As demand for “the hottest trends” has gone up, a harmful new business strategy has been set in place called fast fashion. If you're not familiar with the concept of fast fashion, it is the rapid production of low cost and low-quality items. These articles are usually of unoriginal design and mass-produced. Many of the producers copy and steal from designers and smaller businesses. Fast fashion has very harmful effects on the environment, society and on the fashion industry.
The concept of Fast fashion has accelerated the popularity and consumption of microtrends. Microtrends rise and fall in popularity in shockingly fast timespans. Some even being as short lived as a few weeks. Think of the coquette bow trend, clean girl aesthetic, leopard jeans, bloomer shorts and many others. These micro-trends rise in popularity at a rapid pace through social media (most specifically TikTok) just to go out as quickly as they arrived. To keep up with these trends people are buying and throwing things out constantly leading to an endless cycle of overconsumption.
However, microtrends' negative implications go far beyond this cycle of overconsumption, they have also been detrimental to fashion as a means of expression. No longer the days of having a personal style and prioritizing the quality of the products we are buying. Designers often have their designs pirated and mass produced by these fast fashion manufacturers. With this, many pieces lose their originality. After all, the new norm is 200-dollar Shein orders. Typically, consumers will wear these items 1-2 times and then it will end up sitting on a small town goodwill rack for the duration of the garment’s life. This leaves fashion lovers to cope with a sad truth; Microtrends have demolished the importance of having your own taste and replaced it with a game of who can keep up with the “new rage.”
The effects of fast fashion are felt by our planet, our businesses, and us as individuals. The clothes we toss out must go someplace, adding to the growing mountain of waste fast fashion retailers are largely responsible for. Small businesses who prioritize quality over pure profit suffer because they simply cannot price their pieces the same way that big-name brands can. The silent killer here is our unwitting participation in this vicious cycle. Brands like Shein or H&M are notorious fast fashion companies, but there are many brands that you may shop under the impression that they are sustainable, when they are anything but. Brands such as Edikted, Zara, Pacsun, and Brandy Melville all fall under that overarching category of fast fashion (devastating, I know).
But there is light at the end of this glamorously styled tunnel. Luckily, there are many ways to shop sustainably and better your own personal style whilst not damaging our planet in the process. Secondhand clothing is one key way. This can include thrifting, and Depop, Poshmark, or any other resale websites. You can also utilize resources right here on campus such as FairFashion UGA’s clothing swap. The odds are, that trend you’re looking for is probably already hanging in your closet, just use your imagination! Make sure to give a second look at what you already have, and potentially even upcycle clothes that are not quite your style anymore. These simple practices will pave the way to a more sustainable, expressive, and fashion forward future!
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By: Sophia Johnson and Adeline Slocum
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