Why you should avoid fast fashion brands

     

         

"Its only one cheap T-shirt" said 7 billion people.

A week ago, I was sitting in a café with an old friend, talking about the shadiness of fast fashion brands specially Urbanic and Shein. I realized many people still buy from said brands completely oblivious about their fraudulent businesses.

Here’s a list of reasons why you should avoid fast fashion brands

1.Producing knock-offs and duplicating

A genuine designer requires around 6 months to produce designs, manufacture them and launch brand new collections. Fast fashion brands do this within a week by duplicating the same designs and making minor changes. This is legal since the brands are not producing counterfeits rather, they are making products that only resemble the original designs. Many original creators are lost in this process because their designs are copied so much. New clothing lines arrive every week which brings me to my next point.

2. Underpaid/Underage labor

To launch a new line every week, fast-fashion requires cheap labor. These laborers are made to work in inhuman conditions and paid little to no wage. One cannot make cheap clothing, pay workers generously and keep the working conditions clean and safe to work in.

In 2013, a preventable structural failure caused Rana Plaza in Bangladesh to collapse killing 1132 workers and maiming 2500 people. The owner of the plaza was well aware of the risks yet threatened to cut off the workers’ minimal wages lest they remained absent. Even after voicing their concerns, they couldn’t take a leave since they were being paid 14 to 16 cents an hour.

3. Pollution and Waste

Mass production results in too many clothes ending up in landfills and creating waste that takes centuries to decompose. Polyester, nylon etc, use almost 342 million barrels of oil per year. A semi-synthetic fabric called Viscose is derived from wood pulp. Approximately 33% of this fabric is taken from either ancient or threatened forests and only 30% of the total harvest ends up becoming garments. The rest is either dumped or incinerated. 

The whole process of manufacturing clothes uses a lot of toxic chemicals which are often dumped in various water bodies, making them too toxic to use. Mostly these are village rivers. Indonesia has factories of Zara and H&M that dump their waste in a river called Citarum river. Using this water has caused liver problems in young children. 

 

 

It's high time we started supporting eco-friendly, ethical clothing brands and thrift stores. Instead of buying new clothes often, buying multi-purpose clothes should be taken into account.

Let me know in the comments section about any ethical and eco-friendly brands that you support.

Instagram: @priyxnshii.xo 

Until next time,

Cheerio!