Welcome back to my blog.
I want to talk about a highly controversial topic: fast fashion.
Before we jump in, I'm going to do an extremely obnoxious thing: reference myself. Near the end of my TEDx talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqTu3CYqWvo&t=1092s), I talked about how a lack of money doesn't need to stand in the way of finding the power of fashion. I challenged myself to create a set of outfits under a budget, and I tried to demonstrate how my few purchases could be combined with things I already own to create a wardrobe that's empowering and fun.
The only way I was able to make this challenge work was by purchasing items from fast fashion stores. The landscape of fast fashion has changed a lot since then - some of the stores I shopped at don't even exist in Canada today and Shein was unheard of - but the principles and issues still exist.
I'm not going to rehash the reality of fast fashion. It's exploitative and relies on the subjugation of workers who have no better options available to them. It's environmentally pollutive, contributing to massive non-biodegradable landfill and waste water production. Some (me) may say it's morally dubious in its contribution to a culture of hyper-consumption. There are fantastic journalists who talk about these points in greater detail and I've linked a few of these articles below.
Articles about the Consequences of Fast Fashion
I'm more interested in thinking about what we, as the fashion fanatic consumer, can do about it. Spoiler alert: there's no clear solution to this problem that I can imagine.
I think it's worth mentioning that almost ALL fashion is exploitative of human or environmental resources in some form. Fast fashion is an easy target to criticize; the wealthy upper echelons of society can continue to shop at high-end designer labels whilst pointing a finger at the average person as the culprit for human exploitation and environmental degradation.
Yes, luxury designers might be paying their workers a better wage, but they are also massive contributors to environmental waste. A common practice amongst luxury brands is the destruction of billions of dollars worth of their own products as a way to protect brand value. The environmental waste of this practice is something that is often skated over by critics of fast fashion who propose investing in designer clothing as an alternative.
Articles about the Environmental Impact of Luxury Fashion
Similarly to the demonization of plastic straws whilst the global elite continue to use jet planes like public buses, the expectation that the average consumer avoid fast fashion as the solution to the consequences of clothing consumption is unfair.
There are features of fast fashion that are worth acknowledging. It has allowed the democratization of style for the general public. Anyone who is interested in fashion, no matter their amount of disposable income, now has a way of bringing it into their lives. There are options available that may circumvent the ethical cost of fast fashion - thrifting, consignment stores, saving to buy investment pieces - but these options aren't feasible for everyone.
I don't want to shine a light on everyone else without looking at my purchasing habits too. My financial situation has changed a lot since graduating from school. I have a stable income, no dependents, and an interest in consignment shopping, so I have the privilege of being able to mostly avoid fast fashion shopping. However, I still have a LOT of fast fashion items in my wardrobe that I purchased in my recent youth. If I'm being brutally honest, I often get a craving to buy something new for a specific event and I end up purchasing it from a fast fashion store.
My patterns of consumption aren't perfect, which is why I don't want to tell other people how they should be spending their money. However, my one bone to pick is with fast fashion hauls. The practice of well-off influencers purchasing thousands of dollars of fast fashion clothing to generate social media content deserves to be criticized. This kind of content creates the impression that everyone who buys fast fashion is consuming it in this gluttonous way, whereas the average person is usually buying one or two items at a time and wearing it purposefully.
My personal solution is trying to buy second-hand through designer consignment stores. I like this approach because it allows me to help extend the shelf life of garments whilst also purchasing high quality clothing in an intentional manner. However, this requires a LOT of time and flexibility - effort I'm willing to put in because it's a hobby of mine, but which isn't practical for a lot of people. I wish I had a global solution to this problem, but I don't think there is any truly ethical way to participate in the fashion industry right now. As individuals, it comes down to our values, beliefs, and how we want to spend our money.
Fast fashion is a big topic with lots of opinions and if you have any thoughts to share about your approach, I would love to hear them.
Until then, onto the next post.
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