Fast fashion is about the constant release of new collections of clothes produced by cheap labour. Due to platforms such as TikTok or Instagram, the popularity of fast fashion has significantly grown in recent years. Influencers eagerly promote brands like Shein, Forever 21, or Zara but are they aware of what they are advertising to their followers? Here’s why fast fashion and its promotion need to stop.
It violates human rights
It’s about time to say it loud and clear: by supporting fast fashion you contribute to the spread of modern slavery. According to the Walk Free Foundation report, the fashion industry is the second-largest sector, after technology, in which modern slavery is practised. Clothes from fast fashion brands are often made in countries like Bangladesh or China, where production costs are directly proportional to the concern for workers’ rights, that is, very low. Practices such as low wages, working in conditions dangerous to the health and lives, or even forced labour of immigrants, women, and children are common. Nothing’s more faux pas in fashion than unethical fashion.
It’s destructive to the environment
Such clothes, besides being inexpensive, are of mediocre quality, and this means that they will soon add to the waste heap. What’s more, their production contributes to high carbon emissions, the use of toxic chemicals, and the generation of wastewater that pollutes deep waters and soil.
So how do you enjoy fashion to the fullest and follow the principles of conscious consumption at the same time? Here are some tips:
Who made my clothes?
Support companies that are fully transparent, ethical, and practice sustainable development policies. Just as we want to know what we eat, what’s in our cosmetics, we should know how the clothes we wear were made. Consumer voices matter. The ‘Who Made My Clothes’ campaign has resonated widely on social media and has gained millions of followers worldwide. Its originators, Orsola de Castro and Carry Somers founded the movement to expose the fashion industry’s supply chain and mobilize public opinion to hold apparel companies accountable for unethical practices. The movement was spurred by the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh, which killed 1134 workers and injured 2,500.
Quality not Quantity
When choosing your closet, opt for good-quality materials such as organic cotton or wool. Clothes made of them will serve you for many years and you will not have to replenish your closet every few months.
Second Hand/ Thrift Shop
They give you the opportunity to create your own unique style for little money. They are very popular in major European cities and rightly so because you can find real gems in them. A modest budget is not an obstacle if you have an imagination and a flair for fashion.
