As people scroll through common social media websites or apps such as Tik Tok or Instagram, they are likely to see ads regarding clothing brands or sales on fast fashion sites. About every 10 scrolls on Tik Tok is interrupted by at least one ad showcasing clothes and two ads showcasing other products.
This trend has led many to buy online and driven some to advertise through social media to their peers as a revenue stream. These influencers sponsored by companies get paid a fraction of the price when a product is bought directly from their video, but it all serves to fuel the fast-fashion pipeline.
According to PR Newswire, 68% of all teenagers shop online and 17.9% percent of that is clothing.
Some trends such as baggy jeans, crop tops and cheetah print spread quickly through the internet and seem to stick around for longer periods of time, while other trends come and quickly go quickly. These are called microtrends. Some recent micro trends include chokers, bubble shorts and Nirvana crewnecks.
As these trends start to become more and more popular and come and go so quickly, more money is being spent to be à la mode or fashionable. Consequently, many people turn to cheap, fast fashion to keep up with trends.
Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, in which world leaders met to discuss the environmental impact of the fashion industry, fashion has undergone a significant transformation; it has been driven by an increasing awareness of environmental issues and the desire for more personalized self-expression.
Today’s fashion world is torn between two major trends: eco-friendly fashion and fast fashion. While thrift stores like Goodwill, which provide eco-friendly fashion, are becoming more popular, fast fashion online retailers like Shein and Temu still dominate the market.
The clothing sold on these fast fashion sites are mass produced and only provided at such a low cost due to the substandard quality of the clothing and the companies’ use of underpaid labor. They use cheap synthetic materials and source out the manufacturing to countries with low labor costs in order to bring the price down as much as possible.
These companies often prioritize profit over the wellbeing of their workers, leading to unsafe working conditions and long hours with little to no pay. According to the Garment Worker Center Instead of an hourly pay, workers can also be paid per piece of clothing. With the shortened cost of each item of clothing, employesearn as little as $0.02 – $0.06 per piece.
(Note: Rumors circulate about their use of child labor, but there is currently no evidence for those claims.)
An Earth day article,“Beneath The Seams: The Human Toll of Fast Fashion” by Mykhail Helm states, “The industry employs approximately 75 million factory workers worldwide, yet less than 2% earn a living wage. Garment workers endure unsafe conditions, wage theft, exhausting hours, minimal pay, and gender-based harassment.” The conditions and pay is unlivable for most, and if they are able to live off the pay
No matter the consequences, the allure of fast fashion is unavoidable for many, as it is designed to be exactly what the name suggests — fast. Social media is driving trends at breakneck speed, and most people have fallen into the fast fashion trap at some point. While shopping on popular sites like Shein and Temu, one can buy three outfits for the price of one. Deals such as these drive traffic to the websites, further increasing popularity and sales.
The environmental toll the fashion industry takes on our planet is almost unbelievable. It is one of the largest polluters in the world due to high carbon emissions and water pollution from dyeing and manufacturing. According to Earth, “The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global wastewater.”
Wastewater causes harmful algal blooms and continues to weaken coral reefs, which can destabilize entire ecosystems. Due to thousands of people persistently purchasing from fast fashion companies, our planet pays the price.
While there’s many eco-friendly brands to buy from, fast fashion always ends up on top due to being more “budget friendly” or “low cost”. People must begin to realize that eco-friendly brands can be affordable, but also benefit the Earth at the same time.
There are many eco-friendly brands to buy from, and one named Rapanui may have cracked the code on how to squash the habits of overconsumption.
Rapanui is a clothing brand founded in 2008 by brothers Rob and Mart Drake-Knight. The pair wanted to produce clothing that was organic and soft, yet tough enough to last for a while. They attempt to be eco-friendly by reusing the cotton from old clothing sent in by clients to create new stylish and trendy outfits. The About Us page on the Rapanui website states, “Send us any 100% cotton clothing from any brand, not just Rapanui, and we’ll reuse it.”
This is an example of the first working circular supply chain, which is something that should be put in use by every major brand. According to the Drake-Knights’ website, this company not only takes away the struggle of finding a trusted location to donate worn out clothes but also subtracts from the growing problem of material overconsumption.
Community Clothing is a brand in the United Kingdom (UK) whose mission is to stop fast fashion by making clothes a third of the average cost, but that last and are better quality.
The materials they use are not meant to harm the community and Earth, while also making it cheap and easy to access.
Yes Friends is a brand that aims to make cheaper, more sustainable clothing. Yes Friends explains in the Ethics and Sustainability section of their website about how they achieved good wages, ethical factories, traceability, and veganism.
Fast fashion brands such as Shein, H&M, Zara, Forever 21, Fashion Nova, and Temu are all contributors to negatively affecting our planet, due to microtrends and trends shown throughout social media and influencers.
