I recently watched “The Ugly Truth of Fast Fashion”, an episode from “Patriot Act”. For those who don’t already know, it is a web series from Netflix hosted by Hasan Minhaj that, every week, analyzes a different international dramatic problem using comedy to catch your attention, whenever possible of course. This episode is worth watching, if you have time. If you are too busy, here I will sum up for you the key points.
It’s never too late to discover how naïve you are. I already mentioned in a previous post how important is to me to be environment friendly. I am not succeeding how I wished me to, but I have already some rules that I made to myself, like Recycling.
Humans, generally speaking, produce a lot of garbage. I am trying to reduce the amount of garbage I produce, while also trying to recycle what I can’t, like my clothes. At least I thought I was doing it.
How much is Fashion important in our Society?
A lot, since we started covering our bodies (Eve took the best shiny leaves in the forest for sure). The problem nowadays is that we have more time, more money or at least we give priority to how we look instead of to who we are. The numbers speaks from themselves: in 1980 U.S.A. citizens used to buy 12 articles of clothes per year, today the average is 68 (“Fashionopolis” Dana Thomas). The main culprit is Fast fashion, which is based on “making trendy clothes quick, cheap and disposable”. This production strategy is fundamental in the business of two very famous retailers: H&M and Zara. Yes, I mostly buy my clothes there. Do you? (don’t start if you don’t). I, as many other people, do it because we “want the feeling of luxury without paying full price”.
How does Fast fashion work?
Contrary to legacy brands, which require years to take a new design from paper to store, Zara and others are able to shrink this time down to 4 months. They often copy popular luxury designs and sell their versions at a very affordable price. These so called Knock-offs are completely legal, since they just “resemble the design of the original”. They rapidly produce a variety of different designs, releasing new ones almost everyday to catch up with what is trending. There are not two seasons a year anymore, every week the stores are supplied with brand new cloths. A lot of clothes. Like Hasan said “we are now drowning in clothes”.
The main drivers of the rapid fast fashion growth are social media. Our need to be fashion all the time is causing an environmental problem that we cannot ignore. Also, other brands are starting to transform their production in order to keep up with the fast fashion Industry.
Why is this threatening our planet?
The fabrics of the clothes we buy require a huge amount of water, oil and/or wood in order to be made. The show focused on the most used fabric from fast fashion, the “viscose”, which is produced from wood, often coming from ancient and threatened forests. Only 30% of the material is usable for production, the remaining 70% is simply “dumped”. Let’s not forget also about the toxic chemicals that are used in the production process and are ending in rivers near villages poisoning people.
The problem is not only making clothes, but also getting rid of them. Every U.S.A. citizen, on average, “throws away 40 kg of clothes a year” (Newsweek, sep. 9, 2016).
And here comes what I thought was my solution: Donation.
…Nope
It is still a waste. Clothes donations are far exceeding their demand. This means that a lot of what we donate is dumped, thrown away and set on fire.
Another common trend is recycling. Stores often collect our garbage clothes promising to recycle them. This is an intelligent solution
…Nope
Sadly, the recycling system of the stores exists not because they care, but because they know WE care. Also they tempt us to buy more with the discounts they offer.
After all this you could ask yourself:
What about the eco-friendly lines? Are they solving the problem?
…Nope, they are not
Our good intentions are defeated by bullshits… a lot of bullshits.
Maybe, I am overreacting and being a bit too harsh with myself, because, in reality, I’m closer to the 1980 statistics. I buy clothes when I need them, and maybe one extra for special occasion. The problem is, that most of the time the extra ones I buy end up being worn just one time. And this is the opposite of good. Now, that I am trying to “declutter” my wardrobe, I don’t know anymore how to get rid of my used clothes. Very used clothes. Let’s not panic.
Solutions?
Buy less clothes, or just buy second hand, and, most importantly, “wear them longer”. It will make the difference. A big one.
“Just by wearing your clothes longer or buying one item secondhand. That is half a million cars off the road.”
Alessia Sorbo
2019-11-27