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Cecilia Crockett

Dr. Marisol Santana

English Composition 101

10 February 2024

The Cultural Impacts of the Loss of Artisan-Made Fashion

In the age of online shopping and fast fashion, it can be easy to lose sight of the

significance of the clothing we wear. The lack of preservation of historical and handmade

fashion has negatively impacted how we view fashion today, is contributing to the loss of

cultural memory and heritage, and is distancing us from the artisans who make our garments.

Without these direct ancestral ties to our attire, we lose a piece of our societal identity. I have

been interested in historical and artisan fashion since I was a child. I researched the design and

process of making historical clothing, the intricate social cues of the way people dressed, and the

talented artisans who made people’s clothing. The fashion industry now has lost all of the care,

charm, and quality that it once had, which makes me sad.

To give context to this issue, let's start at the beginning. Before the 1700s, all clothing

was made by individual merchants or made at home. In mid-18th Century France, new guilds of

seamstresses were established and eventually became the first fashion Couture houses. Then, due

to the Industrial Revolution, “undershirts and pantaloons made by impoverished pieceworkers

were the first mass-produced garments after the rise of textile mills, followed by corsets at

mid-century” (LitHub.com). Still, in the early 1800s, most clothing was handmade. For example,
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according to literary magazine Lithub, “A government report issued in 1811 found that

“two-thirds of all garments worn by inhabitants of the United States” were homemade”

(LitHub.com). Once this industry began to boom and technology advanced, however, all sorts of

garments were being mass-produced and sold at prices that individual artisans simply couldn't

compete with. Thus, the fashion industry as we know it was born.

In the mid-20th century, new fashion brands with their extensive catalogs and department

stores took over America. Many contemporary fashion brands got their start during this time.

“Many retailers we know today as the fast fashion big players, like Zara or H&M, started as

smaller shops in Europe around the 1950s. Technically, H&M is the oldest of the fast fashion

giants, having opened as Hennes in Sweden in 1947” (GoodOnYou.eco). The rise of modern fast

fashion came not long after. “The term, “fast fashion” was first used at the beginning of the

1990s, when Zara opened in New York” (Greenly.earth). This made way for a whole new era of

consumerism in fashion.

In the age of online shopping and fast fashion, it can be easy to lose sight of the

significance of the clothing we wear. The fast fashion industry has taken a massive toll on the

way we view the value of our clothing. For example, “Every year, people in the United States

throw out more than 34 billion pounds of used textiles. Divided across the population, that’s

more than 100 pounds of textile waste per person each year” (bu.edu). This disregard for the

value of our clothing is due to the oversaturation of new styles and designs available on the

market, and the comparatively low cost of production and purchase. When shopping for our

clothing, the only thing we think about is the next hot trend, not the sustainability and quality of

our garments. This not only causes massive amounts of waste that ends up in landfills, but it also
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poses a threat to Earth’s delicate atmosphere. According to Earth.org, “If a business-as-usual

scenario prevails in the coming years – meaning that no action is taken to reduce fast fashion

waste – the industry’s global emissions will likely double by the end of the decade” (Earth.org).

By cutting down on the amount of “disposable” fashion we consume, we can reduce our

contribution to landfills and global warming.

Consumerism has dominated the fashion industry for over a century, driving talented

artisans to the fringes of society’s attention. By transitioning to mass-produced, machine-made

clothing, the general public has lost access to the detail and quality of handmade fashion. As

stated in Matter Prints Journal, “Fast fashion has robbed us of true connection to what we wear,

pushed us to forget the memories sewn into each seam and the hands which painstakingly created

them” (MatterPrints.com). The average consumer no longer has access to this art, and instead

chooses the cheaper, trendy option of corporate fashion. In modern times, more often than not

the people making our clothing are underpaid and overworked members of marginalized

communities who are exposed to dangerous chemicals and unsafe working conditions. For

instance, “While fast fashion offers consumers an opportunity to buy more clothes for less, those

who work in or live near textile manufacturing facilities bear a disproportionate burden of

environmental health hazards” (BioMedCentral.com). The people affected by these chemicals

are usually a part of marginalized and underserved communities who have no choice but to make

their living working in these fast fashion factories.

Another side effect of this loss of handmade clothing is its effect on our cultural identity.

The corporate world is slowly erasing the dedicated craftsmanship of indigenous communities.

Many indigenous and marginalized communities keep their cultural legacies alive through their
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clothes. According to Mikelle Street, “Tradition is also passed down in the creation and

construction of our clothes. The way things are made, the materials, and the process, are all

embedded into our communities and cultures” (Google Arts & Culture). Many cultural styles and

designs would be lost to time without these ethnic practices to hand down. In many indigenous

cultures, for example, you cannot read about these garments and practices online or in books. As

explained by Mary Magiskan of the Anishinaabe tribe, “Because of the sacredness of these

teachings I cannot write them down as they are traditionally passed down from generation to

generation orally through storytelling and song” (Glossimag.com). This requires there to be both

a giver and receiver of this cultural information for these traditions to survive. Without interest in

these cultural practices, the entire art would die out.

One could argue that artisan-made clothing is simply not accessible to the average

person. The price of handmade garments is exponentially higher than factory-made clothing.

This is for a good reason, as hand-making a garment takes incredible time, skill, and materials.

As stated by small business owner of Janery, “I was nervous before the launch because I knew

some people would see the $125 – $195 price tag and be shocked at how “expensive” they were”

(TheBorrowedAbode.com). These artisans and small business owners know the quality of their

products and the time it takes to make them and price them accordingly.

It is also true that it can be hard to tell if the “small business” your clothing is coming

from actually supports talented artisans. With the thousands of websites to choose from, some

will be run by greedy corporations wanting to profit off of your desire to shop small. “Artisan

textile exploitation has been running rampant throughout the country as brands claiming to be

fairly or ethically traded forgo relationships with artisans for easy purchasing through
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middlemen” (MatterPrints.com). Careful research on the products you wish to buy, however, can

solve this issue. When shopping from an individual artisan, always make sure the site is

authentic.

It is my personal opinion that the fashion industry peaked during the Industrial

Revolution. Clothing manufacturers now only care about sales and profit. How much clothing

they can produce and how they can boost demand. This has created a toxic relationship between

fashion and the general public. In the past, people owned a finite wardrobe and cherished every

piece in it. New clothing was a luxury for only special occasions or the very wealthy. Milleners,

corsetiers, tailors, and seamstresses were highly sought-after craftspeople who were proud of

their work. They produced one-of-a-kind, high-quality merchandise that was tailored specifically

to the client’s needs. Now, most of the clothing we buy is made in sweatshops and sold online by

soulless corporations. This downward turn in the quality and emotion behind our garments is

truly a shame.

I won’t say I am not guilty of contributing to the fast fashion industry. As a broke college

student from a middle-class family, I grew up in, and still wear cheap, fast fashion clothes. I

understand it is not within the means of everyone to be buying exclusively from small business

owners and “slow fashion” retailers. I simply ask that we become more aware of our buying

habits as a society. Even just continuing to wear what we have in our closets and cutting down on

overconsumption of garments is a step in the right direction. We should be aware of the clothing

we put on our bodies and where it comes from. When buying new clothing, try and stick to

retailers who are open and transparent on their materials and production process. If you have the
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extra cash, support an indigenous-owned business selling traditional designs. Every step we take

in the right direction helps craftspeople and the environment.

In conclusion, this issue affects more than just the fashion industry. The waste from fast

fashion affects our environment and the workers in factories, indigenous communities are losing

their heritage and craftsmanship, and artisans and independent designers are being crushed by

huge corporations. Without the desire to preserve handmade and artisan fashion and designs, we

lose a huge part of our history as a society.

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Works Cited

Arts, Google. “How Fashion Meets Culture.” Google Arts & Culture,

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/how-fashion-meets-culture/gwLyN_zp-P

N1Lg. Accessed 10 Feb. 2024.

Bick, Rachel, et al. “The Global Environmental Injustice of Fast Fashion.” Environmental

Health: A Global Access Science Source, vol. 17, no. 1, 2018,

https://doi.org10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7.

DeJean, Joan. “When Women Ruled Fashion.” Lapham’s Quarterly,

https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/fashion/when-women-ruled-fashion. Accessed

10 Feb. 2024.

“How Artisan Textiles Are Revolutionizing the Fashion Industry.” Matter Prints, 13 July

2020,

https://www.matterprints.com/journal/guide/how-artisan-textiles-are-revolutionizi

ng-the-fashion-industry/.

Igini, Martina. “10 Concerning Fast Fashion Waste Statistics.” Earth.org, 21 Aug. 2023,

https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/.

Lundberg, Dielle. “The Aftermath of Fast Fashion: How Discarded Clothes Impact

Public Health and the Environment.” Www.bu.edu,

https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2022/the-aftermath-of-fast-fashion-how-dis
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carded-clothes-impact-public-health-and-the-environment/. Accessed 10 Feb.

2024.

Rauturier, Solene. “What Is Fast Fashion and Why Is It so Bad?” Good On You, 6 Aug.

2023, https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/.

Rooney, Cody. “Indigenous Fashion: A ‘Bright Future’ of Preservation, Reclamation and

Celebration.” Glossi Mag, 27 June 2017,

https://glossimag.com/indigenous-fashion-bright-future-preservation-reclamation-

celebration/.

Safdie, Stephanie. “All You Need to Know about Fast Fashion.” Greenly.Earth,

https://greenly.earth/en-us/blog/ecology-news/all-you-need-to-know-about-fast-fa

shion. Accessed 10 Feb. 2024.

Thanhauser, Sofi. “A Brief History of Mass-Manufactured Clothing.” Literary Hub, 27

Jan. 2022, https://lithub.com/a-brief-history-of-mass-manufactured-clothing/.

“The Issue of Exploitation and Appropriation of Artisan Textiles.” Matter Prints, 30 Mar.

2020,

https://www.matterprints.com/journal/community/appropriation-of-artisan-textiles

/.

“Why Are Handmade Products so Expensive?” The Borrowed Abode, 19 Nov. 2015,

https://theborrowedabode.com/2015/11/why-are-handmade-products-so-expensiv

e/.