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fast fashion
This Peak Buying Season, It's Time to Rethink Fashion's Growth Obsession
Moving beyond growth and the mentality that "more stuff is better” could help reshape the fashion system—and make us happier in the long run.
Dec 08, 2024
Fast fashion is a poster child of capitalism. Over the past 20 years, fashion production, consumption—and textile waste—have doubled in volume. The current neocolonial status quo is characterized by labor exploitation and cultural appropriation, overproduction, resource depletion, and unprecedented waste generation.
The environmental and social impacts of fashion choices in the Global North are disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations in the Global South. Material throughput of the fashion system should be cut at least in half to stay within the planetary boundaries—but the industry is programmed for growth, mostly in synthetic or plastic garments, on a trajectory to take up to a quarter of the global carbon budget.
Looking good does not have to mean contributing to a broken system.
Our society's addiction to growth fuels this cycle, prioritising profit over all else. While offering consumers the illusion of choice, the current linear fashion business model leads to wardrobe clutter, constant pressure to keep up with trends that causes the feeling of exclusion—and exacerbates further the class divide.
But looking good doesn't have to mean fueling a destructive and exploitative growth model. Moving beyond growth and the mentality that "more stuff is better" could help reshape the fashion system—and make us happier in the long run.
The Beyond Growth Vision
What would it mean to move beyond growth in fashion—in practice?
For Citizens
Addressing the constant push for "more" would be a good start. Why do we seek more stuff? If we zoom into the basic needs behind our overconsumption, we'll find the needs to belong, to be part of a community and respected by our peers, and the needs for self-expression and feeling safe in our environment. But what if there were other ways to fulfil these basic needs instead of buying more stuff?
Buying more consciously—prioritizing quality, longevity, circularity, ethical and local production—is important. But we cannot buy our way out of the crisis of overconsumption by buying "green." The only consumer-citizens' action that can make all the difference is to simply buy less new stuff.
Before we rush to defend our right to shop as if there's no tomorrow, as enshrined in the "constitution" of capitalism, let's take a moment to talk about "less." More isn't always better, and less isn't always worse. Think about war. Production of weapons contributes positively to the growth of GDP—but are weapons a good thing? Could it be possible that too much fashion is not a good thing? And if so, how much fashion is enough? Consider this:
- A Parisian woman in the 1960s had a wardrobe of 40 garments, including shoes and accessories.
- An average Dutch wardrobe today contains 175 garments.
- A wardrobe to stay under the 1.5°C limit of the Paris agreement should contain 80 garments.
- People who voluntarily chose to downsize their wardrobes and only keep garments they love report higher levels of subjective well-being.
It turns out that, not only can we do with less, but living with a curated "less" makes us happier, more conscious about style and more in control of our spending. And—it is also great for the planet. Importantly, moving beyond the "buy more" mentality could help us take back creative control over our self-expression and encourage more diverse personal styles and empower true uniqueness.
Scaling down our irresponsible and wasteful buying habits can have a long-term reinvigorating effect on individuals and on our communities. Instead of buying new things online, alone, to feel better in a crazy world we live in, we could join mending and repair workshops, swaps, upcycling or creative clubs—meet like-minded people, make friends, and become part of a community.
For the Fashion Industry
There is no easy way to replace centuries of growth-oriented business logic overnight. For businesses, moving beyond growth would mean experimentation with ownership structures, new business models and revenue streams to move toward circularity and sufficiency. Profits are not wrong per se, but how they are distributed makes a major difference. The ordeal that Patagonia went through to transform its ownership model to create an environmental fund to replace its shareholder structure indicates that our legal systems are so tailored to growth models that even moving from shareholder to stakeholder capitalism is difficult.
It would also require rethinking the current overproduction strategy. The majority of items today do not sell: An average sell-through rate is 40-80%. Which begs the question: Does this strategy even work in a saturated market? The industry should take a look at how to reduce stock keeping units (SKUs) and focus on developing more products for circularity as opposed to more products overall. Extending responsibility of brands to what happens to their product after the sale, all the way to the end of life, could be the critical mindshift point opening up doors for responsible circular practices that have not existed before. These would include designing for the next use, repair, and re-manufacture.
Citizens are more than just consumers, and we can advocate for change and shift the narrative toward a beautiful fashion future in which less is more.
However, these changes cannot occur in competition with the dominant unsustainable and unethical growth-oriented industry practices. To move beyond growth and let post-growth business experimentation flourish, it is critical to even out the playing field through regulations. Governments could take the first step by banning or restricting business practices that constitute fast and ultra-fast fashion models. A great example is France that sets a tax for companies that put more than 2,000 styles on the market daily.
Another example is Amsterdam. They city made an effort to go beyond GDP by applying Doughnut Economic Frameworks to align the fashion industry with well-being economy principles, such as reducing waste and promoting sustainable practices. One initiative encourages citizens to mend their clothes through repair cafes, fostering a culture of reuse and reducing the demand for fast fashion.
Other options could be tax incentives for sustainable practices, restrictions on harmful materials, monitoring for transparency, support for circular economies, and education (e.g. learning how to repair your clothes). It is also crucial to regulate planned obsolescence, reinforce the right to repair, as well as implement non-for-profit extended producer responsibility. Side policies could also include banning some advertising, especially that of fast fashion brands, as well as the use of algorithms and tracking consumer data by brands.
Fashion Forward
Looking good does not have to mean contributing to a broken system. Citizens are more than just consumers, and we can advocate for change and shift the narrative toward a beautiful fashion future in which less is more. Choosing to recognize our core needs and find alternatives, as well as finding creative and joyful ways to fill them other than shopping for clothes, is an act of empowerment that can heal us, our planet, and the very system that is very, very sick.
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All Fast Fashion Workers Want for the Holidays Is a Living Wage
Bangladeshi garment workers have demanded a modest $205 a month, but pay increases offered by the country’s manufacturers totaled barely half that.
Dec 09, 2023
’Tis the season for holiday sales. But on the other side of the planet, there’s a high cost for those low prices. This is especially true for “fast fashion,” the clothing equivalent of a Big Mac: attractive, affordable, and throwaway.
The Bangladeshi women who toil as underpaid garment workers so we can wear disposable outfits are making their voices heard loudly enough to reverberate across oceans. Mass protests for higher wages have roiled the South Asian country.
Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest exporter of apparel in the world, after China. Recognizable name brands like H&M, Zara, Calvin Klein, American Eagle, and Tommy Hilfiger, among others, rely on Bangladeshi garment factories.
A survey of about 1,000 factories in Bangladesh, published in early 2023, revealed that companies like Zara and H&M underpaid factories for garment purchases, making it harder for them to pay their workers.
The country’s 4 million garment workers, most of whom are women, until recently took home a meager pay of just $75 a month and hadn’t gotten a raise in years. By one estimate, the cost of living for a single person in Bangladesh is about $360 a month, not including rent.
Workers have demanded a modest $205 a month, but pay increases offered by the country’s manufacturers totaled barely half that.
As protests intensified, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina—once hailed as a liberal leader—unleashed security forces that have intimidated and attacked union organizers. Police recently fatally shot a 23-year-old mother and sewing machine operator named Anjuara Khatun after firing at protesters.
On the surface, U.S. brands who purchase their inventories from Bangladesh’s factories appear to be on the right side of the fight. The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), an industry trade group, wrote a joint letter urging Hasina to “raise the minimum wage to a level… sufficient to cover workers’ basic needs.”
The AAFA even asked the government to avoid retaliating against unions and to respect “collective bargaining rights.” The U.S. State Department issued a statement saying, “We commend the members of the private sector who have endorsed union proposals for a reasonable wage increase.”
Further, global retailers are offering to eat into their profits by increasing the price they pay factories to help them offset increased wages. Currently, the cost of the labor to produce garments is a mere 10% to 13% of a product’s total manufacturing cost.
But are companies really committed to raising garment workers’ wages?
A survey of about 1,000 factories in Bangladesh, published in early 2023, revealed that companies like Zara and H&M underpaid factories for garment purchases, making it harder for them to pay their workers. And when the Covid-19 pandemic led to global shutdowns, large retailers canceled orders and delayed payments.
“Only when suppliers are able to plan ahead, with confidence that they will earn as expected,” one industry expert told The Guardian, “can they deliver good working conditions for their workers.”
It’s been more than 10 years since the deadly collapse of Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza, the world’s worst garment industry disaster. The eight-story compound in Dhaka was filled with thousands of workers when it crumbled under the weight of government neglect and worker exploitation in April 2013. More than 1,100 workers, most of them women, were killed.
In the wake of the disaster, North American brands refused to join other global companies in signing on to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. Citing high costs, they chose instead to form their own alliance for inspecting factories, one that applied lower safety standards.
It was a stark indicator of where these companies’ priorities lay—and suggests their latest comments about higher wages are just lip service.
Fast fashion is expected to more than double its market size over six years, growing from $91 billion in 2021 to a projected $185 billion by 2027. Meanwhile, the workers who fuel the profits behind that expansion are facing starvation.
This holiday season, perhaps the best gift we can give is a commitment to force the industry to pay up.
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Fast Fashion Harms Workers and the Planet
To cheaply and quickly reproduce the latest styles, manufacturers contract to companies in some of the poorest countries in the world where wages are low and standards of protection for the workers and the environment are ignored.
May 17, 2023
We all like to get something new, be it clothes, a house, a car, or something for the home. It gives us a feeling of a new start. And with the many forms of shopping through commercial centers, stores, catalogs, and the internet, we have an enormous selection from which to choose. To make buying even easier, there are numerous ways to pay. We have credit cards, debit cards, and digital and telephone transfers so that we don’t have to worry about not having money. Our happiness is guaranteed.
The most common purchases are clothes, and now we have Fast Fashion, a system where we can be up to date on all the latest styles. What does this mean and how does it impact us and the rest of the world?
It’s natural for us, at any age, to want the “latest” model, a sign to others that we are modern, in-the-know, and prepared for the world of work, recreation, the beach, or the city. To that end textile manufacturers can rush into production the same styles worn by influencers and people of fashion in the most rapid way and keep the prices low so that you will be tempted to buy. Also supporting the Fast Fashion trend are the free trade treaties that reduce or eliminate tariffs, which also keep down prices. But in reality is Fast Fashion a benefit?
Fast Fashion may seem like a good thing in providing a constant supply of the newest designs, but it takes its toll on the environment, labor practices, and our own comfort.
A report in Treehugger, an environmental magazine, says that Americans buy an average of 70 items of clothing a year, and later much of it remains forgotten in the closet. A similar study by a German university estimated that 60% of clothing purchases are not necessary and are seldom worn. In rapid time the style passes and the garment loses it’s charm.
Fast Fashion may seem like a good thing in providing a constant supply of the newest designs, but it takes its toll on the environment, labor practices, and our own comfort. Fast Fashion means that manufacturers contract to companies in some of the poorest countries in the world—Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, and others where wages are low and standards of protection for the workers and the environment are ignored—and they use the cheapest of synthetic materials. The waste products—the dyes and chemicals and byproducts—are often pitched into the environment, the waterways, and the air, causing health problems for the people and the environment of the area. Workers, mostly women, work long hours without benefits or safety measures.
Because the fabrics and the process of producing all these new clothes are of poor quality, they soon lose their “fresh look.” They stretch out of shape, and the colors deteriorate. Synthetic fabrics cause skin allergies for many wearers. The cloth traps heat inside, making the garments uncomfortable. Styles pass, the items are no longer worn. Low prices are offset by the product’s short life span.
Fast Fashion has also created an environmental hazzard. Tons of discarded, unwanted clothes have become a serious problem as the synthetic materials do not break down. Tons of used, unwanted apparel are shipped to poor countries to be distributed, but much is waste because of its poor condition. Areas in Kenya and Chile and other poor countries have become dumping grounds for those formerly high-fashion products.
How can we help create a more postive environment and still be “well dressed?” By being prudent when shopping, whether it’s for clothes or household products such as curtains or bedsheets. Ask yourself if the purchase is really necessary, or do you buy on impulse? Look for quality. Check labels for fabric content and where the garment was made. Is it an item that will last?
Buying in “used shops” can yield quality items at comfortable prices. It’s a form of recylcing. Buy clothing made of natural fibers, although cotton and denim also contaminate from their use of fertilizers and water in production. Parents can teach their children that they do not need to have the latest style all the time.
A good sign is that there is a growing consciousness among major stores and brands to check the abuses caused by Fast Fashion by carrying only products made under just and safe conditions for workers and the environment. Through the use of careful buying habits we can help improve conditions for workers and the environment.
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