Fast fashion has been trending for a long time now, encouraging excessive buying habits and worsening the environmental crisis. Brands like Shein, H&M, Forever 21, Zara, and Fashion Nova are known for producing mass amounts of affordable clothing at the expense of broader ecological consequences.
According to many sociologists, we are living in a consumer society. This means that individuals are encouraged to buy based on what they want rather than what they need. Hyper-consumption is the result of this, “leading to severe resource depletion and environmental degradation.”
The fast fashion industry has been able to blossom within this consumer society. The clothing brands hold their productions overseas to take advantage of cheap labor and the lack of environmental regulations while keeping prices low to draw in a broad range of consumers.
Currently, fast fashion is responsible for more carbon emissions each year than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Producing mass quantities of cheap clothing uses a considerable quantity of water and synthetic materials, which are becoming increasingly common and significantly contribute to the amount of microplastic in our oceans.
It is essential to keep in mind that excessive consumption is not a result of individual choices. People are becoming increasingly aware of the ramifications of excess buying, nevertheless, trends in recent years continue to push the everyday person to seek out more and buy more.
Some argue these trends are beneficial to the economy, however, the negative, long-term environmental impacts greatly outweigh any short-term benefits on the economy. Two main concerns of the fast fashion industry are clothing in landfills and incinerated clothing.
Landfills and the process of incinerating clothing pose multiple public health and environmental threats to those living in nearby areas. There is new technology that works to capture pollutants, but even these filters are often turned into a “ dangerous substance, which later returns back to the landfills and pollutes our air.”
Most articles discussing the topic of excessive consumption look at what the consumer can do to change their behavior and possibly affect change in the industry in the long term. In an Instagram post on disposable culture, @Feminist concluded that “making your clothes last is an act of rebellion.”
While individual choice can play a minor role in changing these spending trends, reevaluating how the clothing industry as a whole functions is essential to address the negative environmental effects of excessive consumption.
The underlying question to the issue of fast fashion: is capitalism sustainable?