It wasn’t until the 90’s when we started to see some significant shifts in the fashion industry. Suddenly, consumers realized that they could get the same high-fashion trend, but for a fraction of the price. After this, there was simply no turning back, not for the brands or the consumers.
High-fashion styles, tons of options, and affordable price tags? Almost sounds too good to be true, right?
That’s because it is.
This production method has its drawbacks. And unfortunately, these drawbacks are significant threats to our environment and all of humanity.
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast fashion is a business model that focuses on producing as many on-trend collections as possible and in the shortest amount of time. As you can imagine, anything with “fast” in front of it means that it’s probably not the best quality. Hence why we all try to stay away from fast food!
The same concept applies to clothing. As production is sped up, the garment’s quality goes down, which is why you’ll see insanely cheap price tags.
The Drawbacks of Fast Fashion
The threat of this business model is two-fold; on an environmental level and human level.
Starting off, fast fashion has complete disregard for our planet and its well-being, as the industry is responsible for being the largest consumer of our water supply. Not to mention producing 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions.
Factories that produce clothes at this quick of a rate often dump leftover textiles into landfills, which end up getting washed into our waterways. Even worse, certain factories have been caught illegally dumping their toxic waste-water into rivers.
If this isn’t bad enough, fast fashion is also responsible for the exploitation of garment workers. As consumer demands increase, so does the pressure that’s placed onto garment workers. Labor laws have been broken in several ways through unpaid wages, inhumane working conditions, and various forms of abuse.
Some of the world’s largest brands, even the ones we’ve loved for years, are to blame for violating human rights and exploiting our planet at the same time.
What is Slow Fashion?
Trust us; we know how overwhelming this can be.
However, there’s some light at the end of this seemingly dark tunnel! That light is something called slow fashion; in other words, a sustainable and ethical way of producing clothes.
As more companies were exposed for their unethical business practices, the need for a new business model grew in high demand. Consumers felt outraged to discover that their affordable clothes actually came at the expense of someone else’s livelihood.
It’s safe to say that people just wanted transparency, and rightfully so because we all deserve it. Slow fashion offers sustainable fabrics, ethical sourcing, environmentally responsible production, and fair wages. No, this one isn’t too good to be true; this is how fashion should always be done.
The main difference between the two is that one encourages mass consumption, while the other encourages environmental and social awareness. The slow fashion ideology believes that our clothes shouldn’t contribute to climate change or exploitation. With your help as a conscious consumer, we’re working together as a team to fight against the dark side of the fashion industry.
