The Rise of the Fast Fashion Crisis

Living in North America, we are entitled to freedom of speech. One way we as citizens can express ourselves is through the clothing we wear. The process of getting dressed every morning can make us feel like we can communicate our moods without having to express words. Clothing is a powerful tool in the sense that there are no consequences as a consumer but the feeling of a boost of self-confidence. In the span of a decade, there has been an increase in the accessibility to purchasing affordable clothing. There has been a rise in companies that capitalize on trends and replicas. They are better known as the “Fast Fashion Industry”. Fast Fashion has allowed people of all ages to shop according to their sense of style, while not having to focus on the toll of the costs eating into their financial savings. While fast fashion has helped many people to be expressive with their outfits, fast fashion has been on the rise of concerns of the environmental impact it has on the earth. In my creative research project, I will deep dive into the unseen side of the fast fashion industry and further discuss the negative effects fast fashion has on different ecosystems around the world. 

As one who used to work for many of these brands, I found myself astonished by the amounts of shipments I would have to unbox biweekly. I found that in order for me to continue to work in retail, and as a consumer of this industry, I would need to take the responsibility in knowing what is being done to the clothing I put on my body. Thus I created a piece called “We wear our consequences” to represent my findings of the fast fashion industry. In the process of researching this topic, I found that the fast fashion industry is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. My idea behind these pair of painted jeans was that like anything, there are always two sides to a story. In this case, it is the consumer’s perspective versus the producer’s perspective. I chose to paint on jeans as one leg, the left is dedicated to the average consumer and what they see when buying from these brands. The right leg is dedicated to the production process it takes to make the consumer on the right bought. In my research, I found that “most jeans are made of cotton… grown around the world” (Brooks, “Systems of provision: Fast fashion and jeans”. The fact that it is made from cotton means that jeans use up a lot of water in the manufacturing process. The cotton industry itself has drained poorer countries of their water, causing droughts. In Africa, many farmers are at risk of brain tumors and giving birth to children of defects because of the chemicals used to maintain this natural resource. To resist pets such as bollworm, cotton is being genetically modified to reduce “pesticide use”, however, it is leading to greater problems such as “superweeds which are resistant to standard pesticides” (Perry, “The Environmental Costs Of Fast Fashion”). In order to combat these weeds, stronger and more harmful pesticides are used, which have resulted in affecting livestock and humans around it. 

In other countries, such as Bangladesh and China, fast fashion companies hire workers for cheap to start the manufacturing process of their clothing. These factories are responsible for the water pollution in as the dyes used in textiles are released in the oceans. In one of the images shown on the producer side of my art piece, I show a girl filling up her water bottle with red water as it is her only access to “freshwater”. Bodies of dyed water such as the red pool I painted here, contain harmful toxicants and heavy metals that make way “into local water systems” (Bick, Halsey, Ekenga, “The Global Environmental Injustice of Fast Fashion”). Like the girl, many communities are affected by the contamination of dyes in their drinking water. This is not only harmful to these communities but to people around the world who consume seafood. The fast fashion industry is the one to blame for the mass destruction done beyond their factories. 

For the next time I see a good sale happening at stores like Zara or H&M, I will need to take into consideration if buying a ten dollar shirt is worth all the human and environmental sacrifices made to produce it. Clothing may be a form of self-expression, but what comes along with it are consequences. 

Works Cited

Brooks, Andrew. “Systems of provision: Fast fashion and jeans.” Geoforum, vol. 63, 2015, www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.capilanou.ca/science/article/pii/S0016718515001360?via%3Dihub. Accessed 5 December 2019. 

Perry, Patsy. “The Environmental Costs of Fast Fashion.” The Independent, Independent Digital       News and Media, 8 Jan. 2018, www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/environment-costs-fast-fashion-pollution-waste-sustainability-a8139386.html.