Fast Fashion: Today’s trend is tomorrow’s trash
In our article we will illuminate the consequences of fast fashion and also the impact from COVID-19 on it. Will we see a rethinking on the consumer side?
An entry by Sinja Schmidt and Sophia Huebl
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Media, Technology and Society
Fast Fashion – a term that everyone from us heard before. If not, I’m pretty sure everyone of us already came into touch with this in the past. It’s about clothes that are made and sold cheaply, that people can buy new clothes often. It could also be defined as cheap, trendy clothings that tries out ideas from the catwalks and brings them to the shops at a rapid pace. Around 2000 the highest possible speed was reached. Manufactures like H&M, Zara, Primark and many more became synonymous with fast fashion. The reasons why companies go for fast fashion are very simple: increase sales, customer loyalty and expansion! In combination with very cheap production of the goods in countries with sometimes the worst working conditions – the whole concept is designed for extreme profit maximisation. The end consumer buys more than is actually necessary because of the constantly new selection and low prices. Fashion becomes a commodity that can be replaced several times a year.
20% clothing on German closet are not worn
To express this fact clearly in numbers, fast fashion labels like H&M and Zara produce between 16 and 24 collections in a year. While our consumption in 2000 was still at 50 billion garments per year, this alone has doubled to 100 billion garments per year by 2015! German households spent almost 64 billion euros a year on clothing, which means an amount of about 780 euros per citizen. On average, German consumers buy 60 items of clothing per year, but wear them for only half as long as they did 15 years ago. Of just under 95 items of clothing in the German closet, 20% are not worn on average.
The chart below shows the course clearly while the consumption gets bigger and bigger and the wearing time is getting shorter and shorter.
Consequences
So what are the actual consequences of fast fashion production – besides enormous waste? Yet behind every T-shirt hides a monstrous industry that devours vast amounts of resources, releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and chemicals into our waters.
60 million people work in the fashion industry. Many of them in the global south and under inhumane conditions. An example of this is the collapsed Rana Plaza textile factory in Bangladesh. Tragically, this incident has drawn the world’s attention to the working conditions in the fashion industry. Work-related illnesses affect 27 million textile workers every year. This is also due, for example, to the 43 million tonnes of chemicals used in textile production every year, which affect the quality of life of the workers. For the environment, the fast fashion business also has many impacts that go far beyond the transport of goods from the factories to the shops. Every year, the entire fashion industry causes over 1400 Million tonnes of CO2, far more than all air travel and shipping combined. The production of 10 pairs of jeans causes almost as much CO2 as flying once from Berlin to Munich.522 million kilograms of microplastics end up in the sea per year as a result of washing synthetic fibre clothing. In addition, approximately 92 million tonnes of waste are generated annually through the disposal of fashion items alone.
Solutions against Fast Fashion
There is no ultimate solution against Fast Fashion but some thinking punches how everyone of us can make a contribution:
- Overthink your consume: Wear clothes longer which means only buy new ones when you really need something.
- Shop sustainable clothes: Under the term Slow Fashion, a number of manufacturers have developed an alternative to Fast Fashion.
- Buy Second-Hand: Sustainable fashion can be achieved without a big budget. Second hand shops are a great way to give a second life to someone else’s discarded clothes.
- Wash less: Low washing temperatures, no dryer use and airing out instead of washing when clothes are not really dirty are some tricks for less consumption and wear and tear.
- Attract Attention: Share the issue in our own social environment to draws attention to it.
Impact of COVID-19 on Fast Fashion
In recent months, there has been increasing discussion about whether COVID-19 will bring a change in the fast fashion industry or not. There are two sides to look at, because the massive drop in sales did not only hit the labels!
First of all the closing of stores and the accumulation of unsold clothing put some of the fashion industry in financial straits. The situation led some labels to cancel entire collections with their clothing manufactures with the result that there was no more work for the tailors there, and the small wage for one month did not materialize at all.
Another Consequence are the red numbers and future forecasts: Normally, 80% of sales in the fashion industry are generated by stores and only 20% online. That’s why the Corona pandemic is hitting the fast fashion industry hard. Of course online sales rised in the last few month and will continue to rise but would not compensate for the lack of store sales. Another impact of COVID-19 is that many fashion labels have to slow down their pace. What means launching fewer collections per year and keeping them longer in the shops. Those who produce slowly, in small quantities and timelessly are currently among the winners. Ultimately, the pandemic also led to a rethink on the customer side. In the crisis, sustainability is suddenly in demand and the trend is towards second-hand fashion, some survey results show.
All over Fast fashion poses a significant challenge to our society. To date, there is no all-encompassing solution to this situation. On the one hand, Covid-19 slows down the fashion industry, reducing pollution. On the other hand, curbing fast fashion also means a loss of livelihood for millions of tailors. The fact is, who pays the true price for fast fashion is unclear.
If you are more interested in this topic you can find further information about this topic here: https://bit.ly/3h63RL6
Sources for this article:
Brydges, T., Retamal, M. & Hanlon, M. (2020). Will COVID-19 support the transition to a more sustainable fashion industry? Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 16(1), 298–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2020.1829848
Christliche Initiative Romero e.V. (CIR). (2019). Fast Fashion – Eine Bilanz in 3 Teilen. https://www.ci-romero.de/produkt/dossier-fast-fashion/?gclid=CjwKCAjwg4-EBhBwEiwAzYAlsp9_kTp9EmQ3C0_fQIRX2sSYJ113n39_E4BbHtS5y4yulbQa9_0_xhoCRfYQAvD_BwE
Land, T. & Land, T. (2020, 4. Juni). Fast oder fair – fördert Corona die Nachhaltigkeit in der Modebranche? swr.online. https://www.swr.de/swr2/leben-und-gesellschaft/fast-oder-fair-foerdert-corona-die-nachhaltigkeit-in-der-modebranche-swr2-geld-markt-meinung-2020-06-06-100.html
Louven, S. & Kolf, F. (2020, 12. Juni). Corona: Die Krise bedroht das Erfolgsmodell der Modebranche. Handelsblatt. https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/handel-konsumgueter/fast-fashion-die-coronakrise-bedroht-das-erfolgsmodell-der-modebranche/25905298.html?ticket=ST-3731593-Fydff2PW1YmlsGSytW4W-ap4
Preview picture: Photo by freestocks on Unsplash
Header: Photo by Nick de Partee on Unsplash