Are High-End brands losing out to Fast Fashion?
Many of us will prefer to buy items from fast fashion labels (e.g. Shein and Temu), rather than pay more than double for high-end fashion, but is this ethical? Yes, fast fashion brands may sell decent quality products that look similar to may brands out in the world, but no one discusses the downsides to these businesses with the positives.
Companies such as Shein are rapidly on the increase (88.8 million active shoppers in 2023) but have recently been discovered to have problems with labour ethics, copyright, and environmental issues. According to information founded online, Shein is responsible for 6.3 million tons of CO2 emissions yearly. Not only this, but fast fashion leads to overproduction, waste, and resource consumption, causing our environment to become more and more damaged year by year.
Compared to high end fashion businesses, fast fashion is the leader to our next global issue of overproduction. The average American is now estimated to throw away 37kg of clothes each year, 85% going to landfill waste. Popular brands and businesses are a better investment for products as they are ethical, have safe working conditions and are higher quality.
Is it worth paying extra money for clothing items to help sustain our world?
Oliver Logan discusses why we should, as a society, start to buy products from sustainable brands instead of fast fashion as many effects are contributed to this. Link for further reading on this topic:
https://oliverlogan.com/blogs/sustainability-blog/the-true-cost-of-sustainable-fashion-amp-why-it-39-s-worth-paying-more?srsltid=AfmBOooWPr9MbHF79VXzI-i0NPk2iWOFjSfiFL9Y8v1DFKQ9ES5ii8Vn
However, fast fashion does have its upsides, for example many who are struggling financially and want to keep up with latest trends can buy products for better pricing. This is a case in our society as many feel the need to ‘fit in’ with trends and clothing styles and turn to fast fashion due to the constant changing cycle of the media. Additionally, the increase in technology has made this type of fashion more efficient and accessible for our generation. As a result of this, the use of fast fashion will always continue to be on the increase. Because of this, we need these increasing brands to manage their labour ethics and effects on the environment.
LINKS USED FOR INFO:
https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/is-shein-bad-for-the-environment#:~:text=Carbon%20footprint%3A%20SHEIN%20is%20responsible,(PFA)%2C%20and%20phthalates.
https://ethicalunicorn.com/2023/04/12/how-ethical-sustainable-is-shein/