Until the 1960s, fashion trends were primarily season-influenced. Experts planned the fall, winter, spring, and summer collections months in advance. Eventually, fashion became more progressively relaxed. It embraced a mood of informality. But with time, and the advent of the 2000s, manufacturers started (legally) imitating clothing from major runway shows.
As more and more consumers gave in, companies accelerated their processes to meet the pouring demands. Beauty had an all-new meaning, and women had more choices. But the industry created an unanticipated and seemingly never-ending loop of concerns with fast fashion that had less to do with body positivity and was more about revolutionizing the sector, probably the incorrect way.
What Is Fast Fashion?
In the 1990s, New York Times officially coined the term “Fast Fashion” when Zara landed in the city and began mass producing high volumes of cheaper quality clothing to bring inexpensive styles to the end consumer within days. Fast forward to 2022, brands like Shein, GAP, H&M, Mango, Uniqlo, and Forever 21 have all joined the bandwagon.
Fast fashion makes fashion reasonable and accessible to many. Prices are slashed significantly, and options are wider to respond to the latest trends. Also, with social media picking up, fast fashion brands mostly turn to fashion influencers to promote products online. As opposed to the four-season trends, brands now prepare for several micro seasons, and it’s all happening at an incredible rate.
But how did fast fashion become a problem? The unethical trade practices are to be blamed. Today, nearly 80 billion pieces are consumed worldwide. Around $500 billion of value is lost due to a lack of recycling efforts. Of all the items produced as a result of fast fashion, every 3 out of 5 pieces end up in the landfill.
But since many consumers cannot afford ethically produced fashion, the war between fast and eco-fashion remains somewhere in the middle of the battleground.
How Is Fast Fashion A Problem?
Why is everyone fussing over fast fashion when all it does is bring high-end clothing closer to consumers? Here are the problems with fast fashion:
1. The Soaring Customer Demand
Disposable clothing trends thrive because consumers demand cheaper garments produced at lightning speeds. It’s innovative, fun, and practical and offers instant gratification. But creating new fashion daily is also costing the environment.
2. Mass Production
Clothes are getting cheaper. But with reduced prices, quality suffers. And while everything’s fashionable yet reasonable and convenient, trends are growing exponentially. So mass production is possible. But it also leads to considerable textile and resource wastage. Women fall victim to trends and barely find their perfect fit. Besides, mass-producing garments don’t fit into the no-waste economy model.
3. Low Quality
How do you think fast fashion is coping with the increasing market demand? By offering low-quality clothing. The craftsmanship is significantly compromised. There’s more use of underpaid unskilled labor. Besides, companies utilize the cheapest materials to churn out billions of pieces annually.
4. Cheap Labor
Usually, fast fashion brands hire cheap female or child laborers from countries like Bangladesh, India, China, and Vietnam, which is one of the worst reasons fast fashion is problematic. Their working conditions are inhumane. They work unbearably long hours, are paid terribly low, and work in hazardous circumstances. There’s literally a humanitarian crisis going on in the fast fashion industry.
5. Little Care for the Environment
This is another major problem with fast fashion companies. It hurts the environment. Unsustainable brands are bringing down rainforests, consuming excess energy during production cycles, polluting the water by dumping untreated chemicals, contaminating the soil with synthetic fibers, and dramatically increasing discarded waste.
A Viable Alternative to Fast Fashion? Sustainable Fashion!
Fast fashion is a problematic industry since it causes human and environmental challenges. There’s the overconsumption of natural resources, with so much ending up in landfills, and a constant push for low labor costs and unsafe working conditions. All this has led to disastrous manufacturing practices, and none is sustainable in the long run.
The solution? Sustainability fashion. Sustainable brands celebrate the beautiful female form and are ethical and confidence-invoking.
But again, it would be unrealistic to think that all production can be 100% sustainable right away. Fast fashion remains in very high demand. So, the mass buying consumer behavior must change, and corporations, too, must invest in a positive mindset shift to make fashion viable but also sustainable.
Saina – Sustainable Approach to Fashion
Fast fashion exhausts so many women all around the globe. But sustainable fashion that celebrates women is the new formula to fast fashion. Companies like Saina are game-changer in the industry heavily plagued with fast-fashion-induced concerns.
Saina is a women’s clothing brand that’s approaching fashion with sustainability in mind. This sustainable brand offers high-quality clothing and well-made designs that are stylish and empower women to feel their confident selves. The brand encourages women to dress for their bodies and not be forced into fashion not meant for them. Saina features daily wear and sportswear collections that women can be proud to wear, accentuating their inner and outside beauty.
Founder Saina Nia believes that the fashion industry is becoming more about influencer-led trends, sponsored ads, and no worthy brands for women to invest their hard-earned money in. Hence, Saina offers high-quality pieces that promote body positivity and celebrate women.
Sustainable brands like Saina are putting power back into the hands of those who deserve it. Click here to learn more about the sustainability of Saina.
