Now don’t get me wrong, I love fashion. I love dressing up, shopping, my wardrobe, and much more;. but just because I love something doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the faults in it. If anything it makes me a little ashamed to support something so crooked. In one of my facebook memories a video popped up. In the video, a woman tries on three different pairs of pants from three different stores that are all labeled as size 4. The woman finds that one pair is too small, another too big, and another fit just right. How can this be if they are all size 4? The simple answer is that nowadays every store has their own sizing.
“What’s happened over time is that (brands) have evolved their sizing to represent who they believe their core customer is,” said Jessica Murphy, co-founder of TrueFit (“It’s not you – women’s clothing sizes don’t make sense.”).
This is an issue that people of every gender face. In an article she wrote for The Independent Janet Street-Porter said “I’m a size “large” in trousers at Zara, a 12 in some ranges at Marks & Spencer, a 14 at Topshop, a 16 at Next and “medium” in some dresses at Mango,” (Street-Porter 2016). The only thing produced from this are body confidence issues. Being a different size at every store is seriously confusing and leads many people to believe something is wrong with them! I’m here to tell you it’s not you. It’s the industry.
Going along with the body confidence issue, another factor is that brands usually use stick thin and glamorous models. Nobody actually looks like them in real life yet they’re plastered everywhere. People believe that this is how they’re supposed to look, and when the clothes don’t fit some serious self confidence issues are created.
The fashion industry’s problems aren’t just in the clothes they sell or their advertising tactics. The industry has horrible economic and environmental issues has well. In a 2015 documentary titled “The True Cost” director Andrew Morgan goes behind the scenes to show his audience the effects of making their favourite garments. I found the statistics appalling.
Garment producers want their product for cheap so they set up factories in third world countries like every other mass producer. There are about 40 million garment factory workers in the world and a majority of them make less than $3 a day (The True Cost). These workers are exposed to the worst environment and working conditions. As early as the 1960s America was producing 95% of their own fashions. Today, America only produces 3% (The True Cost).
Maxine Bedat, CEO and co-founder of Zady, reminds us that “We still live in a world where 98% of factory workers are not receiving a living wage and where factories rely on the dirtiest energy supply (coal) to churn out fast-fashion that is worn on average only seven times before it is discarded and clogs our landfills,” (LeBlanc).
These issues only brush the surface; these facts are simply a sample of much larger, wide scale issues. Again, I don’t want to come across as belittling the fashion industry because I love it, but I recognize the problems it has and I want to do my part in to help reduce the environmental and economic consequences.
Things that can be done to reduce these factors are not buying clothing unless you know you’ll absolutely wear it, recycling clothes, and when you no longer want them try to give/ sell them to people you know will wear them.
To become more informed on this subject I highly recommend watching The True Cost. The documentary can be found on Netflix.
Fashion and the environment are two things close to my heart. We must do our part to help them live in harmony.
Works Cited
LeBlanc, Rick. “Zady Launches New Standard: Environment and Social Challenges Explored.” The Balance, www.thebalance.com/the-environmental-impact-of-the-fashion-industry-2878123.
Street-Porter, Janet. “No wonder women have body image problems when retailers like H&M make them feel fat.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 17 June 2016, www.independent.co.uk/voices/hm-clothes-size-16-facebook-student-women-b….
TodayShow. “It’s not you – women’s clothing sizes don’t make sense.” TODAY.com, www.today.com/style/jeans-don-t-fit-here-s-explanation-inconsistency-wom….
The True Cost. Dir. Andrew Morgan. N.p., n.d. Web.