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As we browse through our favourite online shopping websites, a notification suddenly pops up, informing us our favourite brand has just released its latest collection. Suddenly, we feel a rush of endorphins and dopamine signalling through our brains as we imagine ourselves wearing these clothes, blindsided by the price tags. For a moment, we take a step back, telling ourselves not to give in. However, our desires soon take over as one item multiplies into two. Within 15 minutes of retail therapy, our shopping cart consists of four pairs of ZARA jeans, 7 H&M blouses, and three pairs of Shein shoes. Although we feel a sense of pleasure, the environment might think otherwise. Whether we are aware or not, we have contributed to one of the biggest polluters on Earth. 

You might ask yourself: “How did we come to a stage where fashion companies — a once harmless industry that sparked the creativity of young minds to innovate — now have a reputation for destroying the environment?”

First, let’s delve into the causes from the perspective of firms. As years go by, fashion companies have become increasingly competitive. They constantly have to be on their toes — predicting future fashion trends to maximise profits and outperform their rivals. Firms have recently found difficulty in manufacturing a better-performing or more efficient blouse, handbag, or pair of socks, to motivate consumption. Therefore, this causes the industry to look into other alternatives. Instead of making better clothes, they make them cheaper and faster, leading to the emergence of fast fashion culture.  

Fast fashion is a design, manufacturing, and marketing method, focusing on producing high volumes of clothing. Fast fashion garment production leverages trend replication and low-quality materials, like synthetic fabrics, to bring inexpensive styles to the end consumer. These cheaply made, trendy pieces have resulted in an industry-wide movement towards overwhelming amounts of consumption. As a result, it has led to harmful impacts on the environment, garment workers, animals, and, ultimately, consumers’ wallets. 

Some of the major players in the game include notable brands we have accustomed ourselves to buying — ZARA, H&M, Shein, Fashion Nova, and UNIQLO. Statistical evidence has proven that if the fashion industry keeps up its exponential pace of growth of producing 52 micro seasons a year, it is expected to reach 160 million tons of clothes by 2050. The amount of carbon emission being released and scarce resources such as non-renewable energy and water being used only for clothes to be left in landfills exacerbate the harm it does to the world we live in.

However, economics proposes there wouldn’t be any supply if it weren’t for the demand. Therefore, if we look through the lens of consumers, we would identify the throw-away culture almost every consumer is acquainted with. The throw-away culture refers to consumers overconsuming clothes, discarding the finite resources used to make them, and viewing them as disposable rather than long-lasting and sustainable. It has become common knowledge for them to purchase items they know they would rarely wear, and instead be inclined to trash their unwanted clothes rather than look into attempts to donate, repair, or recycle them. Therefore, because of these mindsets, firms are driven to neglect the quality aspect of clothes and focus on price, convenience, and accessibility of it. 

So, what are the solutions to solve this pressing problem? We should start from the bottom and work our way up. If we look into the production side, they are various ways for firms to be environmentally friendly. Let us take examples from our local Malaysian Brands. 

LTTL, a sustainable fashion label, uses innovative pattern-cutting techniques that reduce the amount of fabric waste and also recycles leftover fabrics to be made into belts and straps. Furthermore, Kualaesa uses bamboo as its main material of design which is not only biodegradable but the fastest-growing plant on the planet, making it an extremely sustainable resource. Moreover, Shop Hanya’s swimwear is made from recycled Italian nylon through recovering fishing nets from the oceans and aquaculture, fabric scraps from mills, and carpets destined for landfills. In essence, the efforts of these local brands to be sustainable demonstrates protecting the environment is not exclusive to only large brands as it simply takes the determination and will of its designers to do the right thing.

On the other side of the coin, consumers should be educated on the implications of their spending and increase their efforts to lower their carbon footprints. These include initiatives such as thrifting, renting clothes, and donating used clothing. 

Lastly, the government plays a pertinent role in rewriting the rules. Government bodies should work together to enforce rules and legislation such as taxing negative externalities like carbon and water, forcing fashion companies to abide by supply-chain commitments and requiring manufacturers to pay upfront for the costs of disposal of their goods. 

Fast fashion isn’t free. Someone somewhere is paying the price of your actions. It’s about time we acknowledge the mistakes of our past and redirect ourselves. As Laura Francois, a social impact strategist once said, “When you buy into fast fashion, no matter how many times you wash your clothes they will never be truly clean. They’re stained by the sweat of those who made them, and the footprint it leaves on this planet.” 

References 

• Quit Fast Fashion: 6 Sustainable Fashion Brands by Malaysia | Riuh
• The Myth of Sustainable Fashion | Harvard Business Review  
• What Does Fast Fashion mean, Anyway? | The Good Trade
• How Has our Consumer behaviour fueled our throwaway culture in Fast Fashion? | K Koup