Sustainability, Fast Fashion, and the "Instagram Girl"

Sustainability:

Sustainability is defined by "the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.'

Fashion

Fashion is defined as "a popular aesthetic expression at a certain time and context especially in clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, and body proportions. 

Fast Fashion and Why It's Problematic:

Currently, Fast Fashion has gained an increase in popularity because of social media more specifically because of Instagram and YouTube. In 2018 Fashion Nova, a fast fashion brand, which has gained popularity amongst social media influencers like Kylie Jenner became the most googled Fashion Brand on earth. Fast Fashion brands rely heavily on social media and influencers in order to gain a following. Fast Fashion brands on Instagram market themselves as affordable, body positive, and that the clothing can magically give you curves you never had before.

So why is it problematic?

Fast fashion brands currently rely heavily on social media and, similar to high-end brands,  seek to sell a fantasy to consumers. Instead of selling the fantasy of being very tall and extremely thin, these brands sell a lifestyle of wealthy teens and twenty-somethings with lots of plastic surgery, expensive cars, homes, and vacations. So when you buy or wear these clothes, you too can have a taste of the lives of social media influencers and the over-privileged. The art of selling fantasy as a marketing technique is not new, in fact, fashion always relied on it.  However, with this, there has been an increase in plastic surgery among younger age groups because the body type of having a very thin waist, skinny thighs, but an abnormally large bust and/or butt with matching lip injections have become the standard for the stars of Instagram. The pressure on young girls to fit this mold created by social media as a whole leads me to question what exactly is the psychological impact of their marketing.

Along with the psychological impacts, Fast Fashion is not sustainable. Fast fashion seeks to reflect the catwalk and current trends but is meant to be an affordable alternative for fashion lovers interested in following the ever-changing trends within the industry. It is inexpensive, disposable, and responsible for pollution and textile waste. But how exactly are brands able to sell a dress for $5. The formula is simple cheap labor + overproduction of goods= inexpensive clothing and high fashion dupes.


The laws of supply and demand are just as simple. The demand increases as the price decreases. While the quantity supplied is defined by factors such as the cost of production and labor. So if the cost of production and labor are low then there can be a high supply of goods. American retailers use foreign sweatshops in order to mass produce clothing and pay cents for heavy labor. Many American retailers produce clothing in Bangladesh where they can pay as little as $0.15 an hour for labor and there are very few regulations around labor. Ultimately this is the only way to produce such inexpensive clothing for consumers.

With all of the things considered how exactly can consumers shop ethically while also fitting their budget?

The most affordable way to shop sustainably is to go thrift shopping. There are tons of things laying in closets that many people don't use or wear donating them to a charity or selling them to a thrift store helps prevent the high disposability of clothing and also allows more and more people to have access to affordable clothing. It is important that people attempt to not be wasteful and that applies to the fashion industry as well.

Research sustainable brands. High-end doesn't necessarily mean it is produced ethically and sustainable. Attached is a link to sustainable and affordable fashion brands.



Though no one is perfect making small switches and how one shops can help with the process of shopping consciously. Ultimately by increasing the number of sustainable shoppers then it would challenge the industry to make more ethical and sustainable decisions with their brands.


As usual, Thanks for Keeping Up With Kat.