Beetley 1

Emma Beetley

Professor Leonard

English 1201

1 May 2022

How Does Fast Fashion Effect the Clothing We Buy?

Fast fashion is something that some people might not realize that they are buying into

when they purchase a new “trendy” article of clothing or accessory. So, the question I would like

to answer is, “How does fast fashion affect the clothing we buy?” The definition of fast fashion

is, “‘cheaply produced and priced garments that copy the latest catwalk styles and get pumped

quickly through stores in order to maximize on current trends’” (Maiti 1). The main problem that

pertains to this is that when we see everyone wearing a certain article of clothing then we obtain

the urge to mimic it, which leads us towards buying into fast fashion. Nevertheless, fast fashion

affects many things like polluting the environment, creating inhumane working conditions, and

even deciding the clothing that we purchase.

Information that should be known about fast fashion is that it has progressively gotten

worse and worse over time and is becoming more common and recognized throughout the

years. “The drop in garment prices over the last 20 years has allowed us to buy more and more

clothes. We now have 5 times more clothes than our grandparents had” (Charpail 1). This

quote depicts how drastically the fashion industry has changed through. The same article also

mentions how for every 10 pieces of clothing we choose to buy, our grandparents only bought

2 clothing pieces.

The outrageous number of negative environmental impacts that fast fashion causes is

absurd. “The fashion industry is the second largest consumer industry of water, requiring
 Beetley 2

about 700 gallons to produce one cotton shirt and 2 000 gallons of water to produce a pair of

jeans” (Maiti 9). One of the primary materials used to produce clothing is cotton. Cotton is a

crop that requires about 20,000 liters of water which only produces 1 kg of cotton. With this

being said, there is a gargantuan amount of water that becomes consumed and possibly even

wasted through the fashion industry. Many countries have water shortages, and if society was not

using such a large amount to produce clothing, then we could provide large amounts of water to

countries in need. Also, there is tons of polluted water being created from the companies that are

using up these large amounts of water. Which is resulting in a large amount of aquatic life

becoming harmed.

Microfibers are a huge portion of these toxins being released into our water. “Every time

a synthetic garment gets washed around 700,000 little microfibers get released into our water,

which makes its way into our oceans. When we wear these synthetic materials that are being

used in fast fashion, a portion of microfibers gets released into the air just from wearing the

clothing that contains these synthetic materials. Also, these microfibers take hundreds of years to

decompose or biodegrade. When something like this goes to the landfills and takes hundreds of

years to decompose thoroughly it is increasingly making the landfills harder to decompose and in

turn is hurting our precious environment more and more.

Figure 1. This image represents how microfibers

move from our clothing all the way to our

ecosystems which in turn effect the food we

consume. (Charpail)
 Beetley 3

Most people do not realize that a main component in our clothing is chemicals.

Chemicals are used in cotton farming, and these chemicals are shortening the life of our cotton

farmers and the chemicals are polluting all types of water and soil. “The fashion industry plays a

major part in degrading soil in different ways: overgrazing of pastures through cashmere goats

and sheep raised for their wool; degradation of the soil due to massive use of chemicals to

grow cotton; deforestation caused by wood-based fibers like rayon” (Charpail 37). Another

factor relating to chemicals is pollution. Specifically, greenhouse gases. When producing

clothing there is a large amount of energy being consumed, and to produce the energy that is

being consumed, there must be a source that most likely results in a harmful form of pollution,

such as petroleum and acids.

The fast fashion industry is also creating inhumane working conditions. These conditions

include air that is unbreathable due to large amounts of pollution, which is a huge health risk.

These dangerous occurrences cause, fires, injuries, and diseases. “On top of that, clothing

workers regularly face verbal and physical abuse. In some cases, when they fail to meet their

(unreachable) daily target, they are insulted, denied breaks, or not allowed to drink water”

(Charpial 49). All these factors are unacceptable, and if more people were educated on this

information, then maybe these workers could be helped or compensated for their distress. Not to

mention the hours that these civilians are forced to pursue. Most of the time they are forced to

work fourteen to sixteen hours a day, and when in peak fashion season they sometimes must stay

till two or three in the morning.

Many companies have misinformed their customers that they provide their workers with

at least the minimum wage. Whereas what people do not realize is that minimum wage in most
 Beetley 4

countries is not near enough to live off of or to support a family. In many countries minimum

wage is only around 1/5 of what it takes to have a salary big enough to live off. If families are

not earning a pay that they can live off of, then their living conditions will start to decrease

drastically.

Figure 2. This image depicts the minimum wage versus the wage that is needed to actually live
off of in different countries. Almost all the countries listed only provide less than half of what is
needed. (Charpail)

Child labor is a big thing in the fashion industry. The number of children that are forced

to work is a whopping 160 million kids. The fashion industry does not require much skill, so

child labor is a common practice in this work force. A loathsome fact is that there was an

occurrence in South India where around 100,000 girls were working in a practice in which they

had been forced to work in a textile factory for three to five years of their life in order to obtain
 Beetley 5

payment at the end of their allotted time, and these girls were forced to work in such conditions

that this could be classified as modern slavery. Another form of labor that is popular in the

fashion industry is forced labor. Forced labor has resulted in people having to leave their jobs to

go work in different conditions to accommodate for high demands of a product. Sometimes

children must leave to school altogether to go work in these horrendous conditions.

Some of our favorite stores to shop at are big culprits of selling fast fashion. On the other

hand because we do not realize all the negative effects of fast fashion, we continue to shop at

these “favorite stores”. Which include H&M, Zara, Forever 21, Shein, Romwe, ext. These stores

are producing our new favorite trendy clothing that we all love super-fast, so that they can get the

clothing on shelves and sell it to us for those affordable prices that we love. “In 2012, Zara was

able to design, produce and deliver a new garment in two weeks; Forever 21 in six weeks and

H&M in eight weeks. This results in the fashion industry producing obscene amounts of waste”

(Maiti 8).

Because these stores can provide the clothing to our shelves in such a timely manner, it

often persuades us to buy these articles of clothing. We buy them because we see that the store

wants to accommodate to our needs of wanting the latest clothing trends right away. Many stores

happen to sell fast fashion because it sells very well for them and if the customers are happy and

making the company money then the company is happy, and they will continue to buy the fast

fashion clothing items and sell them to the customers. If customers realized all the negative

effects that are occurring when they buy these clothing items, then maybe the fashion industry

could change for the better and more sustainable and environmentally friendly clothing could be

produced.
 Beetley 6

There are lots of ways we can stay away from fast

fashion and many ways we can reduce our

environmental impact. The first way we can reduce

our environmental impact is buying less. Many

people buy clothes that they end up not even wearing

and then once it sits in their closet untouched for

months, they just decide to throw them away because

they do not need or want the article anymore. So, by

just buying the clothing that you “need” then you are

improving your environmental impact.

Figure 3. This image shows eight ways we can

reduce our negative impact on the environment

through washing our clothing differently. (Charpail)

Another way you can stay away from fast fashion

and improve your environmental impact is by buying from sustainable brands that use recycled

materials. It is semi- difficult to find sustainable brands and they might not be as cheap as an

option but the more that society buys and demands sustainable clothing and less of fast fashion

then the cheaper it can become. Before you buy a piece of clothing make sure you research the

company to make sure they are not trying to sell you fast fashion. Now this may seem like more
 Beetley 7

work than just ordering a five-dollar shirt from Shein, every time you buy sustainable clothing,

you are helping the environment.

A popular way to buy cheap clothing that is better for the environment is by thrifting.

This method works both ways, by donating your clothing to a Goodwill or even by selling it on

your Facebook Marketplace are both better options than throwing out your unwanted clothing.

Buying clothing from thrift stores is fun and exciting. You never know what cool pieces you can

find, and it makes you more unique and different from everyone else. Sometimes you can find

brand new clothing at thrift stores, and they could be a quarter of the price than what you would

pay at the store, which saves consumers lots of money and more people should be informed

about this.

Some companies are trying to put a stop to the fast fashion industry by starting something

called “slow fashion” or “slow wear”. One way that consumers are assisting in slow fashion is by

buying from second-hand stores or thrifting. Some shoppers even advocate for clothes renting,

which in such case there are companies that consumers can rent articles of clothing from and

then return the articles, or they could swap it out for a new piece. Many individuals aren’t as

educated on the other possibilities as they should be.

The slow fashion movement started in Italy in the 1980s. Consumers wanted to turn away

from the mass food production and become more sustainable. “The main focus of slow fashion

discussions became the emphasis on quality—quality materials and quality production practices

and labor. In 2007, for instance, the term slow fashion was described as apparel and accessories

that incorporated quality and craftsmanship” (Choi 12). Slowear is something that is almost the

same as slow fashion, “a new line of clothes called Slowear, based in Italy, promises to keep its
 Beetley 8

styles always available. Down with instant obsolescence” (Gardner 9). With companies like this,

we can slowly put an end to the fast fashion industry.

Slow fashion is something that fashion companies are attempting to pursue to put an end

to fast fashion and make clothing more sustainable. With all the negative environmental side

effects that include water usage, water pollution, microplastics and microfibers, chemicals,

pollution, and energy waste, this shows that the negatives definitely outweigh the positives. Also,

the working conditions, working wages, and horrible labor that is going on in the fashion

industry are the other negative effects of fast fashion. The earth would become so much healthier

if all of these effects were put to a stop.

Although there are many negative effects of buying into the fast fashion industry, there

are also some positive effects that some may take into consideration. One of the main positive

factors is the affordability of these products. Fast fashion produces very cheap and affordable

prices in the fashion industry. And cheap prices are very hard to stay away from when

considering buying a new article of clothing. Because buying something that is five dollars

versus the same thing from a sustainable clothing store that can cost five times as much is a hard

deal to pass up.

Another positive of buying into the fast fashion industry is that buying these clothing

items allows individuals to stay “in style” and up to date on the fashion trends that may currently

be going on. Most sustainable fashion brands are not the trendiest or up to date on the current

styles so it can be hard to find an article of clothing that is sustainable and “trendy”. “Consumers,

especially teenagers, love the concept, pioneered also by stores like H&M internationally and by

Old Navy and Target in the United States, since it allows them to shift styles with speed on a low

budget” (Rosenthal 3). Teenagers are always feeling pressured to keep up with the styles that
 Beetley 9

everyone else is showing off in order to fit in, and fast fashion allows for these teenagers to do

that without having to spend a fortune on clothing all the time to stay up to date on the latest

fashion trends.

An alternative way we could help others to avoid the fast fashion industry is by giving

them informative evidence on all the negative side effects of fast fashion. Another thing that

could be done is reminding them which stores should be avoided when buying articles of

clothing and accessories. Making fun trips to thrift stores with a group of friends is also a great

way to be sustainable and trendy. Buying used clothing is such a great alternative way to acquire

new fashion articles without overcoming the peer pressure of buying a new item at a fast fashion

retail store.

In conclusion, most people do not tend to think on how buying that shirt is helping to

destroy the environment or how the company that you are purchasing your clothing items from is

using child labor to produce that clothing. There are lots of things that need to be taken into

consideration when buying clothing. Consumers need to become more educated about the

clothing they are purchasing on the day-to-day basis, and as a society as a whole we need to

work towards using sustainable clothing options as much as possible. Fast fashion effects many

things like polluting the environment, creating inhumane working conditions, and even

decides the clothing we purchase.

 Beetley 10

Works Cited

Charpail, Mathilde. “Fashion & Environment.” SustainYourStyle, 2017,

https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/en/whats-wrong-with-the-fashion-industry. Accessed 1

May 2022.

Choi, Tsan-Ming. Fast Fashion Systems. 1st edition, CRC Press, 2013. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=cat01128a&AN=scc.b2135316&site=eds-live. Accessed 1 May 2022.

Gardner, Marilyn. "Fast Fashion Is a Problem." The Fashion Industry, edited by Roman

Espejo, Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010660214/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-

OVIC&xid=bcca9cc2. Accessed 6 Mar. 2022. Originally published as "Fashion Industry

Gives Rise to a 'Disposable Culture,'," The Christian Science Monitor, 2007. Accessed 1

May 2022.

Maiti, Rashmila. “Fast Fashion: Its Detrimental Effect on the Environment.” Earth.Org - Past |

Present | Future, 29 Jan. 2020, https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-

environment/. Accessed 1 May 2022.

Rosenthal, Elisabeth. "Fast Fashion May Have Benefits." The Fashion Industry, edited by

Roman Espejo, Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale In Context:

Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010660215/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=e247e362. Accessed 27 Mar. 2022. Originally

published as "Can Polyester Save the World?" New York Times, 25 Jan. 2007. Accessed 1

May 2022.