The environmental impact of fashion: fast vs slow fashion
The world is becoming increasingly materialistic, even as it gets more and more expensive. To cater to the voracious appetites of fashion fanatics, while keeping in mind their shrinking spending power, is something of a tall order. The world population is booming and so are demands for hip fashion clothing. As short-term trends come and go, manufacturers must churn out a large number of similar items fast enough to keep up. However, is this frenzied pace of production sustainable or responsible? Or is it leading the world, and all of its fashion devotees, down to the land of no return?
Fast fashion is defined as a design, manufacturing and marketing method, focused on very quickly producing high volumes of clothing. It uses trend replication and cheap materials to bring inexpensive and low-quality clothing to the end consumer. It is a trendy, yet destructive practice, and one that many believe is harmful to the environment, the animals, garment sector workers, and even eventually, the wallets of the very consumers who buy them.
Offering an alternative to fast fashion practices is slow fashion, backed by fair trade laws, humane working standards and environmentally friendly raw materials and production processes.
Even as recently as the mid-twentieth century, fashion houses would bring out a total of four seasonal collections annually. Designers would predict what styles consumers would prefer and fill their lookbooks with colours and patterns based on these preferences. This kept the power solely with the fashion houses and consumers did not have much say in the styles that were offered to them. Fashion was a strictly high society matter and there were rules to be followed.
Eventually, an aptly timed ‘paper clothes’ ad in the 1960s proved that customers were ready for fast fashion and the fashion industry responded by matching the pace of demand. This made them scalable and able to offer products at reduced prices. The mid-2000s saw an overwhelming demand for boho-chic fashion and it was here, the experts say, that fast fashion truly went beyond the point of no return.
Are customers truly hungering for fresh new looks every other week, or is it the fashion houses who compel them to gobble up the new collection they bring out?
Brands such as Zara, and recently the Chinese giant Shein, now bring out new styles almost weekly, calling them ‘micro seasons’ and it is almost normal for fashion houses to be perpetually ready with a towering supply of clothing to cater to consumers’ demands. These styles replicate streetwear, and fashion week trends, almost as soon as they come out in real-time.
Therefore the conundrum that is at play here, is eerily similar to the chicken and egg adage: Are customers truly hungering for fresh new looks every other week, or is it the fashion houses who compel them to gobble up the new collection they bring out? Whichever the case, cheap fashion is definitely not free- garment workers in developing countries like Bangladesh pay its price daily, with poor working conditions, severely slashed pay rates and inhumane working hours. The toxins released by the dyes choke the world’s rivers, and the lead, pesticides and even cancer-causing agents found in these inexpensive outfits sit in landfills, refusing to decompose.
According to some truly appalling statistics by Fast Company, modern apparel brands bring 53 million tonnes of clothing into the world annually, with the exponential growth expected to reach 160 million, by 2050. The data is concerning and begs the question: How can this fashion endemic be curbed?
Offering an alternative to fast fashion practices is slow fashion, backed by fair trade laws, humane working standards and environmentally friendly raw materials and production processes. True to its buzz phrase, the production processes here are slower, and the garments produced are good quality, and lasting, albeit pricey. Bangladeshi brands such as Aranya, Mayasir, and Friendship Colours of the Char, which work with local artisans to preserve dying crafts, provide livelihoods to women and disadvantaged groups, and use natural materials, are an environmentally friendly answer to the fashion enthusiasts of the world. The vegetable dyes running into the river do not threaten marine life, and natural fibres used in the making of these clothes decompose easily without choking up the earth. The clothes can easily be worn and re-worn for years, without compromising on the quality and they often end up in thrift stores which further increases their shelf life. The reduced prices benefit buyers and the longer life of these clothes is equally helpful to the environment.
While it is encouraging that stewards of the earth are advocating for the planet and for the safety of workers, the number of such organisations is significantly lower than their money-making adversaries in the same field. Thorough research and development costs, complex production processes and costs of fair compensation for the artisans usually reflect in the prices of these products and take them beyond the reach of an average middle-class buyer.
Ways to make these natural processes more scalable, and reduce costs for these products should be looked into if the fashion world really is to clear its name as a culprit to the environment and wishes to give back agency where it should indisputably be in the hands of the environment.