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Get Your Fast

Fashion Fix or

Fix Fast Fashion?

Growing up in the bedazzled 2000s, I was obsessed with collecting Bratz dolls. As a girl with a passion for fashion, I hoped that one day my wardrobe would look as enviable as theirs, with hundreds of styles to choose from. As we grew up in front of the internet and glimpsed the nonchalant life of our favourite youtubers’ hauls and fashion videos, we longed to mimic their style: cute and trendy outfits that were recognisable for each season whilst taking part in our own hauls. There was never a thought regarding where our clothes possibly came from other than the all too familiar ‘Made in China’ tag. Who knew that every piece of clothing we consume, holds a dark underbelly of manufacturing and labour exploitation, disguised, and normalised under Capitalism? In a market which normalises huge sales, the regular consumer cannot cease to imagine relatively priced clothing that fairly pay each worker's involvement in the production process of one garment. This gap in consumer knowledge raises the question of who is held accountable in regulating and educating consumer behaviour – the fashion industry, businesses, governments, or the individual consumer?

The 1990s was a pivotal point in which the ‘fast fashion model’- conceptualised by ZARA’s founder Amancio Ortega was distributed to many companies in the span of a decade (Drake, 2016). Transforming the whole industry, this model exploits the use of overseas manufacturing to achieve cheaper and faster production costs in the Global South for a ‘quick response’ in choices and disposability in the Global North. Mass production over worker wellbeing is prioritised to ensure mass consumption by customers, as poor working standards and low wages are a consistent norm (Corradini, 2018).

In 2013, Rana Plaza, a sweatshop in Bangladesh with more than 5000 workers collapsed in a spectacle of a cheap and faulty construction, alongside the higher-ups’ negligence in ignoring their employees’ urgent pleas for action. On April 24, the owner of the building, Sohel Rana, instigated a continuance of work which ultimately took the lives of 1123 individuals who were making clothes for Walmart and Primark among others. Pulling workers out of the rubble which injured more than 2600 individuals - conjured renewed fury around the world regarding the hazardous conditions endured by workers who were providing fast fashion fixes to major brands across the US, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Denmark (Ayres, 2016). These conditions of abuse and 18-hour workdays without breaks are not exclusive to Bangladesh sweatshops, but instead are the reality that workers face when companies push the boundaries of their business model, prioritising instantaneous consumer gratification over worker's most basic rights. Because of the race to maximise profits, pressure is put on supply chains to produce faster and cheaper, resulting in safety shortcuts, and the intensification of work and human rights violation (Corradini, 2018). From loopholes in the national laws, to failures in compliance by the government, businesses, and factories, to the overall culture of consumerism; the common denominator is the deep-rooted Capitalist mindset that prioritises profit above everything – above human rights and human dignity. Companies continue to fall short when they rush to clear their slate through half-hearted PR campaigns, waxing lyrical about their ‘commitment’ to improving worker conditions once and for all.

Nevertheless, governments have the power to take more action and enforce consumer responsibility through encouraging sustainable consumption practices and intentional individual choices. National and state laws can regulate business activity outside of their territory which should be further instigated to mandate transparency in global business activities. Multinational businesses should take it upon themselves to investigate their whole supply chain and provide transparency, because the ‘true cost’ of these clothes is not a price tag, but a human life (Corradini, 2018). Taking full responsibility of human rights violations as a business is the bare minimum and ensures wider society can also keep businesses accountable.

As consumer behaviours shift towards supporting ethical and transparent brands, so too is the rise to boycott fast fashion labels and the need to educate others about the industry’s not-so-glamorous side. Although it’s easy to say, ‘just buy ethically or second-hand’, this puts all the onus on consumer behaviour to change the industry. Alone, this is not possible – as we, the consumer, sit in a thread of wider socio-political aspects that are out of individual control. But for now, let’s say you do want to limit your amount of fast fashion purchases:

1. One of the most inclusive and collectively agreed upon ways to dress more ethically is to buy pre-loved items, whether it be from thrift stores or virtual online spaces. Thrift stores cater for all financial budgets but if excessively purchasing there is a choice rather than a necessity, I’d encourage you to investigate alternative avenues which will preserve thrift stores as accessible to those who have limited shopping options. (Let’s not keep gentrifying thrift stores whilst also disposing of our single-use H&M shirt!)

All these platforms allow consumers to give the original piece a unique second life whilst dressing sustainably and limiting the chance of purchasing fast fashion.

2. Another option is to get your creative juices flowing and make some pieces of clothing yourself. Fabric can be sourced from anywhere, but I recommend The Sewing Basket which only sells fabrics donated by the community, providing a sustainable shopping experience.

3. Going to clothes swaps and meeting like-minded people whilst giving your wardrobe rotation an upgrade is also a more sustainable option.

4. Lastly, choosing ethical fashion forces us to make thoughtful and intentional decisions on where and what we purchase, recognising the power we hold as consumers and the ability to influence businesses to be more sustainable, ethical, and accountable.

Online thrift spaces include the beloved Depop, swap.com, beyond retro, thredUP and Etsy or eBay which are also good options.

Or, you could try designer preloved spaces like Vestiaire Collective, Grailed, The Real Real and Tradesy.

Are we going to wear this clothing more than 10 times or will we chuck it out where it will rot in landfill for 20-200 years after wearing it once? We have the privilege of making conscious decisions about our clothing consumption.

Individual consumption choices matter, but so do the responsibilities of big corporations. A system wherein few achieve wealth from the labour of many is an unethical system, as only 0.6% of the retail price goes to the worker, whilst the retailer takes 59% (Rahman & Yadlapalli, 2021). So, who do we hold accountable in regulating consumer behaviour? Perhaps - there would be less onus on the individual if the fashion industry, businesses, and governments transformed the landscape of consumer behaviour, such as through measures of establishing a practice of standardised and regulated information labels to nudge consumers towards sustainable consumption.

Today, fast fashion still pervades every crevasse of our lives as another cheap and trendy clothing store is just around the corner or one click away. On campus, I see a lot of interesting outfits and people who dress to express, but for most, fashion may not play a big role. USYD tends to foster a culture of justice and inclusion and the fashion industry should not be an exception to these ethics. I hope as a culture and for wider society, we can be more conscious of fast fashion’s implications. Is it more important to look trendy, or should we be standing up against the fashion industry’s long running exploitation of human rights?