The current reality of clothing production, called fast fashion, is the industry standard of mass producing luxury styles in a matter of weeks. To do so, clothes are churned out quickly using poor quality materials. This is problematic because of the large amount of unnecessary environmental damage that this business model causes. The fashion industry should abandon the current trend of fast fashion and disposable clothing to decrease the amount of hazardous environmental waste created. The fashion industry should adopt slow fashion values that aim to cut excess consumer waste by changing the current societal norms around fashion buying and clothing disposal. Fast fashion has become the pinnacle of the fashion industry because it is very profitable. Cheap material and cheap overseas labor has made places like Walmart, Zara, and H&M twice as profitable as any retail store (Cline, “The Clothes Make the Movement”, 21). The average American household spends one thousand and seven hundred dollars on apparel every year. One third of the average household expense is claimed by women aged sixteen and older who spend over five hundred dollars on clothing and shoes annually (Bureau of Labor Statistics). That dollar amount translates into an average of sixty-eight items of clothing and seven pairs of shoes per the average American (Cline, “The Clothes Make the Movement”, 21). Cheap textile materials quickly fall apart, lose color and shape, and are replaced by new fashion trends.
Based off of my last journal about the fashion industry and how it has an economic impact. Recently a friend of mine opened up a fashion boutique in a mall. He has always been into fashion probably the most fashion intellectual person I know. In the boutique my friend has inventory ranging from shoes, hoodies, jeans, accessories, etc. All the inventory are clothes or shoes that are either hard to find or sold out due to the demand of the product being higher than the supply. The shoe prices range from $200-$2000 depending on what shoe you are looking at. The prices of clothes are practically the same price range as the shoes. One of the clothing brands that are probably in my opinion the grail items in the boutique is the collection of clothes
Saying it “is all about 'investment dressing' - buying one piece and loving it for a long time”. (Siegle, 8) When buying a product the shopper should not be afraid to spend a little extra cash so it won’t have to be disposed in a few months time. Making more of a relationship to care for what is in their possession. And repair the clothes they have since “just 2 per cent of the average clothing budget goes on services that repair or lengthen the lifespan of our garments and accessories”. (Siegle, 9) She goes over how the more you buy fast fashion the higher the price and the cheaper the material will be. Ending up in the garbage and repeating the cycle of devastating effects on the
The True Cost is a documentary that was filmed with the hope of educating consumers regarding the global impact that ‘fast fashion’ has on our society. Director Andrew Morgan provides the link between our clothes and the people who make them; careful to bridge the gap between the factory workers and how our high demand for fashion can affect their life. In fact, we seldom consider consumptionism (to consume, use or spend with little regard) and globalized production (when goods are made in another country for low wages) while shopping, but we should. Projects such as this documentary, shed light on the untold stories behind what appears to be a glamorous and trillion dollar business. Unfortunately, those who are impacted the most are the workers
In “The Fashion Industry: Free to be an Individual” by Hannah Berry, Hannah emphasizes how social media especially advertisements pressure females to use certain product to in order to be considered beautiful. She also acknowledges the current effort of advertisement today to more realistically depicts of women. In addition, these advertisements use the modern women look to advertise products to increase women self-esteem and to encourage women to be comfortable with one’s image.
The claim presented in the article is how ads often set unrealistic beauty standards, and how the author encourages them to “break free” from these standards by giving two examples on how ads should be compelled.
People indulge in clothes shopping every day and often do not consider the changes that occurred throughout time that led to the development of mass produced clothing for both men and women. As a result of the Civil War, the production of clothing shifted from homemade clothing to clothing mass produced in factories. After the Civil War, Urbanization along with new developments, such as advertising and the new, wealthy urban class, increased the demand for mass produced women’s clothing and clothing stores that made clothing readily available.
This papers purpose is to teach fashion heavy consumers on the real price of fast fashion and how buying it affects the environment. This type of audience can be anyone who partakes in the buying of well-known cheap retail stores that have a large audience of being fast and obtainable. These consumers should have the information on how fast fashion effects are environment so it could possibly alter their buying habits to be eco-friendlier but buying either less or more sustainable clothing instead of the cheap alternatives. This audience should care about this purpose because this will affect the world now and for future generations as their environment is being mistreated because of these fast
Credibility statement: A university of Georgia professor gave an hour-long ted talk talking about her experiences of working and traveling to different countries seeing the fast fashion industry at first hands. She now teaches about fashion sustainability and the cycles of the fast fashion market.
Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a
In this article, Barenblat outlines some of the key reasons as to why fast fashion is detrimental for women and the environment. The author supports her claim by suggesting fast fashion is expensive for the planet, encourages young women in poverty to work in sweatshops, and leads to million tons of landfill each year. This information in the article is useful because it provides relevant statistics on the damages caused by the clothing industry.
Of the hundreds of named brand clothing that form part of the retail and fashion industry I chose to compare, for my analysis, Abercrombie & Fitch, Forever 21, American Eagle, and H&M. These stores are prominent, well-known for selling apparel, shoes, and accessories by the means of offering sales and promotions to their customers. This is a clever strategy for attracting customers, allowing them to believe that they bought goods at affordable, convenient prices – and not to mention the prestigious name prescribed to the clothing brands. Using keyhole.co as my main source, I obtained relevant and valuable information regarding the status of these brands. My intentions were to compare a period of 14 days, however, due to the limited access that I received from my free trial, the program only allowed me to see fewer of the dates than I anticipated. I want to take this opportunity and mention ahead of time that due to the various and distinctive products that are sold from these stores, when looking for the “spending capacity” I decided to focus on shirts/ jeans for men and women and compare the prices among them since each of these retailers carry those items and as a way to make this report easier to contrast and comprehend. Also, when approaching the section of “setting”, I screen-shotted some of the images on Instagram and made them into a collage to separate the type of clothes and trends that each of these brands sell currently. In the following modules
The U.S. women’s apparel industry market is mature, given that the average growth rate from 2005 to 2007 was 4.66%. Within the industry, there are 6 categories of clothing in which companies compete: haute couture, designer, bridge, better, moderate, and budget. Each category targets customers with different needs and different price ranges, with haute coutre and designer clothing ranging upwards from $10,000 and moderate
2. Richard M. Johns (2006). The Apparel Industry. 2nd ed. UK, London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 1-124.
In today’s society, fashion rules the teen and young adult generations. Billions of dollars are spent each year on designer brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Off-White. At the same time that these large amounts of money are being spent of materialistic aspects of fashion, people in third world countries are struggling greatly. Instead of money being spent on expensive clothing, it could serve a greater purpose by being donated to countries who are in dire need. Absurd amounts of money in first world countries are spent on designer brands, while third world countries struggle to even get their hands on any clothing.
Generations ahead of us only had a tiny wardrobe, where clothes were not washed every day. In our generation, fast fashion is in. It’s ok to have multiple shirts or shoes of the same color. It’s actually ok to throw away unwanted apparel. Apparel companies are beginning to focus on sustainable fashion, also known as eco fashion. Apparel, fashion, and textiles is the most polluting industry in the world. Every stage, that a garment goes through, uses up and threatens our resources.