The unbelievably low prices of clothing and the super-high sales look enticing and make you think “Oh, why not just buy this cute outfit, it’s only X amount of dollars.” However, once you understand everything that goes on behind the scenes to make inexpensive clothes at a low price, you will think twice about your purchasing decisions. Fast fashion is the “rapid design, production, distribution, and marketing of clothing.” (Rashmila, 2024). On the surface, this process seems harmless and efficient, but after starting my research I very quickly realized that this is not the case. There are endless amounts of negative effects that fast fashion is causing and will continue to cause in the upcoming decades. The biggest areas impacted by fast fashion are the environmental impacts from pollution of textile and water waste from the pre and post-production process, as well as, the significant negative impacts on workers, animals, and marine life from this approach to clothing manufacture. Before I started my research on fast fashion, I assumed that the fast production of everything can’t be good for the environment, but I had no idea that there are so many negative impacts stemming from this process. I think most people can piece together that this isn’t good for our planet, but I don’t think most people understand just how deep this goes. In my blog, I hope to educate you, my reader, on many of the impacts of fast fashion and make you think about how the choices you make are going to have a lasting impact on our planet. It makes you wonder if there is any good coming from this system of production.

Are These Even Jobs?

When you think about all the people needed to make this mass production of clothing possible, it may seem to be a great way for job opportunities to emerge. This might be factually correct, “the fast fashion industry employs approximately 75 million factory workers worldwide” (Ross, 2021) but it doesn’t sound so positive when you learn that only 2% of those workers make a living wage. The working conditions alone are enough of a reason to start rethinking your purchasing decisions. These workers are working up to 14-17 hour days, 7 days a week, have very few breaks throughout the day, work in a cramped (and often dangerous) environment, and their work is continuous, feeling like it will never end. The reason for this is that companies need to keep up with the constant product and production demand while also keeping costs low. Large companies started to produce clothing in developing countries like Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh because of the lack of many regulations in these countries.

Companies are able to take advantage of cheap and unethical labor practices, like child labor. Workers are exposed to synthetic chemicals that when inhaled can lead to cancerous diseases. Unfortunately, some companies use unregistered vendors, which means they need not ensure safe working conditions for their workers. There are no laws protecting workers in many countries, and it’s appalling to see any companies, big or small, taking advantage of people, just to make a profit. The statistic that fast fashion is 88% of the fashion industry makes me think that this is a much bigger and more common issue than companies are admitting to. In Emma Ross’ article on unethical labor practices she writes, “The European Parliament has even described the conditions of factory workers in Asia as “slave labor” (Ross, 2021). So when these so-called “jobs” look like this and result in people living below the poverty line, it is hard to consider it gainful employment. An example of a large chain company that sells low-priced clothing is the widely popular and highly recognized clothing company, H&M. A report from 2015 states “There are significant gaps in their implementation, leading to persistent rights violations in their factories.” H&M is claiming that they have improved working conditions, specifically in India and Cambodia, but then refuse to divulge the names of the factories they claim are following improved practices. I think people are oblivious to the fact that so many of these major companies are dishonest and covering up what they don’t want visible to the public. Workers have claimed they are victims of sexual assault and that many of the women are terminated due to pregnancy. Another huge concern has been fires within these clothing factories, stemming from the lack of fire safety equipment and building regulations. This is something that could easily become more avoidable if there were more protection for their workers and if companies cared more about implementing and enforcing safety standards.

Paying less money, but what are you getting in return?

Hopefully, now you are beginning to understand how the low prices you see when shopping shouldn’t make you feel happy and eager to buy. Those “deals” should make you feel disappointed because now you have an understanding of how it was made in unsafe conditions and by workers living below the poverty line. Another thing that comes along with the cheap price is the cheap quality. Companies do not pay attention to the negative impacts of the materials they are using, as long as it’s affordable, they don’t care. The most used fabric in fast fashion is polyester, commonly found in sportswear, underwear, and outerwear. The product is durable and lightweight but it’s a synthetic, plastic material that is made from oil. When polyester is washed “700,000 microplastics are released into waterways”, ending up in oceans and almost every place on this planet (Bernardi, 2022). Another major fabric used is cotton, and the problem with it is the amount of water needed to produce these fibers. “1 kilo of cotton requires up to 20,000 liters of water to produce” while also containing pesticides (Bernardi, 2022). Organic cotton is a more eco-friendly fabric that is safer for you and also protects the environment. Unfortunately, it is not commonly used in the clothing industry because it is 20-30% more expensive than conventional cotton.

The inevitable outcome of companies using these cheaper materials is the lifespan of the clothing becomes significantly shorter. The clothing breaks down, falls apart, and loses color much quicker than a good quality product. My friends and I have all fallen victim to this at some point; our clothes either come broken or break within the first wearing. The result of clothes having a shorter lifespan is consumers throw them away much more quickly, which then significantly increases the volume of clothing waste. Even though poorly made clothes break down so easily and quickly, people continue to purchase them because of their low prices, which also contributes to more waste production.

What waste is being created?

Not only is there waste produced post-purchase, but a massive amount of waste is also created during the production process itself. The two largest waste streams created are textile waste and water waste. Textile waste is the discarded pieces of fabric or clothing that no longer serve the purpose of their original use. This means that textile waste is involved both pre and post-consumer. The pre-consumer material waste is made up of leftover unsold inventory from overproduction and excess fabric from cutting patterns, all of which just end up in landfills. Also, when mistakes are made like misprinting, that material becomes unusable and just gets discarded. There is also deadstock fabric, which comes from overproduction or shifting style and is an excess of stock. This post-consumer waste stems from the constantly, rapidly changing fashion trends, where people are just getting rid of things out of style and buying the next best thing because they can due to the low prices. In 2023, the fashion industry created 18 million tons of textile leftovers. Almost all of this waste ends up in landfills and very rarely gets upcycled or reused.

The amount of water that is used in the production process to make this fabric is astronomical and so much of it gets contaminated. As mentioned above, the amount of water required to make cotton is alarming. For example, to make one pair of jeans, 10,000 liters of water is needed to produce one kilo of cotton. They use freshwater and groundwater resources and contaminate them with fertilizers and pesticides to keep up with the demand for products and maximize the cotton output. The oil required for synthetic fabric production releases toxins like lead, arsenic, and benzene into our water resources as well. On average 70 million barrels of oil are used per year for producing synthetic fabric. Another way our water resources are getting contaminated is from fabric dying. The water leftovers from the dying process just get dumped into ditches, rivers, or streams. So many chemicals used during this process (like copper, mercury, and chromium) are discharged into the environment and eventually get into our water and eventually make their way into our food.

What is being polluted?

The water that is being contaminated with microplastics, pesticides, and fertilizers is being found ocean-wide, in the deep sea, Arctic Ocean, and in sea life. The reason microplastics spread so far across our planet is that these textile fibers can travel through the air and the water. Through the process of washing your clothes, microplastics are released into the water, and that water ends up in the ocean, the sea animals ingest the microplastics, and then we eat that food. Microplastics are all around us and inescapable. There are an estimated 358 trillion microplastics just on the surface of the oceans, not including all the more that is beneath the surface. Any size marine life animal can ingest it by mistaking it for food. “A study by the World Wildlife Fund estimated that at least 100,000 marine animals die from plastic pollution every year.” (Darra, 2023) This number has a high chance of being extremely underestimated. It is alarming to see that microplastics are ending up in our blood, just because of the decisions we make.

It is scary to think that the harmless little purchases you make so often have this much of an overall impact on the planet. On average 180,000 tons of textile waste ends up in the New Zealand landfill annually, and 1.92 million tons of textile waste is produced each year. Out of the 100 billion garments produced in a year, 92 million of them make their way to a landfill. This waste is easily created because the poorly made clothing, on average, gets thrown away within the year. This is so crazy to me because when I was younger I always used to get the clothes that didn’t fit my older cousins anymore. Then when I grew out of my clothes, my mom would give my clothes to our family friends who had younger girls. This shows that better quality clothing can last a long time even though they were washed and worn so many times, without deterioration. The clothes made today, with these cheaper materials, do not last anywhere near as long. However, landfills are only a short-term solution to this waste problem because eventually, they, too, will run out of space for these clothes. The fast fashion production process also contributes significantly to air pollution. It is estimated that this industry alone contributes 8-10 percent of global CO₂ emissions. When the waste sits in landfills, microplastic fibers and hazardous chemicals pollute the air, as well as methane. Many of the fast fashion companies burn their overproduction of items, and since “so much fashion is made from essentially plastic, burning it can be extremely toxic to health . . . black, choking smoke and noxious fumes exposed bonded workers to toxic chemicals – leading to coughs, colds, flu, nose bleeds and lung inflammation.”  (Abelvik-Lawson, 2023)

Do the Economic Benefits make it worth all this harm?

The only thing that fast fashion seems to positively affect is the economy. The amount of money and revenue this process brings to the industry is astronomical. In 2023, the fast fashion market value had a value of ~123 billion dollars. This number is not surprising to me because of how accessible shopping has gotten in the last decade. Shopping has become so accessible because the prices are lower and the internet makes it easy to buy items from other countries with the click of a button.  Bigger companies like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21 appear in malls all across America.  Then there are the international brands that easily advertise on social media, like Shein, Princess Polly, and Primark. When advertising is so easily accessible on the internet, it makes it so much easier to entice people to buy more than what they actually need. With new trends coming out faster than ever, people feel the need to keep up with it and continue to purchase unnecessary clothing. In Hannah Berhane’s blog on understanding the human cost of fast fashion, she states, “Garment production has doubled globally since 2000, and the average consumer buys 60% more clothing than they did seventeen years ago while keeping their clothing for half as long as they did before 2000” (Berhane, 2024). The thing is that as people continue to keep buying things that they don’t need, it is only creating more revenue for these companies. Looking at the economy it may seem like fast fashion is good because of the affordability, profitability, infrastructure, and quick production. But if you look below the surface and learn about everything that these companies are trying to hide from society, the economic gain will not be worth it when, in 30 years, the government has to pay for ways to fix this growing issue, with little to no end. The scary part to me is that throughout my research the estimates of the data for the size of this industry in coming years are all still increasing. Waste is being created at alarming growth rates, pollution is increasing from fast fashion, and revenues are increasing exponentially. In just 3 years, the market will be 36% larger than today. (see UM chart below)

Marketing and advertising agencies appeal to our desires. The feeling of constantly needing to fulfill these desires is generated in our brains. The amount of money companies spend on marketing and advertising is crazy, but it’s successful. In 2023, the fashion industry spent 475million dollars on advertising. On average companies spend around 10% of their revenue on advertising. On the psychological level, that feeling of instant gratification plays a huge role in our purchasing decisions. Neuroscientist, Susan Weinschenck, describes how your brain reacts to feelings of excitement or seeing something new. Our brain activates dopamine receptors which are the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.

 In my opinion, the areas that have the biggest influence on this generation’s purchasing habits aside from affordability are social and cultural influences. By constantly advertising the newest trends all over social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, consumers are more eager to follow them and be updated with the newest trends. When I go on TikTok there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t see an ad telling me how amazing a product is. Also, the influencers on the app get paid a ridiculous amount of money to advertise a product, because brands know that people are easily influenced when their favorite TikToker raves about the product. For example, when a beauty influencer makes a brand deal with a makeup company to review the product on their account, they know that their sales are going to skyrocket because their fans trust them. Most products that go viral on social media will sell out instantly because once so many people start buying it and then writing positive reviews, people feel like they need to buy it too.

Brittany Sierra talks with Dr. Dion Terrelonge, Fashion Psychologist and Chartered Educational Psychologist to get a better understanding of the psychological factors playing a role in purchasing habits. She talks about how this constant output of new designs and trends fills consumers with excitement and anticipation for the next thing to come out. Having the newest thing makes people feel socially accepted and involved. I think almost all Gen-Z consumers are taken in by this brainwashing. It’s like a constant cycle of keeping up with everyone else. This type of influence is something I have fallen victim to as well, and I will either buy it soon after seeing the review or I will put it on my wishlist. I have found that if I make a list of things I want, as opposed to buying it on the spot, it forces me to contemplate if it is something I really need. I think if people stopped and asked themselves would I still want this if I had to wait months for it, they would realize that it’s something that they don’t really need. I think that is why overconsumption is so common in this generation because we have made it so easy to order and get something instantaneously. 

Some could argue that the affordability of clothing is a good thing because it is making products more accessible. In William E’s Journal, “Appalling Or Advantage?”, he briefly covers some of the positives of this industry, one being it “allows lower-income individuals and families to purchase more items of clothing that are modern and trendy.” He argues that the accessibility of these low-priced clothes eliminates the classism from clothing and puts those of lower incomes on a more equal playing field. This would make people of lower incomes able to keep up with the latest trends and feel more equal to the people around them. However, I think there are other ways for all of us to get good quality clothing at a lower price. For example, thrift stores or second-hand stores have products that are more affordable. I just think that the amount of harm this does to us and our planet is not worth the cheap prices and that we should be looking for ways to eliminate this harmful production process.

The first thing that comes to my mind for ways to start resolving this issue is to slow down. Almost all of the issues with fast fashion are that it is fast. Fast purchasing, fast production, fast change in trendy items, and fast materials. People are buying products so quickly and with so little thought because they’re so cheap. Even if they never end up wearing them, it doesn’t feel like a waste since they spent so little. The mass production of products needs to stop because the people enslaved by their production are being treated so poorly, it is dehumanizing. More people need to be advocating for slow fashion. This means purchasing clothes that are made from higher quality materials to ensure that the garments will last for a long time. Slowing down your purchasing habits means not just buying something because it’s the newest and trendiest, but because it is something that you really want and think you will get good use out of for a long time. Everyone should have more timeless clothes in their closet that they will wear for longer than just a couple of months. People should try to buy from smaller and more local companies instead of large chain companies because their products are more likely to be sourced locally, as well as their production services. When you buy from those massive companies, your clothes are being made by people working in those awful environments more often than not. There is a high chance that you have purchased from these fast fashion companies in recent years, without even knowing it. The biggest companies are Zara, H&M, Forever 21, Uniqlo, and Shein. The figure below shows the biggest companies currently driving fast fashion. Small businesses recycle more and use significantly less amounts of energy in their production process. Also, these companies care way more about their customers and how they can do things that will bring in more customers, whereas larger companies do whatever they can to maximize revenues. The money you spend on a product from a small business has more of a positive impact on the world than anything you spend on a mass-produced product. Research has shown that “the number of times a garment is worn has declined by around 36% in 15 years. This is because fast fashion pieces are designed with materials like Polyester, Elastane, Rayon, and Acrylic, which are not designed to last. Clothing made by fast fashion brands is discarded after 7 or 8 wears2, while sustainable brands are meant to last a lifetime.”

Another thing that people can do other than buy from local businesses is shop at thrift stores and second-hand stores. This alternative is a more affordable approach because not everyone can afford the prices of good quality clothing. Thrift stores are a great way to recycle clothes and expand the lifespan of a product as oppose to just throwing it away. In a recent article, Nisan Aktürk brings up the data that 64% of Gen-Z shoppers look for secondhand clothing before shopping for a new item and that they are the biggest consumers of secondhand clothing. This statistic makes sense to me because of how popular thrift stores are becoming. I think thrift stores are a great alternative to just throwing out perfectly good unwanted clothing and a simple way to increase the lifespan of the clothes. The only problem that might start happening is these new poor-quality clothes might not make it to the secondhand stores because they tear and/or wear down so quickly. In the GlobalData 2023 Market Sizing and Growth Estimates, “The global secondhand apparel market is expected to grow 3X faster on average than the global apparel market overall” (threadUP, 2023). Although this data sounds great, it makes me wonder if so many of the clothes being made today are considered “fast fashion” and being made so poorly, how would the resale market go up if there were fewer and fewer clothes making it to these stores? After researching the many different impacts of fast fashion on our world, it really opened my eyes to everything that is going on behind the scenes right now that these companies are trying to hide from the general public. While creating this blog, it has been my goal to make consumers more aware of the impacts that their purchases have and help my readers better understand how their habits are affecting our planet. I hope that this blog brings awareness to more people and that people are more mindful of their purchasing decisions. If it has opened your eyes to thinking a bit differently perhaps you want to share the link with some friends who may not know some of the downsides that fast fashion has on the quality of life for all of us. By avoiding fast fashion purchases, one will save money by not having to buy more clothing that won’t last and help to improve the carbon footprint on the environment and reduce pollution of rivers and waterways. Also, as a consumer, if you know the facts about the horrible working conditions and low salaries of fast fashion workers, you would think that would influence away from buying inexpensive clothing. 

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