As TikTok has taken over my life just as it has others, the one thing I consistently see on my page is try-on hauls. Specifically from Zara or Shein, both of who are under the umbrella of fast fashion, which is destroying our planet, not to mention the people who are having to make the clothes at rapid speed. Fast fashion is a highly profitable business model based on replicating catwalk trends and high-fashion designs and mass-producing them at low cost. It is single-handedly destroying the place we call home, Earth.
Since we live in an era of instant gratification and consumption is at an all-time high, it only makes sense that these huge companies are taking high-end fashion ideas and turning them into cheap alternatives. The majority of these clothes are being created out of synthetic fibers which don’t decompose, so when it is in our landfills or oceans it just sits there doing more harm than good. Each article of clothing is not only made from unsustainable fabrics but in unethical ways. The fashion industry as a whole contributes to roughly 20% of industrial water pollution according to World’s Resources Institute. This is an issue that needs solving but people refuse in fear of destroying a billion-dollar industry.
Favorable companies like H&M, Fashion Nova, Zara, Missguided, Shein, and many more are all to blame for the unethical manufacturing going on behind closed doors. Bangladesh is a country where labor laws are slim to none so when big businesses like Zara come in they get the labor for cheap and escape laws in America. A story that has gone almost unnoticed is the collapse of the Rana Plaza. The building collapsed in 2013 because of the owner’s lack of concern for the garment workers’ safety when they ignored an engineer’s safety warning about the building. Thousand’s were killed because of this and one of the fast-fashion companies that was being manufactured there was H&M, a company that claims to be moving towards sustainability and fair labor laws. People can’t get enough of fast-fashion brands and because of their continuous “drops” of hundreds of clothing items, people buy more and more. It’s a cycle that can’t be stopped overnight.
Now I know we have all fallen short and taken those deals on clothes, believe me, I am guilty, but there are more ways to shop that are sustainable, affordable, and not made in sweatshops. Vintage is all the rage alongside fast fashion, which is ironic given the fact that one is beneficial and the other is not. Companies like Depop and threadUP have broken the barriers of fast fashion by allowing consumers to buy and sell used clothing items and accessories, which lowers the fast fashion intake. Tons and tons of vintage shops have popped up all around and living in Austin I see one every time I turn a corner, so it’s not very hard to go out and shop for used clothes. Brands like House of Sunny, which is on the more expensive side but 100% sustainable, partners up with Depop to sell leftovers of their limited clothing drops. The brand only releases clothing that is vegan and 100% sustainable, did I mention 100% SUSTAINABLE. Long story short, go out and search for sustainable and upcycled fashion. Fast fashion is a business that is full of greed and unsustainability.