Why I Hate Fast Fashion

Fast Fash⋅ion

noun

inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends.

"the high-street leader when it comes to fast fashion"

In more simple words, fast fashion is cheap, trendy clothes that are going in and out of style every week, sometimes everyday. The idea of fast fashion is to keep up with the expensive, high fashion, rapidly changing trends, but at a very low cost. Just like the high fashion industry, fast fashion is getting new trends every week, causing the clothes we just bought last month seem old, outdated, and unfashionable. Fast fashion uses sweatshops paying less than half of what the living standard is per month. It uses child labor and slave labor. It doesn’t offer a healthy and safe working environment and forces its “employees” to work long, dangerous, and exhausting hours. Along with their “employees”, we(fast fashion shoppers) are subject to harmful chemicals used to clean and dye the fabric that can enter our body through our skin and cause sickness. Aside from the fact that fast fashion makes us feel bad about being “out-of-style” and exploits its “employees”, it’s also hurting our planet. In the US, 5% of all landfill is textile waste, if that percentage doesn’t mean anything to you maybe this will: 1,139,950 tons. 1,139,950 tons, just from the US. The average american throws away 70 pounds of clothes a year, THROWS away, not donate or recycle, BUT TRASHED.

Fast fashion burns their clothes instead of donating them. Now, think about why they would do this.. THEY’RE NOT LOSING MONEY!! The fact that they are so okay with just burning their clothes shows that they are not losing money, they are paying their “employees” so little compared to the profit they’re making that burning old clothes doesn’t hurt them financially at all. Making and burning the old clothes results in more greenhouse gas emissions than international shipping and aviation COMBINED.

What can you do?

In school, they taught you the 3 R’s of sustainability, but in 2019 we’re focusing on the 5 R’s:

- Refuse

- Reduce

- Reuse

- Repair

- Recycle

In that order. First, you need to refuse to buy fast cheap clothes. You need to refuse to impulse buy that $3 crop top at Forever 21. You need to refuse to waste your money on cheaply made clothes that will be “unfashionable” in a month. Try thrift shopping at a store, online, or at a yard sale. Second, you need to reduce. I get it, you’re going to just NEED those cute leggings or that perfect jumpsuit, so buy it. But don’t buy it everytime. Fast fashion should not be your #1 girl. Then, you need to reuse your clothing purchases. Often times I buy things that I end up only wearing a few times. They say that you should wear your clothes 30 times to make up for the environmental impact it has on our planet, so keep that in mind. Try to only buy things that you could make many different outfits with. My favorite step, repair. If your clothes just feel out-dated, too small/large, or have holes in them, change it! Holes and stains can easily be covered up with cute embroidery, big shirts can be turned into a fashionable crop top and skirt(I’m making one now), or you could just use old clothes for scraps. The last resort would be to recycle. The last thing you should always do is recycle. Try to sell your clothes or give them directly to friends or family. Donating them is nice, but often times donation centers receive so many clothes they can’t keep up with and throw them away. If they have holes or stains they’ll definitely be thrown away. If you absolutely cannot figure out a way to upcycle your clothes then turn them into cleaning rags, dog toys, DIY rugs, plant holders, anything(Pinterest is your best friend). There are obviously some things you won’t want to buy second hand or things you need to try on such as bras, underwear, jeans, swimwear, etc. those are the things you should spend a bit more money on. Quality over quantity. The day will come when you realize you don’t need to be on trend or have 50 pairs of shoes or need 5 different colors of the same shirt, and that will be a beautiful day.

Not only will boycotting fast fashion help the planet, it will help your wallet. You’ll save so much money when you learn how to reuse your clothes. Buy great quality, beautiful, sustainable clothes. Have pride in what you wear. Support your local shops and buy their clothes. Go to the farmers market and buy a beautiful handmade dress, go to that little boutique someone opened up in their house, go to yard sales and fairs. Buying local helps support your neighbors and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Also, it’s so much cooler to wear something unique to a party or prom or even just to school than if you show up looking like everyone else.

Fast fashion places you should NOT shop:

- Basically any store you’d find at your local mall (Forever 21, H&M, Tilly’s, Victoria Secret, Cotton On, etc.)

- Any online store that is selling clothes for less than $3, let’s be real lol(Wish, Zaful, Zara, Romwe, etc.)

- If it sounds to good(cheap) to be true, it is. You are spending your money on low quality products that will fall apart before they ever restock the store.

Affordable places you SHOULD shop:

- PACT

- We Love

- Know the Origin

- MUD Jeans

- Any thrift shop(Good Will, Savers, Depop, Thread-up, even people on instagram are selling their clothes!)

- Download the app Good On You to help find beautiful, affordable, and sustainable places to shop!

What am I going to do?

I’m making a promise to myself(and now you guys) that I will only spend $20 a month on fast fashion. I’m going to buy less clothing(wish me good luck) and spend my money more wisely on clothes that are beautiful and long-lasting, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and for things that benefit me and the people I love.

What inspired me to write this?

On Friday, my best friend and I needed something cute to wear to a party. We had no idea where to go, Target was too expensive and for some reason only has swimwear, Walmart was basically just for toddlers and LDS mothers(not trying to be rude, y’all are good people raising amazing children, just not my style), so we went to Forever 21. I probably spend more time in Forever 21 than I do outside… oops. If you look in my closet you’ll see TONS of fast fashion. I do thrift shop more often than not, but still. So I get to Forever 21 and I find the perfect pair of pants, they make me feel like a mix between Beetlejuice and Jack Skellington, I fell in love. First of all, I had to get a large(I normally wear a small, sometimes extra small) because I know how bad their clothes shrink(first bad sign). Oh and fast fashion does sizes weird, to all the girls reading this, you know the struggle of being a 00/XS at one store and being a 6/large in another(life is hard, and that’s the second bad sign). I go to buy the pants and notice they’re only $12, awesome, so cheap, WRONG! Not awesome, totally lame(third bad sign). Then I get home and put them on, getting ready for the party(I had washed them so they’d shrink to my size) and as I’m putting them on, I notice the button is loose(fourth bad sign), not a big deal I can re-sew it later. They were fine at the party(thank god), but when I was at work today, they ripped! The spot where there SHOULD be a zipper just completely tore open(fifth bad sign!!!!!), so now my plan is to just go to the craft store, buy a zipper and sew on my zipper. So this blog was going to be complaining about cheap clothes, but I figured it would be better to inform people about fast fashion. I love you, Forever 21, but fuck you. See you NEVER.

If you made it this far, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for dealing with my word vomit, bad grammar, and crazy opinions(facts). Thank you for supporting me and helping me grow my blog. I hope that this post helps you change for the better.

And don’t forget, changing a little bit is still progress.

#fastfashion #depop #goodonyou #ethics #animals #fashion