10 reasons why you should rethink your fast fashion pieces

The Lesser Evil:
Aug 27, 2017 · 9 min read

Hey there, hello. Does it ever occur to you that you’re creating a different kind of hell when you pick up that cute little blouse from a fast fashion giant? What is fast fashion anyway? This post might be slightly long, because I don’t want to break it down into separate articles — we need to understand each issue feeds into another, and they all come together in a vicious loop.


WHAT IS FAST FASHION?

It is a phenomenon where the fashion companies expedite production processes as fast as they can in order to market new trends as quickly and cheaply as possible. It is made possible by globalization and more advanced supply chain management. It is what makes fashion retailers gain profit by marketing 52 seasons in a year, each week with new designs, with minimal impact on stock inventory. All is good, we have new designs 24–7.

But to me, when we buy from these retailers such as H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, Forever 21, etc., it is the moment when we sacrifice quality, authenticity, environment, basic living standards of female or child labour in developing countries for extremely low price.

It is the moment when you are mislead by conglomerates and advertisers to believe that you are making such “good deals” without realising the true cost behind it all.

It doesn’t matter whether these companies are investing in developing recyclable textiles, sustainable fabrics etc. What matters is us, as the consumers, are NOT aware of the problem that we are creating, by giving these companies our bucks. And we don’t stop, because we think it is a necessity to purchase new clothes.

Re-post from @fash_rev on Instagram

WHY YOU SHOULD RECONSIDER YOUR FAST FASHION CHOICES?

1. It is cheap (and a counterfeit).

Yes, I said it, it is cheap. It is cheap in the stylistic sense, and it is cheap in monetary value. It strips off costs that are supposed to be paid to labour, to the materials, and to the environment. (We’ll get to this further down.) Not only that, it is most likely a counterfeit.

Yes that’s definitely a trendy blouse you’ve got there, and I believe how much you love it because you’re wearing it all season.

But take a look around your closet, how many pieces of similar blouses you have already bought, loved, and abandoned? This can either mean: (1) you seem to have very short-lived passion for each piece of clothing you own, or (2) you don’t mind splurging on similar pieces of clothes because they are cheap, or (3) the designs are copycats from different brands.

Yes, it is true. You think that top looks familiar? Yes, because a fast fashion giant has sent photos of clothing from runways, local designers to factories and asked them to replicate the exact piece with slight alterations as one of the 52 seasons they push to consumers every week. When big brands gets copied, they call the copycats ‘counterfeits’. When the fashion giants copy, they get away with it because they are ‘too big’ and ‘too rich’ for a lawsuit. Or people just can’t be bothered to file a lawsuit — the ‘trends’ changes 52 times a year anyway. See links below:

Are High-Fashion Copies Actually Legal?

Zara shamelessly copy every major fashion player

H&M accused of ‘having no shame’ as latest collection looks ‘identical’ to high-end designs by Balenciaga, Celine and Kenzo

H&M Responds to Thrasher’s Flame Logo Plagiarism Accusation


2. If it is not a counterfeit, is it better? No, it’s still cheap.

I know I sound a little bit snobbish here, but cheap is cheap. There’s a fine line between something being made using lower value material vs ‘cheap’. The former is made with producer with integrity, not charging high premium for some shit, and the latter is producer scamming your money.

Something being ‘cheap’ means a disproportion between quality & price. A ‘cheap’ product can be expensive or low in value. When you deliberately buy something because it is ‘cheap’, you get what you pay for:


3. I don’t see how it is bad in quality — what do you mean?

Photo credit: Bluemaize

Let’s get this straight. Do you know what ‘quality’ means? I didn’t. We are all so used to fast fashion pieces that we have zero idea what is of ‘better’ quality than a piece that doesn’t fall apart after 20 washes. We think that as long as there are seams and there are ‘no loose threads’, and that the colours don’t go off during their first two washes, the clothing are ‘good in quality’.

Not trying to play the expert here, because I’m also figuring out what quality clothing is like. But from my researches I found that there are things that a good piece of clothing can fulfill:

No one would say that they’ve bought a quality outfit if it is what Kanye West has designed, no matter how good the fabric / cut is. (ooops)


4. What’s wrong with companies charging high price margins? It’s a commercial world.

Photo credit: Business Insider

There’s nothing wrong with companies wanting to gain more profit. But at some point, we must stop and think — from where are they getting profit? We, the consumers, definitely is a source of revenue. But there’s only so much we pay, 80 HKD for a top maybe? Another way would be to cut costs. Cheaper fabric. Cheaper labour.

Those garment workers:

There’s no promise that when those fast fashion giants start charging premium prices for their clothing, they are transferring that money to these workers.


5. It is the perception of ‘cheap’ that is so problematic.

and soon we will all be asking, how much cheaper can we go before we get pieces that are completely trashed after 1 wash?


6. What’s the problem with buying new pieces?

This involves 3 important points that we should know:

(1) You won’t stop buying. There is nothing wrong with buying new pieces that complete your wardrobe. But both you and I know this is not the only piece of black leggings, white blouse, or cute patterned top that you are going to buy.

(2) We don’t have a wardrobe of an infinite size.

(3) Abandoned clothing either goes to donation, or to the landfill.

These don’t seem to be an issue, but read this:

DONATION: The majority of donated clothing are not sold. Clothing has become so cheap that even developing countries are likely to be able to afford them. People who used to buy secondhand clothes can now afford to buy new pieces thanks to cheap prices.

LANDFILL: Most of the cheap clothing are made with non-biodegradable fabrics, namely, polyester, which are no different from non-biodegradable plastics.


7. Why can’t we recycle polyester if we can recycle plastic?

Good question. Recycling polyester is difficult because

(1) The fabric has chemical backing, lamination or other finish,

(2) Clothing is mostly made with blended fabrics (e.g. 70% polyester, 25% cotton, 5% nylon). There is currently few technology to help us separate polyester from the rest.

Chemical methods can separate polyester from other fabrics, but it is cost and time consuming for a lot of factories / businesses to do.

There are some news lately that there is technology separate cotton-polyester blends (see link here) but I’m not sure how this works if polyester is blended with other fabrics, or what the cost looks like from doing so.


8. At least, we are helping developing countries.

To some extent, yes, we are paying these fast fashion giants to invest in developing countries. But there’s a catch — they are also exploiting their labour and natural resources. We are only helping if workers get paid enough to climb the social ladder, but very often this is not the case.

It is a no-brainer that when prices are low, demands are high. When more and more consumers buy from fast fashion brands, these companies have orders so big (often hundreds of thousands units) that they are too big to reject for factories. With such big orders, companies holds tremendous power to exert pressure on factories to lower their manufacturing costs (“take it or leave it” mentality there!) And at the end they have to take the order and force workers to work longer hours at cheaper price to survive.

Lower wages means workers cannot even afford basic living standards, let alone education. Without education, they are forever stuck. The vicious cycle continues…


9. Don’t companies have their code of ethics and CSR policies?

Do you honestly believe it? LOL.

Well, the trick is that most of these fast fashion companies cannot trace their full production lines. Their factories sub-contract their orders, and sub-contractors do not necessarily need to adhere to the companies’ “code of ethics”.


10. Why can’t workers resist?

Those who initiates protests or discussions with management for better welfare are beaten, threatened or fired. In 2014, Cambodian garment workers took to the streets for slight increases in minimum wages, only to have armed police killing 3.

In these developing countries, garment export takes up such a large part of the country’s national income that corrupted government will make allies with garment factory owners to suppress actions that will increase costs of manufacturing.


Conclusion:

Fashion fades, style remains.

I have attempted to give a brief summary of what I have understood about the fashion industry today. Seems like a gloomy picture out there.

But the thing is, we can make a difference.

When you pick up a lovely skirt in an H&M or Zara next time, think again. Are you buying ‘fashion’ or are you buying ‘style’? By being more conscious and buying well-thought-through pieces that really complements your very own curated closet, you are one step closer to saving a part of the world.

See more on how to identify quality pieces, select suitable fabric for your style, and construct your very own closet that truly represent your style, please see my other blogposts!

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The Lesser Evil:

Written by

I’m Kammie. I’m obsessed with #slowfashion, #organicskincare, and #activeliving. Enthusiastic Crossfitter. Fruit lover, Certified advanced personal trainer.

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