From Catwalk to Clearance Rack.
It was the item that everyone wanted. Now it’s hung on a rack with a $29.99 tag to its name.

ATLANTA — There is that old saying: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
In this case, that may be true.
A green medium-sized ribbed off-the-shoulder top, worn by a plastic mannequin doll in front of Express. It had been seen all over Instagram, reposted a million times during the summer. The ticket was priced at $79.99 with an additional 40 percent off summer sale added on.
The top lasted for a good couple of months, four months to be exact.
As the cold fall season approaching, the price of the top decreased. Redlined and marked down to $19.90 before placing it on a ‘Clearance’ rack, hoping for a potential buyer to buy it and wear it with pride.
Instead, it watches potential buyers roaming around the store, eager to try on other tops like it in the fitting room before watching it getting purchased on the counter. Hopeful about the possibility of being brought, but instead is let down by the idea.
It watches silently, questioning: “What makes that top so special that I need to be labeled at a lower price?”
Within the fashion industry, a career field dominated by executive marketing and social media has allowed customers to gain access to well-known brands at a low price, but what happens when it goes out of style?
Corporate companies like Fashion Nova and H&M used ‘fast fashion’, a business tactic used to produce well-known brands with cheaper materials and labor in order to satisfy the customer’s needs.
Although retail prices and sales are rapidly increasing, the timeliness of the clothing is cut short. On average, consumers buy 60% of clothing resulting in 1.8 trillion dollars in sales but keeps them for less than 15 years. This means that consumers are buying more clothes, which results in more waste being thrown into the back of the closet.
While clothes are worn out or damaged, it’s normal for customers to return the item within 60 days but what happens to the clothes that weren’t brought at all?
Not only do higher demands create much more financial availability, whether if it’s online or in-store, but it also creates problematic outlook towards labor exploitation.
Fast Fashion introduce new styles within every two weeks particularly in reference to photos from fashion week, creating a chain reaction for stores to duplicate the trend at a lower cost rate. Companies push to create these clothes by creating abrupt relationships with countries like Bangladesh who are willing to produce these demands at a lower cost.
Furthermore, labor exploitation is becoming a main issue. UNICEF and the International Labor Organization reported that an estimated 170 children are currently working in the clothing industry which limits to fast fashion.
“Fast Fashion chains are expanding quickly.”, Laura Heller, an author for Forbes magazine, stated.
In addition to this, retail employers are being exploited as well.
The green ribbed off-the-shoulder top had went through the process the sorting out the shirt out with other tops similar along with being sensored and placed in the steamer to dissolve the wrinkles out before it was placed on the rack for availability.
All within the hands of an associate who worked more than 15 hours, gaining very little paid after being endured with harsh work ethics.
“Fast fashion may seem cheap, but it comes with a very high human cost. That T-Shirt can be sold for $4 because the worker who made it was only a few pennies,” Marlaina Garczynski, a staff writer for the BASH club, opinionated.
As the green top watched as customers walk past the clearance rack, skimming through other items that are marked in full retail; It watches wondering: “Why buy it if you’re going to wear it once?”
Kit Yarrow, a consumer psychologist at the Golden Gate University in San Francisco, issued a report on the behavior of shopper and the motivation behind it.
Yarrow reported that clothes are being purchased based on fantasy regarding the consumer.
“[The consumer] imagine themselves as the sort of person who goes on cruises or attend black tie events or goes camping or who is slimmer than they are,” Yarrow explained.
A Quantis report issued a study where the average person consumes at least 25lbs of clothes; However, North Americans are the largest consumers to consume 81lbs of new textiles which equates to $2,288 per year.
Rather than becoming apart of the overall clothing trend, shoppers are relying more towards second-hand shopping, or thrift shopping.
Thrift shoppers are finding an easier way to save money while shopping considering that there’s a higher quality in fabric rather than retail-priced clothing.
Cecila McDowell, a frequent thrift-shopper, endures going through the process for following the latest clothing trends without having to spend too much.
“I am someone who will only with within my planned budget. I don’t make lots of money every week or month and like to put money in my saving for emergency and such.”
To avoid spending money, McDowell issued a list on how to spend money appropriately without going over the limit stating that the best way is to wait for prices to drop within a couple of weeks or a month.
Whatever how to spend it, they say that the clothes make the man. It’s up to man to shop appropriately while looking fashionable.

