“On Sale at Old Navy: Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies” by Damien Cave
In this article, the author states how consumerism is destroying us as productive individuals, aiming to take over our authenticity and individualism. Cave claims “shopping has become a whole day event, a way to spend time (in line) rather than reading, having conversations or expanding culture.”
A few years ago, I would’ve partly disagreed with this article, as even though I would have recognized Cave’s well-formulated argument to have a lot of truth to it, I would have found it over exaggerated. Most consumers are completely aware of Old Navy’s or Ikea’s low quality products, yet decide to shop there after all. Ikea, for example, is not just selling the product; it is also selling efficacy, convenience, and availability. As Cave states, brands are “selling you an idea or lifestyle” which I don’t believe that is necessarily a negative thing. The fact that people are getting what they need in just ONE place saves them a lot of time and effort.
However, now I recognize that the problem of overconsumption relies on much more than the deterioration of consumer’s individualism, it has now become clearer that overconsumption has become a critical green issue. Fast fashion has grown progressively though the past decade encouraging consumers to continuously buy cheap products with a death sentence attached to them. They last half the time they normally should and consumers are therefore forced to replace these items constantly, allowing for branded companies to dramatically increase their sales.
“The idea behind this “theater for the brand” architecture is to commodify the products, to make them ‘as easy to buy as a gallon of milk,’ Klein says.”
“People think they’re getting ‘authenticity on the cheap,’ says David Lewis, author of “The Soul of the New Consumer.” But the truth may be that they’re simply purchasing the perception of quality and authenticity. ‘Because [Ikea and Old Navy] create these self-enclosed lifestyles,’ Klein explains, ‘you overlook the fact that the products are pretty crappy and fall apart.’ Adds Jennings, “Things may be cheaper, but you keep going back to replace the faulty merchandise.”
Here is where the environment is greatly affected. Producing items with a short life span knowingly creating them to last only a few years, creates an enormous amount of waste that is exponentially increasing due to the consumer’s “necessity” to buy the newest products.
Until what point should companies market their products as a commodity, but still maintain a sense of the environment by promoting the reduction of waste and the development of sustainability?
It’s interesting that you mentioned fast fashion, because this industry isn’t only hurting the environment, but also people directly as well. When the clothing factory in Bangladesh collapsed last year, for instance, there were many who blamed fast fashion brands. When clothes are produced at a low quality, with the styles being swapped every few weeks, the price tag is brought down lower and lower. This means lower revenues for companies, so they offshore production to the poorest countries. I think it’s a good thing that people in developing nations will get employment through these companies, but the big brands often neglect to ensure that health and safety standards are adequate at the offshore factories.