Academic Research: Is Society Oblivious to Dangerous Consumerism within the Fast Fashion Industry? 

 

Sustainability in the fashion industry means for humans to treat the environment with respect, optimize the materials that go into their clothes, protect workers’ rights, and understand consumerism. With environmental and societal impacts playing a role in the growth of the industry, some people question the business and production of fast fashion. Emphasizing the pop culture habits that are creating excessive consumerism, is benefiting the fast fashion industry, but deteriorating the environment. The fast fashion world is claimed to be unsustainable due to consumer consumption, pollution, fabric waste, and the treatment of factory workers. Is excessive consumerism influencing the fast fashion industry to damage the environment and society?

The creation of new trends in the fast fashion industry is influencing consumers to constantly buy clothes. Compared to old fashion cycles, there used to be seasonally distributed trends. Now there are new trends every week that fast fashion companies are competing to sell. Most of the time, these trends aren’t successful and manufacturers do not care because they are cheap to make. The exploitation of young consumers and how hypocritical they may be when purchasing from these fast fashion stores is shocking. A new generation of environmentally cautious people is unaware of the negative effects of consumerism. Avid consumers are now primed to browse fast fashion stores every three weeks or so in search of new styles (Chan). This is wasteful spending that most young consumers do not think about. With the availability of credit and disposable income, young consumers are able to make their own choices. The fast fashion industry is growing much faster than the fashion industry itself.

Young consumers feel the need to continually buy and seek new trends due to the influence of advertising media. A huge contributor to the influence of excessive buying is YouTube. People “haul” clothing that they have been sent to by these fast fashion stores and share new trends. Viewers are persuaded to go online and buy what their peers are wearing. This is basically a promotion that entices people to think they need to buy. Haul videos are a direct consequence of the budget fashion era and need to be reflected in the culture of over-consumption spurred by fast fashion (Shambu). Another influencer are the website subscriptions retailers. These websites charge customers a low price to pay every month and in return, personal stylist’s will put together a virtual closet for the customer. JustFab is an online subscription fashion retailer and personalizes each customers shopping experience. For just $40 a month, a customer will receive 2 pairs of shoes. Consumers want to have 2 new pair shoes of every month but may not need to have them.

Social media platforms are an important aspect of the fashion industry and influence young consumers the most. With about one fourth of the world’s population currently using social network sites (SNS; eMarketer 2013) and more than 1 billion users monthly watching videos on YouTube (YouTube 2014), social media is now clearly a part of Internet users’ daily lives (Knoll). Advertisements will pop up on Instagram and have relation to the accounts that young consumers follow. When viewing emails, consumers will also view advertisements. The advertisements aren’t random but are promoted specifically for the consumer. Research to find out what each consumer looks at and buys is then relayed on these advertisements. Consumers are targeted because researchers find out exactly what they would be interested in. Thanks to the prevalence of digital advertising and various technological advancements, advertisers are nowadays able to track consumers’ digital footprints at a more granular level and they can gain deeper insights into online consumer behavior as well as how advertising exposures might affect consumers’ online behavior (Ghose). Relating sites that consumers have already visited and introduced similar sites is promoting consumerism. The advertising industry is part of the discounted economy and they are making a huge profit while forming a new culture of consumerism. Targeting mostly college-aged women, advertising adds to the excessive consumerism.

Leading to the next point, the consumption of clothing is disturbing the environment and generates unsustainability. Consumers are purchasing pieces that will be worn once and then thrown away. Globally, we consume more than 80 billion pieces of clothing each year, many of them hyper trendy, low-cost items that move from runway to sale rack at breakneck speed (Drennan 20). Instead of recycling, clothing waste is thrown into landfills and contributing to water pollution. Haley Reid, a sales associate at Altar’d State, admitted to online shopping at least three or four times a month. Haley claims to shop once a week but says she does not buy something every time she shops. She also permits to throwing away clothing pieces that she has not worn yet and questions where her clothes end up in the environment. Reid gives some clothes to Goodwill and throws away a good amount of clothing each year. Raising awareness about how too much clothing consumption leads to environmental issues is important. Producing cheap clothing is unnatural due to chemical alterations. Therefore, landfills are crowded with chemicals and then released into the groundwater.

Stores such as H&M have made efforts to minimize clothing waste through advertising. The goal of H&M’s campaign to create sustainable fashion was to give discounts to customers who donated their old clothes. Once the clothing is donated, H&M will make new textile fibers and essentially be “recycling”. Only 0.1 percent of all clothing collected by charities and take-back programs is recycled into a new textile fiber (Wicker). The idea of H&M’s campaign to recycle clothing was creative, but not effective. Not enough customers gave their old clothing to H&M. Instead, customers old clothing is either being thrown out or donated to Goodwill. Redirecting sustainability, throwing away clothing is cruel to the environment. Large portions of clothes donated to Goodwill eventually get thrown out due to limited store space and mass amounts of clothing. Reid explains her feelings towards these advertisements and says she thinks that these companies are truly making an effort. Reid is a sales associate at a clothing store and was not aware of the environmental promotion outcomes. Consumers may only see the positive ideas that the campaigns entail, but not the end results. With the focus on advertising, H&M did well promoting their interests in helping the environment, yet lacks execution.

The emergence of “slow fashion” is idolized by designers who want to improve the overall well-being of the fashion industry. Through this opposition, a movement of uniqueness and quality is used to create sustainability. It is premised upon an ethic of care—a concern regarding the materials that go into the products we consume, the longevity of products, and the lives of those connected to their production (Brail 229). Information about the product is essential to the slow fashion movement. Readdressing consumer consumption, slow fashion creates timeless designs that won’t be purchased again. In addition, classic pieces will be glorified and trendy in this industry. Although trends exist, they will be eliminated to lessen consumerism. I asked Reid if she would be interested in slow fashion and she explains that she would buy from local stores and try to consume less. Part of this movement will take efforts from society as a whole and with that is understanding the quality of the products. Quality is more expensive, but less harmful to the environment.

Unfortunately, slow fashion is concentrated towards upscale price points. Designers would produce less merchandise and make clothing pieces more expensive. Creating pieces that contain more natural fibers is generally more expensive and take longer to produce. If there was a way to find cheaper natural fibers, then this would be realistic. The type of consumers plays a huge role in the success of a fashion cycle. Young consumers are shown to spend excessively. Slow fashion is meant to slow down the rate of consumption and production. Young consumers would not be able to afford the high-quality clothing and turn back to the fast fashion stores. Slow fashion does not diminish young consumer consumption. Another way to differentiate one’s product line is to emphasize the exclusivity of each garment (Brail 231). Making garments exclusive is another way of saying that they will be expensive because there will be so little of the clothing pieces. Young consumers do not pay attention to exclusivity, but they do pay attention to trends. Yes, sustainability is thought about, but lower income or young consumers might query this action. Some environmental impacts maybe eased, but this solution is not completely reliable.

However, fast fashion is beneficial to low-income consumers who don’t have the money to spend on more expensive and high-quality clothing. Low-income consumers can go to Forever 21 and buy a nice looking blazer for very inexpensive. There are more low-income consumers than high-income consumers. Therefore, fast fashion stores target a large percentage of consumers in general. Low-income consumers are able to succeed with inexpensive professional clothing. With constant success, the fast fashion industry is continually making money. Nonetheless, the increased importance of consumption, the growing commodification of style, the emergence of mass markets, urbanization and increased population density continue to sate the appetite of retailer sales (Taplin). The fast fashion industry has contributed to economic growth by crafting a trillion-dollar worldwide market. Additionally, the industry provides 1.9 million people with jobs (Elrod). The majority of society is a part of the fast fashion industry whether it is buying, creating, or working in it.

Sustainable fashion activists have come up with ideas to fix clothing waste. A new solution called, closed-loop technology, offers a natural way of producing new clothes from the remnants of old clothes. The goal of this new form of production is for clothes to be endlessly recycled through factories, stores, and closets. A polyester thread would be created, woven into textile, made into a garment, broken down into pure polyester and woven into a textile again (Wicker). Other fibers such as cotton, is in the process of becoming “cleaner” with the reduction of chemicals added when growing. Cotton is used more than any other fiber in the fashion industry. Chemicals are sprayed on cotton crops which makes it extremely hazardous. However, additional routes include biological IMP (integrated pest management) systems, where farmers use biological means to control pests and pathogens; and those including GM (genetically modified) fibers that use biotechnology to resist pest infestations and make weed management simpler. (Fletcher 23).   Identifying what manufacturers spend their money on, cotton can be modified and less harmful. Conversely, the financial disadvantages that cotton growers may have is why genetically modified cotton is at a standstill. Proposals for creating sustainability is addressed but not reliable at the moment. Technology evolution will elucidate the environmental crisis within the fast fashion industry. As of now, making individual efforts to sustain the industry is the key to success.

Environmental factors such as water and carbon pollution is a serious concern in the fast fashion industry. Companies will outsource manufacturing productions to factories in low-income countries to gain profit. Reid shares that the company she works for imports clothing from foreign countries and marks up the price almost double of what they purchased it for. This is making the company more profitable, but causing negative effects on the workers in these foreign countries and the environment. These manufacturers create large amounts of pollution and are killing the environment. For example, “On average, it takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton t-shirt. That is enough water for one person for 900 days” (Drennan 20) and the danger of this is detrimental to the environment. Not only is water pollution a problem, but so are the raw materials that are used to make textiles. Taking hundreds of years to biodegrade, synthetic fibers are unsustainable. In less than 20 years, the volume of clothing Americans toss each year has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons, or an astounding 80 pounds per person (Wicker). The fast fashion industry is at fault and this statistical tragedy is progressively getting worse.   

Despite the lack of sustainability, the fast fashion industry is thriving financially. The continuous economic growth that the industry provides might outweigh the environmental and societal flaws within the industry. The environmental and societal flaws need to be addressed in order to move forward. Chemically induced materials are hurting the environment and pollution is vaster than ever before. The excessive buying that young consumers do triggers impulsive behaviors. Pop culture is altering buying habits and ignoring the unsustainable fashion industry. As a society, recognizing these disputes and taking action can be valuable.  

Inconveniently, there are no proven scientific solutions that can repair the entirety of the fast fashion industry. The hypothesized solutions for sustaining the industry is weary and might take time to resolve. Knowledge is the most impactful tool that can be used to spread awareness about the fast fashion industry. Understanding the cause of these problems and spreading awareness is indispensable. Advancements in technology should provide a platform for moving forward. Starting with consuming less individually, staying away from fast fashion stores, and self-educating about the health and safety risks can be impactful.

 

                                                                                           Works Cited

Brail, Shauna; Hunt, Mia; Leslie, Deborah. “Crafting an Antidote to Fast Fashion: The Case of       Toronto’s Independent Fashion Design Sector.” Growth & Change, Vol. 45 Issue 2, p222-     239, 18p, 2014.

 

Chan, Ricky; Joy, Annamma; Sherry Jr, John F; Venkatesh, Alladi; Wang, Jeff. “Fast Fashion,      Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands.” Fashion Theory: The Journal          of Dress, Body & Culture, Vol. 16 Issue 3, p273

 

Ghose, Anindya; Todri-Adamopoulos, Vilma. “Toward A Digital Attribution Model: Measuring    The Impact of Display Advertising on Online Consumer Behavior.”  MIS Quarterly, Vol.   40 Issue 4, p889-A30, 40p, 2016.

 

Honignman, Ana Finel. “Torn designer jeans against fast fashion.” Critical Studies in Fashion &    Beauty, Vol. 6 Issue 2, p187-  205, 19p, 2015.

 

Knoll, Johannes. “Advertising in Social Media: A Review of Empirical Evidence.” International    Journal of Advertising, Vol. 35 Issue 2, p266-300, 35p, 2016.  

 

Shambu, Girish. “Using The Fast Fashion Supply Chain To Teach Sustainability.” Business           Education Innovation Journal, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p62-67, 6p, 2015.

 

Taplin, Ian. “Global Commodity Chains and Fast Fashion: How the Apparel Industry Continues    to Re-Invent Itself.” Competition & Change, Vol. 18 Issue 3, p246-264, 19p, 2014.

 

Wicker, Alden. “Fast Fashion Is Creating an Environmental Crisis; Textile waste is piling up at       catastrophic levels thanks to the fast-fashion industry.” Newsweek, 9 September 2016,       Vol. 167 Issue 9, p42-45.

 

Reid, Haley. Personal interview. 22 October 2017.