Essay Sample about Fast Fashion

Fast fashion is a term that refers to the rapidly produced clothing which is made in the response to the latest trends in fashion. It became very popular in the 90’ because that’s when people started to view shopping as a form of entertainment and the demand for ‘fashionable clothes’ increased. Clothes made in fast fashion usually have poor quality and are made to replicate certain items of clothing made  by the high fashion designers. Their poor quality stems from the fact that using high quality fabric would increase the price of the clothes which isn’t convenient for fast fashion companies since these clothes are made for the mass market. Because fast fashion is accessible to so many people it is crucial for those companies to make huge quantity of clothes, so the main idea behind fast fashion is to make as much product as possible in the shortest amount of time. Leaders in fast fashion include Zara, H&M, Forever 21, and Topshop, who are all well known for their ability to stay on trend and to quickly produce affordable clothing. Zara was the leader of the shift when they began receiving bi-weekly deliveries of new products. They were able to replicate fashion and streetwear trends weekly and stay ahead of their competitors, resulting in great success for their company. Many more department stores and designer retailers followed suit to try and copy the pioneer companies’ success which caused fast fashion to became more and more developed.

Fast fashion has its good and bad sides. On one hand it is a great way to provide customers with trendy and fashionable clothes that are also affordable, but on the other hand it has many devastating consequences on environment and economy. According to the UN Environment Programme, the fashion industry is the second-biggest consumer of water and is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions – more than all international flights and sea transport combined. When we by certain clothes we normally don’t think about how those clothes were created and what happens after we throw them away. Most people are also not informed about how badly synthetic textiles like polyester affect our environment. It takes hundreds of years to biodegrade and it is even estimated that the  35% of all microplastics (small pieces of non-biodegradable plastic) in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles. Unfortunately that isn’t the only way in which fast fashion affects water pollution. It takes about 700 gallons of water to make a shirt and 2000 gallons of water to produce a pair of jeans. On top of that textile dyeing is considered second largest polluter of water because the water that is left from the dyeing process usually ends up in rivers or seas. The process of making plastic fibres into textile requires a lot of energy which is gotten from huge amounts of petroleum, also during that process a lot of toxic chemicals which pollute our environment (like carbon-dioxide) are released. These aren’t the only ways in which this industry affects our environment but they are by far the most noticeable ones. On top of those environmental impacts fast fashion has other flaws as well. For instance, fast fashion companies usually look for the countries that have the lowest labour standard and economy that isn’t developed. That way they can basically get away with exploiting people who work in the factories that they built there. These employees usually work in poor conditions and are paid less than a minimum wage, not to mention the fact that in some countries like Bangladesh most people who work in these factories are minors. All of this is done to decrease the price of clothes because fast fashion companies sadly care more about profit than about certain moral questions. 

Thankfully nowadays there are more and more people who are advocating for more ethical and sustainable clothes. One of the ways that we can ditch fast fashion is by buying clothes in second hand shops or just using our clothes wisely (buying only items that we really need, taking care of our clothes, giving away our clothes instead of throwing It away). It goes without saying that this is a very complex subject and that people should be educated on this matter, especially those who frequently shop in some of the fast fashion stores. All of this will hopefully make fast fashion companies more conscious and produce clothes that are ethical, sustainable and eco-friendly.