Fast Fashion

Clothes shopping used to be an occasional event –

something that happened a few times a year when the
seasons changed, or we outgrew what we had. But about
20 years ago something changed. Clothes became cheaper,
trend cycles sped up and shopping became a form of
entertainment. Enter Fast Fashion – and the global chains
that now dominate our high streets and online.
Fast fashion can be defined as cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity
culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at breakneck speed.
For many shoppers, Primark has an irresistible offer: trendy clothes at astonishingly low prices. The result is
a new and even faster kind of fast fashion, which encourages consumers to buy heaps of items, discard them
after a few wears and then come back for another batch of new outfits. — The Economist

To understand how Fast Fashion came to be, we need to rewind a tiny bit. Before the 1800s, fashion was
slow. You had to source your own materials like wool or leather, prepare them, weave them and then make the
clothes. The Industrial Revolution introduced new technology – like the sewing machine. Clothes became
easier, quicker and cheaper to make. Dressmaking shops emerged to cater for the middle classes. By the
1960s and 70s, young people were creating new trends and clothing became a form of personal expression,
but there was still a distinction between high fashion and high street. In the late 1990s and 2000s, low-cost
fashion reached its zenith. Online shopping took off, and Fast Fashion retailers like H&M, Zara and Topshop
took over the high street. These brands took the looks and design elements from the top fashion houses and
reproduced them quickly and cheaply. With everyone now able to shop for on-trend clothes whenever they
wanted, it’s easy to understand how the phenomenon caught on.

Many of the retailers that we know today as Fast Fashion big players, like Zara or H&M , started as smaller
shops in Europe around the 1950s. It’s when Zara landed in New York at the beginning of 1990s, that people
first heard the term “Fast Fashion”. It was coined by the New York Times to describe Zara’s mission to only
take 15 days for a garment to go from the design stage to being sold in stores.
Other big names in Fast Fashion today include UNIQLO , GAP , Primark and TopShop , but while these
brands were once seen as radically cheap disruptors, there now are even cheaper and faster alternatives,
like Missguided , Forever 21 , Zaful , Boohoo and more recently, Fashion Nova .

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The following words are phrasal verbs found in the article. Find a synonym for each phrasal verb and make a
sentence with it.

sped up _______________ ________________________________________

outgrew _______________ ________________________________________

come back _______________ ________________________________________

took off _______________ ________________________________________

took over _______________ ________________________________________

caught on ________________ ________________________________________

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Pick out the comparatives in the text and form sentences with them using the superlative form.

Faster ___________ ______________________________________________________

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Answer the questions.

What 3 things led to fast fashion.

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In your own words, define fast fashion.
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What invention led to clothes becoming cheaper
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By the 1960s and 70s, young people used clothing as a form of personal expression. Give examples
1960s ___________________________
1970s ___________________________
1980s ___________________________
1990s ___________________________
From your own personnel knowledge, describe some of these trends
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In the late 1990s and 2000s, low-cost fashion reached its zenith. What does this mean?
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In your opinion, how did online shopping impact fast fashion?
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Where did Fast Fashion retailers find their inspiration for their clothing?
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Who invented the phrase " Fast Fashion " and why?
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Name 4 Fast Fashion retailers.
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 What’s the impact of Fast Fashion?

Fast Fashion’s impact on the planet is huge. The pressure to reduce costs
and speed up production time means that environmental corners are more
likely to be cut. Fast Fashion’s negative impact includes its use of cheap,
toxic textile dyes – with the fashion industry the second largest polluter of
clean water globally after agriculture. That’s why Greenpeace has been
pressuring brands to remove dangerous chemicals from their supply chains through its Detox The Catwalk
campaign.

Cheap textiles also increase Fast Fashion’s impact. Polyester is one of the
most popular fabrics. It’s derived from fossil fuels, contributing to global
warming, and can shed microfibres that add to the increasing levels of
plastic in our oceans when it’s put through a wash. But even ‘natural
fabrics’ can be a problem at the scale fast fashion demands. Cotton
requires enormous quantities of water and pesticides in developing
countries. This results in risks of drought, creates huge amounts on
stress on water basins and other environmental concerns biodiversity and
soil quality, competition for resources between companies and local
communities.

The speed at which garments are produced also means that more and
more clothes are disposed of by consumers, creating a huge amount of
textile waste. In the UK alone, 235 million pieces of clothing were thought to have been sent to landfill in
spring 2017.

As well as the environmental cost of Fast Fashion, there’s a human cost.

Fast Fashion impacts garment workers, who have been found to work in dangerous environments, for low
wages and without basic human rights. Further down the supply chain, there are the farmers who may work
with toxic chemicals that can have devastating impacts on their physical and mental health, a plight
highlighted by the documentary The True Cost.

Animals are also impacted by Fast Fashion, as the toxic dyes that are released
in waterways and microfibres that can be ingested by ocean life. When animal
products such as leather and fur are used, animal welfare is put at risk. A
recent scandal revealed that real fur, including cat fur, is actually being passed
off as faux fur to unknowing shoppers in the UK. The truth is that there is so
much real fur being produced under terrible conditions in fur farms, that it’s
actually become cheaper to produce and buy than faux fur.

Finally Fast Fashion can impact consumers themselves, encouraging the “throw-away” culture because of both
the built-in obsolescence of the products and the speed at which trends are produced. Fast Fashion makes
us believe we need to shop more and more to stay on top of trends, creating a constant sense of need and
ultimate disatisfaction. The trend has also been criticized on intellectual property grounds, with some
designers alleging that their designs have been illegally mass-produced by retailers.

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Answer the questions.
Fast Fashion is the number 1 cause of climate change. True False

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Why has Greenpeace has been pressuring brands to remove dangerous chemicals from their supply chains?

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How does cheap textiles increase Fast Fashion’s impact on the environment?

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Who and what is directly impacted by the high production of cotton plants? Explain why?

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What is a landfill site?

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What is the human cost of fast fashion?

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Fast fashion fills a necessity for consumer True False

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In your opinion, who benefits form fast fashion?

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Name the legal and social issues involved in Fast Fashion.

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 Is Fast Fashion in decline?
We are starting to see some changes in the fashion industry.
The anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse is now Fashion
Revolution Week, where people all over the world ask “Who
Made My Clothes?” Fashion Revolution declares that “we don’t
want our clothes to exploit people or destroy our planet”.

Millennials, the drivers of the future economy may have not be

catching the Fast Fashion bug. Some have argued that this
generation has “grown too clever for mindless consumerism, forcing producers to become more ethical, more
inclusive, and more liberal”.
There is also a growing interest towards moving to a more circular model of textile production, reusing
materials wherever and whenever possible. In 2018 both Vogue Australia and Elle UK have dedicated entire
issues of their magazines to sustainable fashion.

Is Fast Fashion Going Green?

As an increasing number of consumers call out the true cost
of the fashion industry, and especially Fast Fashion, we‘ve
seen a growing number of retailers introduce sustainable and
ethical fashion initiatives such as. These schemes, allow
customers to drop off unwanted items in “bins” in the brands’
stores. But it’s been highlighted that only 0.1% of all
clothing collected by charities and take-back programs is
recycled into new textile fibre.

What can we do?

The real issue with Fast Fashion is the speed at which it is produced, putting a huge pressure on the people
and the environment. Recycling and small eco clothing ranges (when they are not only for greenwashing) are
not enough to counter the “throw-away culture”, the waste, the strain on natural resources and the issues
created by Fast Fashion. The whole system needs to be changed.
At Good On You, we love this quote by British designer Vivienne Westwood, “buy less, choose well, make it
last.” Buying Less is the first, and here’s how you can fall back in love with the clothes you already own and
prioritize quality fashion over Fast Fashion.

Choose Well is the second step, choosing an eco-friendly fabric is complex as there are pros and cons to all
fibre types, but hopefully we have several material guides to help you, such as denim, linen, cotton and more.

Finally we should Make it Last and wear our clothes until they are worn out, and again we have tons of
resources, like our ultimate guide to making clothes last longer!
https://goodonyou.eco

Why is fast fashion declining? Give 3 reasons

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Do you know any brands that have in-store recycling schemes or who sell bio clothes?
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Below is a series of photos that illustrate the consequence for society as a direct or indirect result of
fast fashion. Write a synopsis of each picture.

Stage 1

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Stage 3

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Stage 5

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