Fast Fashion: Exploring the Stories Behind the Clothes / Christina Rolston

My last blog piece put the fashion and textile industry in the spotlight by taking a deeper look at its ethics and what is really behind the price tag.

My conclusion was that the way we value life in our current world needs a desperate shake up.

I’d like to say it's unbelievable to think we could get so far that another human life can be treated so harshly, but the reality is while slavery may have been abolished in 1865 it has simply been rebranded, hidden from site and marketed as fast fashion.

Unfortunately, I had only scratched the surface of what is a much deeper issue. Beyond the price tag of that cute dress or sweet t-shirt is a PERSON. A person forced to work 14-16-hour days 7 days a week, people like you and I cramped in hazardous conditions like battery hens or sardines. People who endure sexual harassment and discrimination daily because it is their only means of survival. They are caught or trapped like a fly in a spider’s web.Fast fashion, according to Google is inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass market retailers in response to the latest trends.

But, the question is, are the trends driving the production? Or, are fast fashion retailers creating that demand? It is the latter, because selling mass amounts of clothing is insanely profitable. Instead of retailers replenishing stock, retailers replace the items that sell out with new items of a different style making the older clothes outdated and therefore not fashionable, creating a culture where we constantly want to keep shopping for newer and trendier items.

Are you feeling a little manipulated or angry by those big retailers? Good, keep that, hold on to it and read on.

From an environmental perspective sadly, the fast fashion industry is the second biggest polluter after oil. On average an individual will throw out approximately 30kg of clothing every year all of which ends up in our already crowded landfills.

The impact fast fashion is having on the environment is getting worse. The textile industry emits more greenhouse gas emissions than international shipping and aviation combined. Not to mention the amount of water and resources it uses is also increasing.What can we do you ask?We need to change our attitudes, mindsets and most importantly our habits.

There is a well-known story of Jesus walking into a temple and upon seeing what they had transformed it into a market place instead of a place of worship, He became so righteously angry that he flipped the tables. Let us be table flippers! Let us be so righteously angry at the miss treatment and abuse of the poor, the needy and the oppressed, the woman and children forced to work in these conditions. Let our new habits dictate the next generation of fashion and not allow fashion to dictate our habits.

Wherever you are in the world realise that this is a big issue socially and environmentally. Don’t be overwhelmed and think it’s too big of an issue and you what you do won’t make a difference- it will, and it does!Since 2016 buying second hand clothing for environmental reasons has increased by 25.5%. Change is possible and change is gradually happening.

Whatever budget bracket you are in you can apply these simply habits:

Refuse: Learn to say no to impulsive purchases.

Reduce: We might love a lot of items in a store but ask yourself do I really need them? Is it something that will add value to my life? Cut down on the volume of what you are buying.

Reuse: Reusing all the clothes you have until they no longer wearable.

In order to make up the environmental cost of what it took to make one single item, we need to wear it at least 30 times.

Repair: Upcycling! Turning jeans into shorts, or oversized shirts into dresses. The idea is to take the necessary measures to fix or repair your item so you can keep wearing it.

Recycling: When it comes to recycling the best thing to do first is find a good home for your items by giving them to friends, or having a clothes swap or better yet sell them on Trade Me or Facebook Market.

These habit changes are not all we can do, choosing to buy second hand is a great way to support a charity and refuse the production of new clothes. Invest in ethical fashion and locally made items by choosing quality over quantity.

It takes practice and time to adjust to a new way of buyer behavior but when I think of those people behind the price tag and the environment in which future generations will grow up in, it’s the least we should be doing. So, let’s make an effort to stop buying poor quality items and companies will stop making poor quality items.

Every single thing we buy we create a demand for manufactures to produce more, if we want to live in a healthy world, we must buy consciously and choose products that are made in such a way that support the people and the planet.

- Christina Rolston