Have you ever bought a cheap t-shirt only to wear it once and never again because it makes you look like a fashion terrorist? Have you ever thought: “why repair or mend clothes when it is way cheaper to buy a new one?”

Congratulations, you’re officially an active consumer of the fast fashion industry.

Fast fashion, cheap, overwhelmingly fast, and trendy, refers to low-cost, affordable clothing brands such as Forever 21, H&M, and Uniqlo that mimic the most up-to-date luxury fashion trends. However, although this highly profitable fashion business may seem like a win-win solution to both businesses and consumers, many questions are being raised as to how ethical the fast fashion industry really is.

According to Elizabeth Cline’s book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, merchandises of the fast fashion industry are designed to make consumers feel out of trend after a single week. Furthermore, the clothes are not meant to last more than a season in terms of quality. According to the Center for Environmental Health, Forever 21 and other fast fashion brands are selling lead-contaminated purses, belts, and shoes above the legal amount, and in 2012, Greenpeace revealed that companies such as H&M and Zara were selling products containing hazardous chemicals that were cancer causing and hormone disrupting. The growing demand for cheap fashion also leads to the establishment of more factories in countries such as Bangladesh where labor is cheap and there are little emission regulations.

Will it be possible for fast fashion and business ethics to be synonymous? Ethical solutions must be made.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannon-whitehead/5-truths-the-fast-fashion_b_5690575.html

https://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/5-effects-fast-fashion