive correlation between the number of influencers consumers follow and how often they buy clothes. When an influencer posts new clothes with the brand tagged in the post, consumers are compelled to buy the new clothes as well.
A culture of consumerism is clearly reflected in social media. Instagram launched the Shop tab in 2020 to match consumer profiles and Home his feeds, essentially turning Instagram into a pseudo-online his shop. Other social media platforms are following suit. Snapchat recently added a feature called Screenshop. This feature allows you to scan clothes and buy them online.
Social media is designed to introduce ourselves, and users want to share details about their lives (like what they’re wearing) with their followers. A problem arises when a user fears seeing her in the same outfit twice. A survey conducted in 2017 found that 41% of women between the ages of 18 and 25 felt pressured not to wear the same clothes twice when going out. This fear of repeating #outfitoftheday drives consumers to buy more and more clothing.
When interviewed by The New York Times, 16-year-old Mia Grantham said she didn’t want to be seen wearing clothes more than once. [she] if you don’t have style [she] I wore the same thing over and over again. ”If a consumer plans to wear clothes that he will only wear once or twice, it is natural that he wants to buy the cheapest possible item.
Especially popular on social media are fashion “carrying” videos posted by social media influencers. They make a living by creating content that showcases clothing worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Carriers can partner with brands and get paid a commission on the sales they generate. Influencers give discount codes to their fans. These are tracked and earn commissions.
Carriers gravitate towards specific sites like Instagram and TikTok, where they can expect high engagement with the public. Popular carriers are honest, trustworthy, and likable. Unfortunately, they encourage overconsumption by introducing low-priced fast fashion brands.
Fashion courier Tricia Palanqui started out posting shopping mall clothing on YouTube at age 15, but switched to fast fashion hauling because it got the most views. She found clothes cheap and plentiful, even though the products were of low quality. That means she can make more hauling videos and get more views.
fast fashion and the brain
Shopping is a rewarding form of pastime for many, and the speed and low cost with which new styles are created only adds to the never-ending pastime of buying fast fashion. , half of men and 70% of women consider shopping to be a form of pastime.
Shopping is addictive. In 2007, a team of researchers from Stanford University, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon University conducted a study of subjects’ brains when deciding whether to buy a particular item of clothing. Researchers found that when subjects came across clothing they wanted to buy, the pleasure center of the brain was activated. was positively correlated with
Consumers get the most pleasure from the brain when they can get clothes at a lower price. It turns out that there is also joy in getting a bargain.” Many retailers even artificially raise their prices so that they can lower them later.
With an endless stream of new items to see and want, the fast fashion industry feeds this loop in the brain, creating something akin to an addiction. Buying makes you feel better. Also, buying fast fashion allows you to buy larger quantities more often.
Fear as a shopping catalyst
“The need to avoid loss, or what is called FOMO (fear of missing out), combined with a deep-seated appetite for novelty, triggers an adrenaline rush that contributes to the thrill of the shopping experience. Dopamine and Adrenaline Hits creates reward-seeking loops, reaching for debit cards over and over again.”
– Amy DeClark, Harper’s Bazaar
Fashion simultaneously expresses aspirations and fears. With fashion life cycles ever shorter and microtrends prevalent, many young consumers are afraid of missing out on the next best thing. There is a concern that if consumers don’t immediately buy what they like at fast fashion stores, it will disappear quickly. In fact, consumers of fast fashion brands such as Zara, on average, visit her store once every three weeks, while the average shopper visits the store about four times a year.
price and convenience
“We all know that the low prices in fast fashion are intentional. So if it’s poorly made or wears out too quickly, it’s cheap and I don’t really care. , you’re more likely to buy one, even if you’ve already bought something similar, because it’s only $25. Why not?!”
– Emma Edwards, Broke Generation
Fast fashion is good at persuading consumers that it is not only convenient but also harmless. and consumers don’t have to think about who made their clothes and where they go when they’re no longer needed. These smooth transactions contribute to consumers’ perception that clothing itself is temporary.
change to the future
“We need quality not only in the products we buy, but also in the lives of those who make them.”
– Orsola de Castroa pioneer and leader in sustainable fashion
The new culture of consumerism is a culture of excessive consumption of clothing, which is extremely harmful to the environment and all living things. I have.
The key difference between fashion and style is quality. Fast fashion items may be new and exciting, and the price tag too high to refuse, but consumers ultimately choose to buy more often than sleeker, better products that outlast trends. You end up spending a lot of money on low-quality items that need to be replaced. It makes me feel better.
To learn more about sustainable fashion, test your knowledge, and see what you can do to tackle fast fashion, visit EARTHDAY.ORG’s Fashion for the Planet site. When it comes to fighting for the environment, our clothing workers, and our collective future, it’s time for consumers to take matters into their own hands.
In the meantime, here are some shopping tips:
- Evaluate if you really love the clothes and if you can put them to good use
- Ask if the item works with others you own
- Buy only what you really need and avoid impulse purchases
- Check the quality of your clothes. If it looks poorly made, it can quickly fall apart and be thrown away, wasting time, money and the planet’s resources.
- Make sure the item fits and avoid returns that cost more energy, time and the planet
- Don’t shop because “trends” are telling you. Trends change every week.What you already have will instantly return to its original style
- Buy what you know will look good on you. Not all trends are for everyone. Also, “classic” styles can look much better than “trend” styles.
