Can we get fast fashion to slow down?
- sashajosephsj
- Nov 22, 2018
- 2 min read
Fast fashion, true to its name, is all about being fast. Whether it’s in bringing in looks and designs, cutting supply chain times, customers getting their hands on the products, and even the time before we get rid of an out-of-season item. It’s all about speed.
However, this has led to a big problem of wastage. In my own experience, I have often bought more clothing that I can realistically wear, and then I end up having to get rid of other items to create closet space. I can thus imagine the combined scale of the problem of clothing wastage must be massive. One garbage truckload per second, to be precise.
A report from the Ellen MacArthur foundation also highlighted that less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing. It’s time to think about how we can stop being part of the problem. Personally, giving up shopping altogether feels nearly impossible to me, especially when the low prices of fast fashion are ever-tempting.
So how do we play our part? Here are 3 tips from me:
1. Recognising why low prices are as low as they are. The underpaid labour, the low-quality materials and hazardous chemicals, the resource wastage, the fact that someone else is bearing a high socio-economic cost for your ‘cheap’ clothing.
2. Reduce the frequency or quantity of my buying behaviour. If previously I bought one new piece of clothing per month, I challenge myself to cut it down to one new piece every two months. This is a small step that will create an accumulated benefit, and help me ease out of the ‘need’ to purchase.
3. Invest more effort into researching what I’m buying. Purchasing better quality, sustainable clothing would require a little digging, as well as being informed on a company’s ethical production practices.
Comments