What’s the Problem with Fast Fashion?

Fast fashion is something that’s been around for a while. First originating in the 1970s as companies began to realize production costs would be much cheaper by outsourcing to third world countries. Still we didn’t see this rise of cheap fast produced clothing until the 1990s. This is of course due to the rise in easily available media. Fashion magazines were at a peak in popularity and with access to the internet fashion trends became more widespread than ever before. “Regular people” felt as though they could emulate their favorite celebrities, the popular clothing no longer seemed too out of reach. More casual clothing were worn on red carpets by famous artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Destiny’s Child, etc. 

Photo: Getty Images

The cost of production was much lower than what it was previously and lower cost stores could emulate the popular fashions. With popular stores like Delia’s. Wet Seal, and Limited Too everyone could be a certified “fashionista:. This was just the beginning of the rise of fast fashion, as time went on and the spread of media increased so did fast fashion.

This is something especially present with social media, clothing trends can very quickly hit everyones devices. And with dupes being more popular then ever any person can wear the same fashions for a very small fraction of the price. One example of this is the Lirika Matoshi Strawberry dress that rose to popularity in 2020. 

Photo: lirikaMatoshi

With this dress being shown on social media it very quickly rose to popularity. People became obsessed with the cuteness and professed they absolutely needed this garment, but with a price of $490 it seemed unattainable. This is where we began to see thousands of cheaply produced versions of the dress on a wide variety of fast fashion websites. Because of the trends quick rise to fame and everyone being able to get their hands on it the dress very quickly became a micro trend. And after a month this dress seem “overdone” and “outdated”. The same thing has happened with many other popular garments, once everyone has access to the item it loses it’s sparkle.

And now to the point of why this is so harmful. For one we are losing personal style, because most stores emulate what’s popular and everyone starts to dress the same. It also starts to remove the possibility of a timeless garment, because the items are so cheaply made they don’t have the same potential for longevity. Which will most likely lead most of these items to the landfill, only shortly after being produced. Fast fashion is the third biggest polluter in the world, and is responsible for 10% of carbon emissions. And because of the clothing being created with synthetic fibers they won’t properly decompose. The item you absolutely had to have a years quickly becomes an addition of out huge environmental problem.

XOXO, The Fashion Stock Market