Fast fashion is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. Fast fashion has negative effects on multiple different aspects including environmentally, economically, and socially. The future of fast fashion can and will be devastating for the world and these three listed factors. Let’s take a look at the history of fashion throughout the years. In the early 1900s, the average American family spent 14% of their annual income on clothing. By 1930, the average middle class woman owned a total of nine outfits in her wardrobe. Finally, in 2020, a study was conducted that the average american woman owned about 103 articles of clothing and only 10% of the wardrobe is wearable. Fast fashion has been a contributing factor to the increased supply and demand of clothing products.
Fast fashion is designed to overwhelm consumers by constantly filling stores with products of similar design, or products with the same design and different variations of colors. Buyers see a product they like and are immediately sucked into getting five more in the other color designs. These clothing products are purchased this easily due to the incredibly cheap prices they are sold at. The difference between fast fashion and high fashion is that high fashion like Chanel and Louis Vuitton only have two seasons per year while fast fashion like Forever 21, H&M, Shein, and Zara have multiple “microseasons.” A major factor that influences consumer demand is social media. Fashion companies implement social media in their marketing strategies and as a result, people around the world order these products on high demand.
There are major tolls on the environment that comes with fast fashion. Fast fashion is responsible for 10% of Earth’s emissions. As a comparison to put this statistic into perspective, all transportation around the world is responsible for only 5% of CO2 emissions. Not only does fast fashion release incredible amounts of emissions into the atmosphere, but it also plays a role in the degradation of land and scarcity of water. Many of these products are being made from cotton. Believe it or not, the production of cotton has a huge toll on the environment. It is labor intensive, uses high amounts of water, and also degrades the soil because of all the pesticides and fertilizers used. Because of all the dyes and chemicals put on the clothing to either reduce shrinkage or reduce the degradation of color on the product. While applying these chemicals, the spillage turns into runoff and ultimately ends up in rivers, lakes, and oceans. This water pollution is very toxic to the aquatic environment and aquatic life.
Although fast fashion is extremely prevalent in our world today and it is fairly easy to spend your money on these cheap clothing brands, it is important to consider the many negative effects of these purchases.
