Fast Fashion’s Fashionable Sins
When it comes to a person’s sense of fashion, two variables come into play: personality and affordability. Whether you look at the clothing tastes of your peers, friends, family, or just random people, these two factors are important. Your sister adorns Carhartt, Levi Strauss, and a pair of Thursday Boot Company boots while your brother shops regularly from Hot Topic and collects many Doc Martens and Converse sneakers. Each item and accessory of clothing helps display a bit of what kind of person someone is, and to some nature, displays how much they are willing to pay to look fresh and hip.
It would not take a financial advisor to understand many people do not have enough money to spend on fashion. Despite this, why should we sacrifice our looks just because of poor funds? After all, no one wants to wear their dad’s decades-old double extra-large faded graphic t-shirt or their mom’s ruffle pants. Many find a solution by buying from bulk sites; most notably sites such as H&M, Zara, SHEIN and Romwe. Even if you are an avid shopper or the occasional necklace purchaser, it would be sinful to say you have not given in to this cheap and fast fashion. The appeal is understandable. The idea of articles that you can buy, wear until damaged, throw away, and virtually rinse your hands off it and repeat sure sounds nice. However, the damage that comes from this type of clothing does not just stop at that rip of thread you are tossing in the garbage.
Some of the controversies tied to fast fashion include lawsuits, unfair labor practices, and environmental unsustainability. As seen on ethical fashion website Good on You and the articles and statistics they quote, some statements include: “93% of brands surveyed by the Fashion Checker aren’t paying garment workers a living wage,” “Over half of fast fashion employees don’t even get a living wage,” “The fashion industry is responsible for 8% of carbon emissions,” and “Three out of five fast fashion items end up in a landfill.”
As bad as this conundrum seems, you can help become an active solution to these problems. For starters, limiting or cutting out your consumption of cheap fashion will become not only more ethical in the end, but will save more money in your pocket. Immediate gratification from purchasing a single decent quality pair of pants is dull in comparison to the complete haul you would get on SHEIN, but those jeans will last much longer than the latter ever will.
Finding alternative websites and outlets for purchasing clothing is a beneficial example of bringing proper change. Despite the stigma around thrift and consignment stores, many have a wide selection of hidden gems that only take a good eye to find. Just within the Goodwill in Murray alone, you can find a little bit of everything if you dig enough. Examples of both modern brands such as Hollister, American Eagle, and Nike alongside vintage Jean Paul Gaultier, Levi Strauss, and Yves Saint Laurent are all potential finds. As time may become the spending variable as much as money in these examples, the extra effort will pay off. What may seem like an extra hour or two of work on your end can lead to a much greater impact on those stitching and sewing those fabrics you put on.
