industry issues

How often do you ask yourself, "Who made my clothes?" Fashion consumers are oftentimes unaware of the true cost behind their contributions to the industry with every purchase they make...

In recent years, 'fast fashion' has taken over the fashion industry with shorter production times in underdeveloped regions of the world where the work conditions are life threatening while earning little to no income. Fast fashion is the concept of creating the latest, trendiest clothes as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Rapid and excessive production creates numerous problems including enormous CO2 and other harmful gas emissions; water and soil contamination which interrupts farming and the food supply chain... not to mention the fatalities, birth defects, physical and mental abnormalities that are amongst the local population of these contaminated regions. Water and waste is another big problem among environmental issues as it takes 2,500-3,000 liters of water to create one tee shirt and about 2,100 liters to create one pair of jeans.

Garment production and industry related labor in these countries include underpaid labor in extremely unsafe and unhealthy conditions. Young children are among the laborers, where most if not all workers in these infrastructures are exposed to fatal illnesses, infections, risks and constant accidents while on the job. The hours are long and the compensation is just cents. 

Products of the fast fashion business model are created with cheap, unsustainable materials that are manufactured in environmentally hazardous ways for the sake of less time to market. These clothes ultimately go to waste after just a few washes and wears. In fact, most of the garments that were massively produced are burned or sent to landfills after never being worn once. 

As consumers, we can minimize our consumption by recycling, sharing, thrifting and borrowing our clothing instead of buying into the cheap fast fashion industry. Other ways to be a sustainable consumer for our planet include rewearing, repairing & redesigning; shopping green & clean brands; buying high quality & timeless design; shopping second-hand & vintage; stop buying from unsustainable & unethical fast production brands.