What is Fast Fashion?
Fast Fashion
noun
inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends.
Cheap clothing is being produced, released and sold faster than ever. The fashion industry once survived on two seasons per year SpringSummer and AutumnWinter. Now, fast fashion brands produce about 52 “micro-seasons” according to author Elizabeth Cline.
Why? It’s good for business. The more clothing styles a retailer produces the more clothing they can sell. Unfortunately, this means people often throw away as quickly as they buy. A survey conducted by Barnardo’s showed that consumers keep clothing nearly half as long as they did 15 years ago and discard them after just seven or eight wears.
Fast fashion requires fast production which has a severe environmental impact. Fast Fashion is a business model that increases carbon emissions, water waste and pollution. Fashion brands producing clothing so fast and affordably puts immense strain on our planet. The fashion industry accounts for about 10% of global carbon emissions, and nearly 20% of wastewater.
Unfortunately, fast fashion brands are so focussed on profit that people are also exploited. Summarised well by author and broadcaster Lucy Siegel. “Fast Fashion isn’t free. Someone somewhere is paying.” Garment workers often work in dangerous environments for low wages and are deprived of fundamental human rights.
Fast Fashion brands include large high-street retailers such as Zara, H&M and Primark. Other big fast fashion brands operate solely online such as Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Missguided.
At some point, we have all chosen price or convenience over sustainability and fast fashion brands have made this even easier and enticing. However, the negative impact of this cannot be ignored.
Choosing to shop second-hand is one of the best ways to avoid fast fashion. When you shop with Haru, you are choosing less waste, a lower environmental impact and to help charities. Thanks for helping us make fashion more sustainable.