Hop in we’re going shopping

Photo by Katie Rodriguez on Unsplash

Keeping up with the latest fashion trends and having massive shopping hauls might be making you look better but it’s definitely not doing anything for Mother Earth.

About 92 million tons of textiles end up in landfills each year. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, that is the same amount as if a garbage truck full of clothes went to the landfill every second. This is happening because of the rise of fast fashion and general overconsumption.

Fast fashion is an ongoing issue that seems to only be getting worse and social media isn’t helping. Social media platforms, like Instagram, push the idea of not being an “outfit repeater”. This is primarily due to influencer culture and the oversharing that seems to be commonplace.

Many influencers post pricey “outfits of the day” and then rarely wear those clothes again, if ever. If people refuse to re-wear outfits that means they need to be constantly buying new clothes and discarding clothes that are usually in perfect condition. That can get expensive. This is where ultra-fast fashion brands like Shein, Romwe and Fashion Nova come into play. These brands push out clothes that are up to date with all the trends at a rapid pace for a relatively affordable price.

Now some individuals have no other option than to shop from these brands whether it be because of financial or other reasons but that's not the demographic that is really causing the most harm. The bigger issue is people who do have other options doing these large hauls, as well as society’s general love of overconsumption. Shopping hauls have been around for a long time but now with the rise of Shein and Fashion Nova hauls becoming a popular trend on social media they have become even more common.

These hauls are not only damaging by themselves but they also promote these fast fashion companies to millions of people. They are part of the reason that the landfills are getting so overfilled with textile waste each year. But is it the consumers fault? Somewhat, but more significantly its the fault of these mega brands pumping out massive amounts of goods to turn a profit and not caring about the damage they cause along the way.

The clothing quality from these brands, unshockingly, is not good. The clothing is made quickly and made for social media, or to only be worn a handful of times. These clothes rip. They tear. They fray. They just don't last, because they weren't meant to, they were meant to help follow trends. This just leads to even more clothing being thrown away and replaced with more poorly made clothing. But that's not where the fashion industry stops negatively impacting the environment.

It is having an effect on some people's ability to live. The fashion industry is the second largest consumer of water in the world according to the United Nations Environment Programme. And about 1 in every 10 people don't have access to clean water according to World Vision. It is clear from these two statistics that for some companies fashion is more important than human beings. This should be a wake up call for society that a change is desperately needed.

Additionally, the fashion industry produces about 2-8% of the world's carbon emissions according to a paper by the World Resources Institute.

When so many cities are suffering from poor air quality everyday, the impact of the fashion industry seems wrong. This isn't even to mention the mass amounts of human rights issues with the factories and sweatshops that most of these brands use to make sure they keep up with all of the latest trends in fashion.

It is fairly clear to see that the fashion industry needs to make a change in order to be more sustainable but that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon, at least not without pressure from the public and a shift in people’s buying habits.