Is Fast Fashion Favourable for the Planet?

In this era of dynamic trends and ever-changing fashion styles, adopting slow or ethical fashion seems to be a bit challenging. These terms might be just a few years old, but we are not alien to it. Slow fashion- a branch of sustainable fashion, is an ethical approach towards fashion which will downright change the course of this industry for good. On the contrary, Fast Fashion is an approach towards the fashion industry which is highly based on the increasingly changing trends. It is a method of following and getting inspired from the high fashion or the ones that are displayed on runways. 

The fast fashion trends are adopted by the fashion conscious individuals and they get access to the imitated versions at an alarmingly low rate. This in turn holds a negative impact on the planet and for those creating the garments. The increase in fast fashion over the last thirty years has lead to the overproduction and overconsumption of cheaply made apparels. The apparel and footwear industry is one of the major polluters globally. It is responsible for huge amounts of pollution, waste, and carbon emissions. The way we produce and consume clothes today has negative consequences on the planet, the flora and fauna and the people residing on it. Fast Fashion can result in more than ten different collections a year which takes just two weeks from paper to production and retail. On the other hand, a designer’s authentic collection is limited to hardly two for a year. 

Fast Fashion is in existence because of its evident unethical procedure. Workers are being over-burdened to achieve a fast and cheap mass production of apparels. In third world and developing countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia, garment factory workers are hired at extremely low wages and thus garments can be mass produced for a fraction of the price. The labourers are being denied their basic rights and amenities. Cheap clothing is resulting in individuals buying unnecessary apparels and discarding them after a few months which end up in landfill. Carbon footprints are higher in fast fashion. Even though garments are being manufactured painstakingly, they are not being utilized properly or given the proper worth.

This makes the ethical fashion the need of the hour. The concept of slow fashion puts forth emphasis on quality over quantity. It is targeted to decrease the manufacturing rate of apparels, consumption and wastage by placing greater appreciation on one’s possession of apparels. Slow Fashion considers the worth of raw materials which are used, how the garment is made and who is behind the process, in order to be ethical without compromising on quality.