Why you should say no to fast fashion

Cost implications, exploitation of workers and the damage caused to the environment. You may not want to know about this, but it’s vital that you find out. These are but a few of the reasons you should say no to fast fashion and spend that little bit more on sustainable, British made products.

FAST FASHION EXPLOITS WORKERS:

Fast fashion brands are cheap for a reason. Clothes from these retailers are not ethically made and often have terrible working conditions in their factories. Unfortunately a lot of business practices have gotten even shadier, despite television documentaries and media spotlight for brands to become more transparent, in some cases they have hidden more information from its customers.

Traditionally, companies ordered clothes for each season meaning garments might take up to a year to be produced. However, fashion giants now introduce new styles as often as every two weeks! How do they make this happen we hear you ask, by subcontracting manufacturing overseas to the lowest bidder. Countries used are those that already have some of the leanest production costs and rather than having long-term relationships with factories this means the big brands are comfortable with ceasing to use a factory if they want something faster; the factories have to keep up or lose vital contracts.

The push to create clothing so quickly that costs the brands as little as possible, leads to factories putting production schedules and the demands of the brands ahead of safety and workers’ rights. This was highlighted by the catastrophic Dhaka fire in 2012 and the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse, which killed a combined total of over 1,200 Bangladeshi apparel workers and injured many more.

FAST FASHION IS ENVIRONMENTALLY DAMAGING:

Consumers buy clothing and treat is as if it is disposable, causing a huge strain on the environment.  In case this wasn’t enough, you must bear in mind that most garments, especially fast fashion ones, are made with inexpensive, petroleum-based fibres that don’t easily decompose, such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic. These fabrics will not decompose and will be in landfills for decades to come. Interestingly people generally recycle plastic bottles or avoid buying them by using reusable bottles but it seems people are still ok with buying, wearing and then throwing are plastic clothing. These clothes also omit harmful micro fibres every time they are washed and even clothing made from recycled plastic bottles or are a mix of organic materials and recycled plastic release millions of fibres throughout the garments life style. These micro fibres find their way into the water ways, our oceans and marine life.

FAST FASHION CLOTHES WILL ACTUALLY COST YOU MORE IN THE LONG RUN:

It’s quite simple really. If you purchase a poor quality sweatshirt for £20, it will more than likely bobble and wear pretty quickly. Then say you have to replace that sweatshirt every 6 months due to poor fabrics, wholes and stretching and that’s just the start. For example, let’s say that you purchase a Touch of Tweed Sweatshirt for £115; we use the highest quality organic/natural fabrics, stock a small range of bespoke items and make everything for a living wage here in the UK. Our sweatshirts last for 10-15 years. Let’s say 10 to play it safe – that’s £115 for 10 years use. That’s £11.50/year on a perfectly durably sweatshirt. Quite different to £20 on a poor quality, sweatshirt that lasts half a year or will cost you £400 for 10 years!

Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash⁠

FAST FASHION DISTORTS YOUR SENSE OF VALUE:

With the rise of fast fashion we are used to paying lower prices for clothing than ever before. The strange thing is when it comes to brands that are seen to be popular but do have more expensive products, these are still often made overseas. Consumers will buy, buy, buy, as it’s the ‘must have product’ but when it comes to smaller, lesser known genuine brands their products are seen as expensive, when as we have learnt in this blog they are actually kinder to the workforce, kinder to the environment and cost you less per wear.

It’s time to find and celebrate those smaller brands, let’s start with ours: https://pk4fywnsx4sgxvz1-26325766.shopifypreview.com/collections/all