Where Advanced Technology Meets Good Old Fashion Customer Service

Clothes shopping used to exist an occasional upshot—something that happened a few times a year when the seasons changed or when we outgrew what we had. But about 20 years ago, something changed. Clothes became cheaper, tendency cycles sped up, and shopping became a hobby. Enter fast style and the global chains that now dominate our high streets and online shopping . Merely what is fast fashion? And how does information technology impact people, the planet, and animals?

It was all too good to be truthful. All these stores selling cool, trendy clothing yous could buy with your loose modify, vesture a scattering of times, and then throw abroad. Of a sudden everyone could afford to dress like their favourite celebrity or wear the latest trends fresh from the catwalk.

Then in 2013, the world had a reality cheque when the Rana Plaza clothing manufacturing complex in Bangladesh collapsed , killing over i,000 workers. That's when consumers really started questioning fast way and wondering at the true cost of those $5 t-shirts . If you're reading this article, you might already be aware of fast fashion's dark side, but it'due south worth exploring how the industry got to this betoken—and how we can aid to change it.

What is fast fashion?

Fast mode tin be divers as cheap, trendy clothing that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at breakneck speed to run into consumer need. The idea is to get the newest styles on the marketplace equally fast as possible, so shoppers can snap them up while they are still at the height of their popularity and then, sadly, discard them afterwards a few wears. Information technology plays into the idea that outfit repeating is a fashion faux pas and that if you desire to stay relevant, you have to sport the latest looks as they happen. It forms a key function of the toxic system of overproduction and consumption that has made fashion 1 of the world's largest polluters. Before we can become about irresolute it, let's take a look at the history.

How did fast fashion happen?

To empathise how fast fashion came to exist, we need to rewind a flake. Before the 1800s, fashion was slow. You had to source your own materials similar wool or leather, prepare them, weave them, and then make the clothes.

The Industrial Revolution introduced new technology—like the sewing car. Wearing apparel became easier, quicker, and cheaper to brand. Dressmaking shops emerged to cater to the center classes.

Many of these dressmaking shops used teams of garment workers or habitation workers. Effectually this time, sweatshops emerged, along with some familiar prophylactic issues. The first pregnant garment factory disaster was when a fire broke out in New York'due south Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911. Information technology claimed the lives of 146 garment workers, many of whom were immature female person immigrants .

By the 1960s and 70s, young people were creating new trends, and habiliment became a grade of personal expression, but in that location was still a distinction betwixt high fashion and high street.

In the tardily 1990s and 2000s, low-cost way reached a peak. Online shopping took off, and fast-fashion retailers like H&M, Zara, and Topshop took over the high street. These brands took the looks and design elements from the height way houses and reproduced them quickly and cheaply. With everyone now able to store for on-trend dress whenever they wanted, it's easy to sympathize how the phenomenon caught on.

How to spot a fast fashion make

Some central factors are common to fast fashion brands:

• Thousands of styles, which touch on all the latest trends.
• Extremely curt turnaround time between when a trend or garment is seen on the catwalk or in glory media and when it hits the shelves.
• Offshore manufacturing where labour is the cheapest, with the use of workers on depression wages without adequate rights or safety and complex supply chains with poor visibility beyond the first tier.
• A limited quantity of a particular garment—this is an thought pioneered by Zara. With new stock arriving in shop every few days, shoppers know if they don't buy something they like, they'll probably miss their chance.
• Cheap, low quality materials like polyester , causing clothes to degrade after merely a few wears and go thrown away.

What's the impact of fast fashion?

On the planet

Fast way's touch on the planet is immense . The pressure level to reduce costs and speed upwards production fourth dimension means that ecology corners are more than probable to be cut. Fast way's negative affect includes its use of inexpensive, toxic material dyes—making the fashion manufacture the second largest polluter of make clean water globally after agriculture. That'southward why Greenpeace has been pressuring brands to remove dangerous chemicals from their supply chains through its detoxing fashion  campaigns through the years.

Cheap textiles also increase fast way's touch on. Polyester  is one of the most popular fabrics. It is derived from fossil fuels, contributes to global warming, and can shed microfibres  that add to the increasing levels of plastic in our oceans when done. But even 'natural fabrics' can be a problem at the calibration fast way demands. Conventional cotton  requires enormous quantities of water and pesticides in developing countries. This results in drought risks and creates extreme stress on water basins and competition for resources between companies and local communities.

The abiding speed and demand mean increased stress on other environmental areas such as land clearing, biodiversity, and soil quality. The processing of leather likewise impacts the environment, with 300kg of chemicals added to every 900kg of beast hides tanned.

The speed at which garments are produced besides ways that more and more clothes are tending of by consumers, creating massive textile waste product. In Commonwealth of australia lone, more than 500 million kilos of unwanted clothing ends upwards in landfill every twelvemonth.

On workers

As well as the ecology cost of fast fashion, there'southward a human cost.

Fast style impacts garment workers  who piece of work in dangerous environments, for low wages, and without fundamental human being rights. Further down the supply concatenation, the farmers may work with toxic chemicals and roughshod practices that tin can have devastating impacts on their physical and mental health, a plight highlighted by the documentary The True Cost .

On animals

Animals are also impacted by fast mode. In the wild, the toxic dyes and microfibres released in waterways are ingested by land and marine life alike through the food chain to devastating result. And when animate being products such as leather, fur, and even wool are used in fashion directly, animal welfare is put at risk. Equally an case, numerous scandals reveal that existent fur, including cat and dog fur, is oftentimes being passed off as false fur to unknowing shoppers.  The truth is that there is so much real fur being produced under terrible weather condition in fur farms that it's become cheaper to produce and buy than faux fur!

On consumers

Finally, fast way tin can impact consumers themselves, encouraging a 'throw-away' civilisation because of both the congenital-in obsolescence of the products and the speed at which trends emerge. Fast manner makes the states believe we need to shop more and more to stay on elevation of trends, creating a constant sense of need and ultimate dissatisfaction. The trend has also been criticised on intellectual belongings grounds, with some designers alleging that retailers accept illegally mass-produced their designs.

Who are the big players?

Many retailers we know today every bit the fast mode large players, like Zara or H&K , started as smaller shops in Europe effectually the 1950s. Technically, H&Chiliad is the oldest of the fast fashion giants , having opened equally Hennes in Sweden in 1947, expanding to London in 1976, and earlier long, reaching the States in 2000.

Zara follows, which opened its kickoff store in Northern Espana in 1975 . When Zara landed in New York at the outset of the 1990s, people first heard the term 'fast fashion'. It was coined past the New York Times to describe Zara's mission to take only 15 days for a garment to go from the design stage to being sold in stores.

Other large names in fast fashion today include UNIQLO, GAP, Primark, and TopShop. While these brands were in one case seen as radically cheap disruptors, there are now even cheaper and faster alternatives  similar Missguided, Forever 21, Zaful, Boohoo, and Style Nova. Thankfully, there are upstanding alternatives worth your support .

Is fast way going dark-green?

Equally an increasing number of consumers call out the true price of the fashion manufacture, and especially fast fashion, we've seen a growing number of retailers introduce sustainable and upstanding fashion initiatives such as in-store recycling schemes. These schemes allow customers to drop off unwanted items in 'bins' in the brands' stores. But information technology's been highlighted that just 0.1% of all clothing collected by charities and take-back programs is recycled into new fabric fibre.

The underlying event with fast fashion is the speed at which it is produced, putting massive pressure level on people and the environment. Recycling and pocket-size eco or vegan clothing ranges—when they are not only for greenwashing —are not enough to counter the 'throw-abroad culture', the waste, the strain on natural resources, and the myriad of other problems created by fast manner. The whole system needs to exist inverse.

Is fast fashion in decline?

We are starting to run into some changes in the fashion industry. The ceremony of the Rana Plaza collapse is now Fashion Revolution Week , where people all over the world ask, "Who Made My Clothes?". Fashion Revolution declares that "we don't want our clothes to exploit people or destroy our planet".

Millennials and Gen Zers, the drivers of the future economy, may not have caught the fast manner bug. Some have argued that this generation has "grown as well clever for mindless consumerism, forcing producers to become more ethical, more than inclusive, and more liberal" .

There is also a growing involvement in moving towards a more round textile production model, reusing materials wherever and whenever possible. In 2018 both Vogue Australia  and Elle United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland dedicated entire mag issues to sustainable fashion, a tendency being taken up each twelvemonth by more and more than big names.

What tin can we practise?

At Good On You, we beloved this quote by British designer Vivienne Westwood, " purchase less, choose well, go far last ."

Buying Less is the first footstep—endeavour to fall back in love with the clothes y'all already own past styling them differently or even 'flipping' them. Why not plough those old jeans into some trendy unhemmed shorts , or give that amorphous erstwhile jumper new life by turning it into a ingather ? Creating a capsule wardrobe  is also worth because on your ethical fashion journeying.

Cull Well is the 2d step, and choosing an eco-friendly fabric is essential here. There are pros and cons to all fibre types, equally seen in our ultimate guide to clothing materials,  but in that location is a helpful chart at the end to refer to when purchasing. Choosing well could as well mean committing to but shopping second hand , or from sustainable brands like those below.

Finally, we should Make it Final and look subsequently our clothes by following the care instructions, wearing them until they are worn out , mending them wherever possible, so responsibly recycling them  at the very end of their life.

Larn about fast style's sustainable alternative, irksome fashion.

Here are our favourite brands giving fast fashion the flick and embodying a slow, circular,  more sustainable way of wearing:

Whimsy + Row

Whimsy + Row is an eco-witting lifestyle brand born out of a beloved for quality appurtenances and sustainable practices. Since 2014, its mission has been to provide ease and elegance for the modern, sustainable woman. Whimsy + Row utilises deadstock fabric, and past limiting each garment to brusk runs, the brand also reduces packaging waste and takes intendance of precious water resource. Find well-nigh products in XS-Twoscore.

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Shop Whimsy + Row.

Store Whimsy + Row @ Earthkind.

Afends

Afends is an Commonwealth of australia-based style make leading the way in organic hemp style, using renewable energy in its supply concatenation to reduce its climate impact. You can discover the full range in sizes XS-Forty.

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Shop Afends.

Outland Denim

Outland Denim makes premium denim jeans and clothes, and offers ethical employment opportunities for women rescued from human trafficking in Cambodia. This Australian make was founded as an avenue for the grooming and employment of women who have experienced sex trafficking. Find almost of the brand's range in Us sizes 22-34.

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Shop Outland Denim.

Aye Friends

Yes Friends is a UK-based fashion brand that creates sustainable, upstanding, and affordable article of clothing for everyone. Yes Friends' t-shirts cost less than £4 to brand and the brand only charges £seven.99. Using big scale production and direct to consumer margins means Aye Friends tin charge you lot an affordable price for a sustainable and ethical t-shirt. Find the tees in sizes 2XS to 2XL.

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Shop Aye Friends.

Harvest & Factory

Harvest & Factory pieces are grown, milled, and sewn exclusively in the U.s.a., supporting American organic cotton fiber farmers and local sewing communities. The brand makes basics for everyone, always ensuring they are not dyed or bleached, greatly reducing the use of water, energy, and dye materials. Even better, by cultivating unlike varieties of cotton fiber, the make is able to bolster biodiversity, which is essential for ensuring healthy ecosystems and keeping our planet resilient in the face of climatic change.

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Shop Harvest & Manufactory.

Shop Harvest & Factory @ Rêve en Vert.

Editor's note

Images via Unsplash, Mode Revolution, and the brands mentioned. Good On You publishes the globe's most comprehensive ratings of manner brands' impact on people, the planet and animals. Use our Directory to search more than than 3,000 brands. We may earn a commission on sales made using our offer codes or affiliate links.

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