I recently watched Alex James : Slowing down fashion, it inspired and trigged my thoughts around fast fashion and how unhealthy our habits are. If we don't change the way we consume fashion we will damage the environment forever ,massive change needs to happen if we want to prolong our future for the earth.
Most people don't know where our clothes come from, garments that were made to last a life time now don't last longer than a season. We know so little about where our clothes end up and what they're made of. The people who sell them to us like that this is the way. Ignorance is bliss.
Landfill sites fill up with old clothes, more than 80% of what we wear is made from plastic which most will never biodegrade. Fashion is the third most polluting industry in the world.
How many people know where there clothes come from?
In Bangladesh factory workers only get a dollar per hour compared to 5 dollars an hour in china.
Our cheap clothes are costing peoples lives, 24th April 2013 a factory in Bangladesh collapsed and 1,134 people died. Many high street retailers use cheap factories and general cheap labour to produce there garments at such cheap prices and to make the best mark up price profit.
What is fast fashion?
The term began in the 90s when the high street retailers started to copy the trends of the catwalk, taking the latest styles into the mainstream, quickly and cheaply.
Demand increased and quietly dropped, retailers looked for faster ways to create garments, looking for cheaper, quicker alternatives and ethics went out of the window. Creating a disposable culture, how can it be so cheap?.
We have such a habit of consuming, many people look for cheap clothing or something that catches your eye.
Who is in the wrong? Chicken and the egg
People want the cheap quick fashion and the retailers supply for them.
Retail theapy is like a drug, it gives you a buzz. To possess is a goal.
People compliment you, it gives you a hit. Its society which drives this cultural idea of fitting in and buying clothes is something which is seen as a massive acceptance route.
Levi's have created a denim made out recycled plastic bottles mixed with cotton. More brands need to create similar products. Natural fibres biodegrade but man made fibres don't. Although saying that natural fibres such as cotton need more than 10,000 gallons of water to create a pair of jeans, and lots of pesticides are used. Which causes a huge amount of environmental damages especially in areas where water is sparse.
All facts and figures have come from the Amazon Prime documentary Alex James : Slowing down fashion.
Comments