By Fashion is one of the few industries that has been revolutionized in a very short span of time, thanks to
fast fashions which enable consumers to wear modern fashionable wear despite the alleged high cost.
Such trends have been exploited by companies like Zara, Him, and Sheen who provide the current trends but cheap.
As much as the fast fashion system is viewed positively, there has been a concern on its moral issues. This paper
will look into the history of fast fashion and its contemporary challenges including their effect to labor and the environment in the entire world.
What is fast fashion?
Fast fashion is the very quick turnaround design, production, and marketing of clothes and other wear that are broadly
popular at an instant. It is aimed to get the clothes worn by celebrities on the catwalks into the shops as fast as possible.
There is thus an endless supply of new fashions, and new fads come out from the collections, making consumers
purchase excessively. It is however cheap and offers a wide range of products but not without some implications on
the quality and the economy.
The popularization of Fast Fashion
The popularization of fast fashion began in the early 2000s when a growing number of brands modified their business
model; however it is worth noticing that this globalization of the supply chain is not a recent phenomenon. Instead of
a few collections a season as it was before with traditional fashion houses, now fast fashion brands produce and release
dozens of micro-seasons. Again, the expansion of fast fashion has been propelled by the social networks as well as the
World Wide Web which have created markets that demand for the current styles in the shortest time possible.
Here comes the fast fashion which allows the customers to wear the trends at a reasonable cost. Therefore, it
is evident that people purchase clothes even when they do not need them hence overconsumption. The quick turnover
of the styles leads the customers to treat the clothes as disposables and this extends the fast fashion tendency.
Ethical Issues Related to Fast Fashion
The expansion of the fast fashion industry is accompanied by many ethical issues, the most prominent
of which relate to employment and the environment.
Work force exploitation:
Most of the fast fashion companies relocate their manufacturing activities to male gender socially responsible
hegemonic societies to cut on production costs as labor in those regions is cheap. Citizens in those countries,
especially women, are subjected to hard labor, abnormal working hours and miserable pay. Occasionally, this
results in the employment of sweatshops and even the child labor in industries.
Almost 1100 garment workers lost their lives in the devastating collapse of Rena Plaza located in Bangladesh, which
incidentally has everything to do with the poor working conditions that are largely ignored in the industry across the globe.
Environmental Impact:
Fast fashion system is associated with one of the highest levels of pollution in the world. It is because of the large scale
clothing production which utilizes huge amounts of water and energy resources often contaminating water reservoirs and
releasing greenhouse gases. Apart from that, the use of chemical based materials such as polyester made of petrol contributes
to the environmental menace as well. Another concern is the clothing that has to be disposed of as trash where a lot of clothes are
wasted and thrown away but remains rotten in the dumpsites for the coming hundreds of years.
Waste and Overconsumption:
The concept of fast fashion makes the customer go beyond their essential need of buying and thereby causing overproduction
due to a lot of waste. Because of the rapid change in the new styles, it led to millions of clothing oversupplied and wasted each
season. Most of these wastes are got rid of by burning or being put in garbage cities which contributes to the pollution problem.
Inferior Quality of Goods:
To enhance profitability, fast fashion brands have a tendency of producing garments of very poor quality. As a result, these
garments are made to be replaced more frequently by the consumers because they wear out easily. This is not only
counterproductive in the quest of reducing consumption but it also worsens the issue of clothing pollution.
The Role of the Customers in the Fast Fashion Cycle
Customers constitute an essential part of the activities that encompass the rapid fashion cycle. The appellation of this
dynamic purchasing culture can be found in the consumers’ penchant for inexpensive new clothes. For this reason, brands
resort to increased production often compromising moral values. In this case, a typical consumer oversimplifies the concept o
f fashion and gives in to fast fashion at the risk of labor abuse and environmental degradation. On the other hand, consumers
are also capable of slowing down the motion of the gears of the industry when they make thoughtfully prepared purchases.
Besides, the fast fashion model is now a thing of the past, as ethical and environmentally friendly fashion has emerged.
How Can More Solutions Be Proposed to Overcome the Challenges Posed by Fast Fashion?
Tackling the mores related concerns in fast fashion industries is not a small issue and involves several strategies.
Supporting Ethical Franchises:
One of the ways to mitigate the adverse effect brought by fast fashion is engaging in buying from ethical
fashion brands that seek to ensure that their production is free from exploitation regardless of the cost or
that uses eke materials. Such brands tend to have a limited number of collections and focus on making high standard crafts instead.
Less is More:
In addition to consumption, other sections of the society can also do their part by consuming less. People
should learn and practice buying fewer, overpriced clothes which will restrain the fast fashion industry and
the bulky wastes of clothes produced.
Rupee Veda Reuse:
Reusing or refinishing unused or old Clothes is yet another way to reverse the adverse impacts that fast fashion has
on the ecosystem. It is well known that when people have clothes that they no longer need, they take those clothes to
thrift shops or even take them apart and make entirely new items, thus reducing the amount of fabric going into landfills.
Civic Engagement:
Efforts Must Develop Those Political Institutions and Social Movements Which Will Promote Change for
Labor Standards There Help Net Workers in These Industries in Protecting Their Rights. It is possible to
eliminate a problematic brand by shamelessly boycotting that brand’s goods – thereby making it unviable
to continue production in its present socially harmful form. Fast fashion is a trend that has facilitated the
expansion and availability of fashionable clothes to the masses and this has come with dire ramifications
on the environment and the workers. There are social vices like abuse of labor and degradation of the
environment that prohibit us from practicing these multiuse. Consumers, brands, as well as states has a
significant impact on the development of the ensuing fashion industry. If we continue to do this, we will
be able to reduce the adverse effects of the fast fashion enablement and further the cause of ethical and sustainable fashion.
