Ayla Lee- Palos Verdes Peninsula High School 9th Grade
When fast fashion first started in the 1990s, retailers created trendy but poor quality clothing to keep up with the weekly fashion trends. At this time, people were blinded by the cheap prices and didn’t realize the environmental consequences of the fast fashion production process. These new processes of fashion production have started a method of clothing production that creates tons of textile waste. Currently the fast fashion industry has contributed a staggering 92 millions tons of textile waste worldwide.
Being able to consistently buy affordable clothing without wondering about the consequences on our environment, is a privilege. However, the fast fashion industry saw its biggest increase during the COVID pandemic. With physical stores being shut down, online shopping became everybody’s top choice. That’s when fast fashion brands such as Shein, Yesstyle, and Asos had significantly grown and their market valuations had skyrocketed to over $100 billion. These brands operate differently from others because of the shipping process. Packages from the fast fashion industry are able to bypass the normal U.S. import duties since they are being shipped directly from warehouses. This new method of shipping is extremely bad for our environment because of the significant release of greenhouse gases.
But beyond just the environmental consequences of the shipping process, the materials that are used in textiles of fast fashion typically create harmful chemicals through the synthetic fibers used that pollute the oceans when these clothes become waste. When these fast fashion clothes degrade over time, they release toxins and microplastics into the oceans and ecosystems, contributing to the overall environmental decline of the planet.
Although there has been growing awareness of fast fashion and its negative impact in recent years, reading this article made me realize new aspects of fashion that I hadn’t previously considered. It’s clear that there is still so much I don’t know, and it’s likely that others don’t either. It’s saddening to think about the toxic chemicals in the clothes that we wear and how they are contributing to environmental decline day by day. The worsening state of our planet should serve as a reminder to consider the true costs of these appealing cheap prices of our clothes. We must constantly remind ourselves and others of the impact of our clothing choices.
