SIDNEY RAYBA
FAST FASHION
A $1.7 trillion dollar industry: its impact on the Earth, and the people.
By: Sidney Rayba, Bridget Janis, Nicole Grindling, and Makayla Michaels.
FAST FASHION, WHAT IS IT?
BY: SIDNEY RAYBA
​Fast Fashion has been a mainstay of popular culture for decades. From the wealthy to those who ‘ball on a budget’, fashion lovers rely on trendy clothing that’s affordable and accessible to all. A recent increase in the rate at which we cycle through clothes has sparked national concern, and has become an additional contributor to the looming threat of global warming. The term ‘fast fashion,’ originally coined in the 1990’s, has taken traction with current college students and younger generations due to its prominence and relevance on social media platforms.
Rising levels of globalization and offshore manufacturing in the late ‘90’s led to the development of unsustainable fast fashion--cheap, trendy clothing that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at high speed to meet consumer demand, fashioned from inhumane conditions and gargantuan contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. While overconsumption is not an entirely modern issue, sustainable fashion has been advocated for since the 60’s with the ‘flower power’ movement.
The fast fashion model involves rapid design, production, distribution and marketing, which means that retailers are able to pull large quantities of product variety and allow consumers to get more fashion and product differentiation at a super low price, according to Earth.org.
Woman shopping at Forever 21 at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets on Nov. 22, 2021. Stores such as Forever 21 are known for cheap and trendy clothing that appeals to the younger generation.
THE TRUTH ABOUT FAST FASHION
Bags of clothing in the back storage area of Clothes Mentor on Nov. 22, 2021. Clothes Mentor gathers unused clothing items in the store and donates them to different charities.
Fast Fashion, how much do we really know about it? Fast fashion is a growing industry in the digital sector, as online shopping is becoming more and more common amongst teens and adults. As "micro-trends" are being cycled through on a bi-weekly basis, fast fashion companies such as Shein, Zaful and Romwe (just to name a few) have emerged as the "saving grace" for those who want to follow fashion trends-but on a budget.
Social Media platforms such as Youtube and Tiktok have unknowingly promoted these brands, as users are able to post "fashion hauls" on their pages showing bundles of clothes purchased from these websites.
This, in turn, promotes the business and the idea that buying tons of clothes at the lowest price possible is something to strive for. That overconsumption is the ideal goal.
In Deep Dive Podcast: The Truth about fast fashion, host Sidney Rayba “dives” into the nitty-gritty, rarely explored world of Fast Fashion. From unethical work practices and labor conditions to over consumption and waste, learn the truth about an industry that is taking over our planet.
AN ENVIRONMENTALIST'S PERSPECTIVE:A SIT-DOWN INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR REBEKAH FARRUGIA
BY: BRIDGET JANIS
Fast fashion is creating a faster trend cycle which is leading to a large portion of water and other resources being wasted. With everyone wanting to obtain the newest styles, fast fashion was created to be a cheaper and faster way for people to buy clothes. While the price tag may be cheaper, the price our environment pays becomes bigger.
Rebekah Farrugia, a professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Oakland University has noticed how fast fashion has been affecting our environment. She has been bringing up the topic of fast fashion in many of the classes she’s been teaching over the past couple years.
“I think there are enough young people that are starting to wake up to things like climate change and other environmental problems in our society related to things like waste and water and everything,” Farrugia said.
According to Indiana University Bloomington water pollution from the fashion industry is caused by the textile companies dumping their toxic waste waters into bodies of water. According to EcoWatch, this has resulted in 70% of bodies of water being contaminated by the 2.5 billion gallons of wastewater.
To put in perspective how much water is needed to produce clothes, it takes 10,000 liters of water to make one kilogram of cotton and about 3,000 liters of water to make one cotton shirt.
According to Roadrunner, the amount of clothes being thrown away each year has doubled from 7 million to 14 million, in the last 20 years. In 2018, 17 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills and textiles take a long time to decompose, about 200+ years.
According to Business Insider, in 2014, people bought 60% more clothes than in 2000. There also was a trend of people only keeping clothes for half as long.
“We just think of clothes to be made to be thrown away, it’s just it's so disposable,” Farrugia said. ”There's this trend that people don't want to be seen wearing the same thing twice in their videos and on their social media. I think that's also a contributor to fast fashion because it means we have to buy more clothes. We want to buy trendy clothes. And then that cycle just repeats itself.
The fashion industry has affected the water and land, it also has a grasp on the air as well. According to The World Bank, the fashion industry contributes 10% of annual global carbon emissions.
The fashion industry has affected every aspect of our world and there’s no end in sight at the moment.
While we can’t go back and fix all the harm fast fashion has caused already, society can start to make a difference. Farrugia has acknowledged the idea of thrifting and how Gen Z has become attracted to that idea.
“It isn't the environment. It isn't us as individuals, right, because we're less unhappy and broke and I really hope, right, recycling only does so much,” Farrugia said. “It's a start but you know, I really hope that we try to reuse and thrifts as a way to kind of speak back against fast fashion,”
Fashion industries can transition to more sustainable fabrics such as wild silk, linen, hemp, organic cotton and Lyocell.
Two shoppers at The Salvation Army in Rochester Hills, MI on Nov. 22, 2021. Many individuals shop at thrift stores for the low prices, unique pieces and to help prevent the growing industry of fast fashion.
Shirts hanging in The Salvation Army in Rochester Hills, MI on Nov. 22, 2021. These clothes are donated to the store and are being resold for others to purchase.
FAST FASHION IN NUMBERS
BY: SIDNEY RAYBA
​
“What most don't realize, is that fast fashion is beginning to carry a large carbon footprint. Amazon alone accounts for roughly 1% of the U.S. CO2 emissions each year.”
Introduction
Social media’s rise in popularity over the past decade has produced a world divided into the influencers and the influenced. Platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and, most recently, TikTok, feature a plethora of videos and images that users look to for inspiration. From ‘haul videos’ (users buying trendy clothing items by the box and unpacking them on a social platform) to ‘Amazon favorites’ videos (users sharing their favorite ‘cheap dupes’ of high quality products on Amazon), social media platforms have substantially changed the way in which people from around the world shop, and the frequency at which they shop.
Amidst the global covid-19 lockdown, people from everywhere turned to social media to provide entertainment and looked to online shopping for short-term fulfillment. According to digital commerce 360, ecommerce was growing fast before COVID-19 hit. But the pandemic pushed even more U.S. consumers online, contributing an additional $105 billion in U.S. online revenue in 2020 and accelerating ecommerce by two years. Online sales hit $791.70 billion in 2020, up 32.4% from the previous year.
Crowd Sourcing & Data
In a survey of 23 Oakland university students, conducted by Sidney Rayba via google forums, 52.2% of respondents were aware of the term “fast fashion” as well as its impact on the environment.
Out of the 10 websites listed, 100% of respondents shopped regularly online at Amazon, with Shein placing second at 47.8% and H&M placing third at 17.4%.
When asked about shopping habits, 57% of respondents claimed their shopping habits have significantly increased over the covid-19 lockdown
Chelsea Wiggins, a senior integrative studies major, says her online shopping habits have increased dramatically over the past year.
“[Over quarantine] my shopping habits have increased significantly. In a time that was so dull, it would make me happy for a short period to receive a package” Wiggins says, “[As soon as] that rush of happiness left, I would purchase something else just to get that feeling again.”
Jared Bruce, a senior physical science student, says his online shopping habits have not increased but the stores he shops at have changed.
“I was never really one to buy things online unless it was for school or I really wanted it”, Bruce states, “With all of the stores closed [over quarantine] I found myself shopping online at Amazon and Shein buying things I didn't need just because I was bored”.
Final Findings
Fast Fashion production dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams. Over 85% of textiles end up in landfills each year. Because the materials used to make the clothing are not of the highest quality, washing clothes purchased from fast fashion companies releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year, per reports from Onegreenplanet.org
When asked how e-commerce affects the environment, Donald Newlin, an environmental science professor at Oakland University shares some insight on current trends,
“People have this idea that because they buy something online it does no harm. Having something show up to your doorstep with a click of a button is magic within itself”, Professor Newlin states, “What most don't realize, is that fast fashion is beginning to carry a large carbon footprint.” Newlin says that Amazon alone accounts for roughly 1% of the U.S. CO2 emissions each year.
“The worst part,” Dr. Newlin states, “[is that] the fashion industry itself is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, the leader is the oil industry."
The earth’s temperature has risen by .14 degrees F per decade since the 1980’s, according to Climate.gov. The amount of future warming the earth experiences depends on how much CO2 and greenhouse gasses are emitted in the coming decades. If fast fashion continues on its same trajectory, carbon emissions will rise to 26% by 2050 (GASP-pgh.org). This could lead to irreversible damage in the fight against climate change.
This graph highlights how frequently OU students shop at fast fashion websites. The data was collected on Oct. 27, 2021 via google forms.
OU students were surveyed on Oct. 27, 2021 via google forms and were asked questions about fast fashion. This graph highlights the websites students have shopped at that are trendy fast fashion hubs.
OU students were surveyed on Oct. 27, 2021 via google forms and were asked questions about fast fashion. More than half of respondents were aware of what fast fashion is.
THE CLOTHES MENTOR: A NEW HOPE FOR SUSTAINABLE FASHION
VIDEO BY: SIDNEY RAYBA
STORY BY: BRIDGET JANIS
With hopes of moving forward and getting away from the world of fast fashion, Carolyn Webb, the franchise owner of the Clothes Mentor in Rochester Hills, has created a safe place for women’s clothes. This store is targeting women and men, who are able to donate women’s clothing and have them be resold to other customers. This provides a new life for the clothes and prevents piles of clothing ending up in landfills.
FAST FASHION, FAST FACTS
The fashion industry is no saint when it comes to sustainability and ethics. Many brands over the years have been in the limelight due to their unethical practices- ranging from unsafe working conditions to animal cruelty, brands such as Nike, Adidas and GAP have rebranded their image in order to save their company reputation. With fast fashion websites emerging so suddenly and having such a major impact on society, it is safe to say that their practices have not been looked into enough to point fingers.
1.) The fashion industry is the second-biggest consumer of water and is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
2.) Fast Fashion production dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams.
6.) The average American throws away around 81 pounds of clothing yearly