What is Fast Fashion?

Fast fashion is a key factor in the toxic habits of overproduction and overconsumption that has made fashion one of the world’s largest polluters. It is defined as cheap, trendy clothing produced at high speeds to meet consumer demands. But why is fast fashion so bad? There are many negative factors to consider when it comes to the impact of fast fashion, including exploiting garment workers and animal harm, but the biggest player is it’s immense impact on the planet. 

 

The impact of Fast Fashion

Fast fashion encourages the use of cheap textiles and toxic dyes, making the fashion industry one of the largest water polluters globally. The development of textiles draws a lot of its resources from fossil fuels, for example polyester, one of fast fashion’s favourite friends, and also sheds microfibres into our oceans when washed or worn. Even though natural textiles such as cotton may seem considerably more appealing due to its natural background, cotton requires huge amounts of water for development. 

 

What we might consider the most important is landfill waste. The constant production of new styles and encouragement of overconsumption means clothes are discarded when a new trend comes around or fall apart due to poor quality manufacturing. Many of the materials used in fast fashion, like polyester, nylon and acrylic, take hundreds of years to biodegrade, meaning these garments are laying around our planet, and they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

 

Slow fashion: What it is and how you can help

What can you do to help fix this? Slow fashion is one of the best, and most accessible options to help reduce your environmental impact. It’s easy to say let’s stop buying fast fashion, but the reality is, it’s the most affordable option for many of us. Buying clothing made from natural materials, such as wild silk and linen, is extremely helpful for the environment, however it’s often not affordable. This is where slow fashion chimes in. Buying less and wearing more hits the brakes on production and mindless consumption, but we all want to look cool whilst we do it. Upcycling and buying second-hand allows us to consume responsibly and still meet our style desires, and mimi lets you do so using clothes that you already own.  

 

Sources 

https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/

https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/