The Rise and Demise of Fast Fashion

Yes, you read that correctly. The rise and demise of fast fashion is upon us.

But let’s take a walk down memory lane shall we? Do you remember back in high school the thrill of shopping at stores like Forever 21 and getting the latest trends for just a few dollars? It felt pretty amazing to be able to spend your babysitting money on a cute pair of ripped low rise jeans so Brad in 5th period would hopefully notice you this year ’cause your braces finally came off (!!!). But what we didn’t realize was the real cost of cheap, fast fashion.

Fast Fashion Defined

“An approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers.” -Merriam-Webster

“Fast fashion utilizes trend replication, rapid production, and low quality materials in order to bring inexpensive styles to the public. Unfortunately, this results in harmful impacts to the environment, human well-being, and ultimately our wallets.” -The Good Trade

“Fast fashion” is a term used by fashion retailers to describe inexpensive designs that move quickly from the catwalk to stores to meet new trends. As a result of this trend, the tradition of introducing new fashion lines on a seasonal basis is being challenged. Today, it is not uncommon for fast-fashion retailers to introduce new products multiple times in a single week to stay on-trend.” -Investopedia

How Fast Fashion Got Started

Only until recently the fashion industry had four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall). Each season pieces were carefully designed and brought to market. (For a much more thorough history than I can give here, check out this article from Fashionista.com)
In the 1960s, as young people began to set and follow new trends, the industry had to respond by producing newer, trendier, and cheaper clothing.
This model slowly picked up speed until the fast fashion retail market exploded in the 90’s and early 00’s.
Somewhere in this time the consumer mentality shifted from owning a few pieces of quality, hand crafted garments, to weekly shopping trips to the mall and owning more clothes at cheaper prices.
To support our fashion fix, companies had to outsource labor to developing companies, shift to cheaper fabrics and dyes, and forgo quality in favor of production speed.

The Environmental and Ethical Impact

I am so sorry to be the bearer of bad news (I wanted to cry when doing research for this post) but it’s best to be an educated consumer so here are the facts.

Toxicity: When clothing is made cheaply it’s often made withtoxic chemicals, dyes, and synthetic fabrics which seep into the water suppliesin the countries where the clothing is made and at home when the clothing is washed. An estimated 20% of global industrial water pollution comes from the treatment and dyeing of textiles.
Pollution:In addition to the making of your clothes, when you wash clothes made from cheap synthetic fabrics microfibers are leaked into the water supply, causing more pollution. Microfibers are microscopic pieces of plastic, just like the microbeads that were banned from those old acne scrub products and toothpastes (I know, we all thought those were so cool at the time).
Unethical Labor: The health of every garment factory worker is often jeopardized due to long hours, lack of resources, exposure to harmful chemicals, and even physical abusein some cases. The women and men (and sometimes children) who make your new spring frock are often underpaid, underfed, and pushed to their limits because there are often few other options. I don’t know about you, but I personally do not want to contribute to that if I can help it.
Waste: The easy-come-easy-go nature of fast fashion means we don’t think twice before tossing a garment that has lost its shape, faded, shrunk, or just gone out of style. According to Rubicon over 11 million tons of recyclable clothing, shoes, and textiles make their way into landfills each year.

The Demise of Fast Fashion

In recent years the once unstoppable growth of the fast fashion industry has taken a turn. Business Insider reported that H&M recently announced they would be closing 160 stores worldwide after accumulating over $4 billion dollars worth of unsold clothing that was piling up, causing them to take a major financial hit.

When I found out that that Forever 21 clothes were being made by factory workers in Southern California who were paid as little as $4 an hour, I was disgusted. By the way, Forever 21 recently filed for bankruptcy, so that’s happening.

There is also a phenomenal articles about this in the New York Times if you want to dive deeper down this rabbit hole.

We don’t need to build our end-of-the-world-bunkers just yet. With the imminent demise of fast fashion comes the rise of sustainable fashion. This video from Teen Vogue (of all places) hits the nail on the head.