Who pays the price for fast fashion?
As we have talked about in previous articles the dangers of fast fashion, in this article I will breakdown who is paying for fast fashion at all stages. Here is a quote to guide this article from Sustainable fashion activist; Lucy Siegle. ”FAST FASHION IS NOT FREE, SOMEONE SOMEWHERE IS PAYING”
The cycle of fast fashion.
Simply put, after identifying fast fashion brands that are notorious for mass production, it is important to analyse the activities that happen in the background and who pays the price at every level. This then will make you question whether or not the low price you pay for a garment is worth the damage it causes during its existence.
Materials:
- Farmers suffer from use of pesticides and dangerous air working conditions.
- Use of water which is a limited resource to mass produce chemicals to dye and make synthetic fabrics.
- Unfair trade conditions for local farmers and workers in factories.
- Poor animal welfare for high end fast fashion brands.
- Use of Oil synthetics that pollute.
Fabric and garment production
- Use of chemicals in dyeing and tanning
- Water and energy use in excess and pollution on the way out with these chemicals.
- Tailors and factory workers that have to quickly fill orders in poor working conditions with no human rights protocols followed at very low wages.
- Waste in careless cutting of fabrics and burning the excess that does not make the quality control cut.
Retail:
- Very low prices that kick out authentic local designers, leaving them unemployed.
- Excessive advertisement to manipulate consumers into buying what they want for the moment and not what they need.
- Poor trade deals on supply chain levels with suppliers from poor communities being bullied into accepting low prices for their products.
- Lots of resources used in the packaging process that are not sustainable.
- Excessive use of energy in form of transportation for these products to reach the entire world in fast fashion stores.
Usage:
- Short-lived euphoria of owning a trendy product.
- Cheap fabric that stretches out after three wears.
- Loss of value due to seeing the product with many people (no exclusivity).
- Energy use in washing, drying and ironing.
Disposal:
- High end fast fashion stores burn the products that were not bought in the season to maintain exclusivity.
- Cheap outfits end up in Africa and third world countries in landfills or on local markets for low prices and a low life span.
Infographic showing the cycle of fast fashion
Who then is paying ?
- The poor farmers in far away communities with low bargaining power with big monopolies.
- The oceans, the air and the soil that are being degraded and polluted at every stage.
- The factory workers whose livelihoods has been taken away by making them offer slave labor by maintaining poor conditions in these communities to benefit form the cheap labour.
- Local designers in every community whose work and value has been taken out by fast fashion and the use of manipulative capitalist techniques that make people buy more than they need.
- Loss of value of creation and meaningful fashion that is inspired by something beneficial and sustainable.
- The environment suffers at every level, from degrading it for raw material where soil cycles are stretched and render the lands useless due to excessive remains of fertilisers and pesticides that linger in the air and water making people and animals sick.
- African landfills are filled with piles of textile waste that clogs drains, enters water bodies like lakes killing water life and many times, ends up in the soil. Please look below for my TikTok video I did relating to this in the link down below.
Food for thought
Conclusion
In conclusion, it remains up to the consumers to be more educated on the brands that they support, to do extensive research and help in the process of making the fashion world a fun place for everyone and not just a few people.
Let us put to light these atrocities and dangers of fast fashion to our well being, let us stop consuming overly produced items that we do not need and are bad for everyone and our limited earth resources that have been extensively polluted and depleted.
Let us start to support local designers and slow fashion designers where you get to have a personal feeling with the person making your garment. This makes the experience more personal and more progressive than giving in to a low price for a meaningless garment. Please support my shop and buy one of a kind hand-made, sustainable products.https://theturah.wpcomstaging.com/shop/
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