By: Annie Malpass
Runway looks and the latest trends are what our generation wants, and what the fashion industry readily provides. As innocent and normal as this seems, silently, this cycle is taking a heavy toll on the environment. So what is “Fast Fashion” anyway?
Fast fashion is a way for large companies to release multiple collections throughout the year. They move fast to stay on top of the latest trends. Companies mass produce their clothing to meet the demands of consumers. Unfortunately, so much of what is produced is never actually sold or recycled into new clothing. There are even some cases where leftover clothing is actually burned instead of resold at a lower price to keep the brands exclusivity. This practice of mass-production and the waste that follows has put the earth and the environment at a crisis point.
So, it makes you wonder, why is this not talked about more? The industry likes to keep it hush-hush to keep up their profit margins. They excuse it as being “affordable fashion” with trends you can easily try without breaking the bank. However industry is not the only ones to blame because we as consumers let this happen. We want those cute, cheap pieces we can wear for six months and can be done with when the trend goes out of fashion.
Sadly, the waste doesn’t stop there. The manufacture of clothing uses a lot of water to produce, and the chemicals in this water are poisonous to the environment. So, as you can imagine, the companies who mass produce are wasting tons of water on a line of clothing that will be forgotten about when the next “new thing” is released.
Fast fashion and its effect on our environment stems from production, manufacture and consumption of the products. It’s time we all evaluated our part in this growing global problem. Where do you fit into this, and what can you do to be part of the change?
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