The Impact Of Fast Fashion On Society

In a fast-pace world where technology is constantly changing and improving, it’s no surprise that the fashion industry is forced to quickly grow up find no innovated ways to keep up with consumer demand. A new concept known as fast fashion evolved from the growing demand of consumers wanting runway looks ‘now’ but with lower price tags. A relatively new sector in the industry that’s increasingly growing at a rapid pace (Gilliland, 2019) and is also having a negative impact on the environment; not to mention their unethical production process in some cases (Donato, 2018). It has caused an outburst of criticism from consumers who have develop a negative perception about the fashion industry. In order, to understand how fast fashion is impacting the fashion industry we will use the ‘Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Critical Thinking’ to have a better understanding of the situation. This will serve as an important tool for developing critical thinking skill by asking questions such as What? Where? Who? When? Why? and how? (Watanabe-Crockett, 2016).

Now, during my research it was surprising to see who really does benefit from fast fashion. A thorough analysis shows that fast fashion has created a situation where only a few stakeholders in the fashion industry get net benefits. We normally don’t think too much into the process and construction of our clothing we buy and wear. For example, a white t-shirt goes through a long process which starts from the moment a cotton farmer buys their cotton seeds for them to plant and then through the supply chain where it finally ends up in our closet. While there are many people involved in the process of clothing manufacturing to the people that purchase that white t-shirt, the reality is that only the manufacturers of fast fashion get net benefits (Kudel, 2019). Before the rise of fast fashion, the benefits used to outweigh costs for all stakeholders in the fashion industry. However, today, all other stakeholders suffer harm except garment manufacturers who continue to make profits. A great example would be cotton farmers in India who are suffering from cancer due to genetically modified cotton created in labs that needs constant pesticides to ensure their rapid growth to maintain the speedy production of fast fashion (Swan, 2018).

Second, critical thinking requires one to ask questions such as what is the least or most important? The least important in this discussion is how fast fashion has made the fashion industry more appealing to consumers. The garments that the manufacturers are making right now are more attractive and with more shiny colors than it was the case several decades ago (Kudel, 2019). On the other hand, the most important issue to consider is how fast fashion has destroyed the fashion industry and posed a danger to everybody else through water, air, and land pollution (Perry, 2018).

Third, consumers should ask questions such as where can fast fashion impact? For example, fast fashion has made the fashion business get a negative tag in developed countries where it poses the greatest problem compared to developing countries. People in developed countries such as the United States and China, have a high purchasing power, which means they can buy fast fashion clothes, wear them just once, and discard them, thus adding to the pollution problem. As Kudel (2019) explains, 30% of all fast fashion apparel is never sold. According to Jackson and Shaw (2009), some retailers are usually eager to introduce new clothes that make some consumers think the rest are out of fashion. Such clothes end up being destroyed or dumped somewhere on the planet even without having been worn. According to Boggon (2019), over 10 million tons of garments were dumped in the United States landfills in 2014. Consequently, those in developed countries who are environmentally conscious are now viewing the fashion business as a big problem for the environment.