Category: Unit 2 (Page 5 of 54)

 The darker side of fast fashion

By Keysha Lopez

            I always liked to have cute outfits and as a teenager I should be informed about what’s happening in the fashion industry. At first I didn’t know anything about fast fashion. I just buy clothes from random stores.  Fashion is important in our  life because we can express ourselves with the clothes we wear.  One example of this is Michelle Obama on inauguration day wearing a beautify outfit of all purple. Michelle creates an outfit with a message and nat only to all the women in the government. This Is happening because some women don’t have a voice and the only way that they can see her opinion is by the clothing they wear. Even if you  like fashion or don’t it is important to know, because every piece of clothing is part of you. 

          Fast fashion plays a good game in our life because it is about making trendy clothes quick, cheap, and disposable. With that being said people are able to archive to get the clothing they want because fast fashion creates replicas of expensive clothing or brands and sells it for cheap. The way that fast fashion gets the clothing is with several retailers that are able to look at the runways and make garments really quickly. Most of the people buy from fast fashion brands and they don’t even know. During the past years this has been a big problem for not only workers rights But also the environment because it is causing Pollution to the earth.

We all should consider what is happening with fast fashion as a problem because we all cause this problem by spending a lot of money on clothing that you will only wear one time. I’m not saying that you should not buy from fast fashion brands because most of the people don’t have enough money to buy clothing with good quality. It’s all dependent on you if you want to buy a clothes that is cheap but with no quality. Instead of  buying expensive clothing  but with good quality. But people should be informed about the working condition that those workers are exposed to and the bad salary. Also that we are hurting our planet without even knowing. The way that we look is important to all humans on the earth because we are able to express ourselves. Every piece that we wear says something about you. That’s why fashion is important nowadays. In general people want to look good or have a cute outfit to take pictures and post on social media. 

Not everything is beautiful as it appears. According to a fashion historian Tim Gunn,  “Fast fashion is also about, when we say fast it’s not gonna last very long.” What it means is that fast fashion clothing is really cheap and it’s clothing that doesn’t have any quality and that’s why it is not gonna last longer than others. One example is a fast fashion store called Shein.com that most of them exist online not in person and in the year 2020. It  had 121% of the fastest growing fast fashion retailer website in the United states. This’s according to statista, Remwe.com as the second one and Zara.com as the third one. What this means is that a lot of people buy from these stores. This also shows that the stores that sell clothing of quality they dont sell a lot of clothes. This Is because people can get the same clothing for a cheap price.  The way of thinking is that most women don’t like to repeat a piece of  clothing. They just focus on the outfit or what is trading on social media. Also this makes the opportunity for people to dress as their favorite influencers. Fast fashion makes replicas with the purpose of selling these clothing. For example Kim Kardashion wears a dress for her birthday in less than 24 hours and fashion nova have the same dress. Kim kardashion has thousands of followers on social media. A lot of people will definitely buy that dress. In 1980 the average of american that bought 12 new clothes every year. But nowadays they buy  68 clothing  every year. This is relevant because the amount of clothing that people buy has changed because of all fast fashion stores that we have nowadays.

People buy from fast fashion stores and don’t even know the working condition of the factory that these companies make the clothing.  One reason why fast fashion is a problem most of our clothes are made in places where worker’s rights are nonexistent, it shows that the terrible working condition in the factory, most of our clothes are made in places where worker’s rights are nonexistent, it tells us that most of the clothes we wear are made in countries where the rights of citizens are limited. This is important because we have to be aware of what we buy and where the clothes we buy come from. The amount of hours that people work in manufacturing countries is fourteen to sixteen hours per day and they work the seven days of the week. The total amount of hours that they made is around 96 hours per week.  And since that was not enough, the salary is very minimal “ So in summary, these brands are bragging about paying their employees 5 times less than what a person actually needs to live with dignity.” What this demonstrates is that the salary that they pay for those poor people is a pittance compared to what those people work for. This also demonstrated that the salary is so low that they don’t live well. The low price of fast fashion clothing  has this cost. That’s the reason why the prices are so low. Another reason is that  “168 million children in the world are forced to work.” and this happens through the Fashion industry. This is very important because people have to be aware of what is happening in the world and be informed. In particular I didn’t have the slightest idea of what was happening until I started doing this article.

        We are hurting our planet without even knowing. According to Rachel Brow,  each american in the United States throws away 7 million towns of clothing but in the past 20 years this number has doubled to 14 million tons. This is important because most of the people are throwing away all this clothes and only wearing them. “In 2015, textile production created more greenhouse gases than international flights and maritime shipping combined.”   This is very important because the clothes that we put on are doing more damage than the flights that came. The real problem is the fabrics of the clothes are made from.  Only to make the cotton grow to make a jacket takes 10,330 liters of water, and this is equal to 24 years of drinking water for one person.   This is very important because most of these clothes end up in landfills and this is a waste of materials. Imagine all the sacrifice and the worker’s condition that the employee makes to make a piece of clothing to end it up in the landfills.

        A solution for this problem is that we should recycle our clothing or sell it. One way that we can sell our used clothing is to download the poshmark app and start selling the clothes you no longer wear. This is a very good idea instead of throwing out your clothes.Most of the dresses that I am selling in my store I only wore them once for a special occasion and you can also do the same. It can be any type of clothing for both adults and children. An efficient way to sell it faster is by posting it on social networks.This page sells clothes that are used and people them much cheaper than the original price. The price you have is with shipping included. This helps a title  but not to fix the problem. With that being said we should consider what is going on fast fashion and stop buying their clothing. 

      In conclusion we should consent  for people who constantly buy clothes. We had no information base on how and where the clothes are made or the working conditions that the workers undergo. And when we buy these clothes what we do is support the factories that agree to all inhumane working conditions and the damage that is causing to the earth. I decided to talk about this issue because I feel that I need to inform myself and improve and this project helped me to know myself as a person and to know what I really agree with. One of the things was that I really bought excessively fast fashion clothes when I only wear them once. I had no information base on how and where the clothes are made or the working conditions that the workers undergo. And when we buy these clothes what we do is support the factories that agree to all inhumane working conditions. 

Articles

https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/old-working-conditions

https://www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/textile-waste-environmental-crisis

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3 bObac

graph 

https://www-statista-com.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/statistics/1212263/fast