If you think you’re benefiting from purchasing from a fast fashion company, you are sadly mistaken. This isn’t your fault though – like many others, you’ve fallen under the influence of corporate marketing and societal pressures. But luckily, you can always avoid shopping fast fashion and the time to do that is now.
Consumers
You may think you’re just getting a great deal on a super cute top but did you know that top contains toxic chemicals, dyes, and leads that can cause serious health problems? The toxins used in the process of all fast fashion production stick with the item once it is created. Even after it leaves the factory and ships to your house the item emits poisonous gases which puts you in direct danger.
Harsh dyes can cause skin rashes and irritation. Wearing fast fashion items without washing them first puts your epidermis at high risk. Avoid these issues all together by refusing to purchase from fast fashion companies – you’re only harming yourself and making the rich man at the top richer.
Higher Ups
The truth about all large corporations and fast fashion companies especially, is that very few employees are making enough money to sustain a living. Usually, those highest on the totem pole live lavishly while the people doing the work make close to nothing.
This is the business model we see for brands like Shien, ZARA, H&M, and Fashion Nova; CEO’s and higher ups make millions or even billions, while the people producing the clothing work with almost zero compensation.
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Workers
Not only this but workers are expected to clock in for more than ten hour shifts every day. They work in dangerous conditions and receive no sick time, maternity leave, or health care. Most are uncontracted which means the company can terminate them at any time without warning.
The unfortunate reality is that these people have little choice but to stay are their job. Their wages, though insufficient, are still more than they would make if they didn’t work at all. Even though they are being exploited, any bit of income helps them to pay bills, buy groceries, and survive.
These factories are nothing more than sweatshops; unsafe and illegal. But fast fashion companies are so economically powerful they can get away with such activities with little pushback from the government.
Workers have begged for help from outside forces including consumers. This article delves into the recurring incidences of SOS messaging written on Shien packaging and tags allegedly done by clothing producers:
Earth
The conditions fast fashion production workers endure are cruel and inhumane. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of the suffering our world must withstand.
The effects of overproduction are widespread. While the filling (and overfilling) of landfills from unbought or unwanted clothing is the most prominently understood, this is only the beginning of the destruction.
Air and water pollutants devastate the nearing villages of fast fashion factories. Toxic run-off integrates with rivers and contaminates their water sources. Chemicals are released in the air for factory workers and people in the community to breath in. Consumption of these toxins cause a plethora of illnesses, some even lethal.
As time goes on, more and more people are suffering the consequences of our consumer needs. We want trendy clothing quickly and for a low cost but truly, it’s costing us more than we think.
There has never been a more necessary time to stop shopping fast fashion than right now. Our species is calling upon us, our earth is calling upon us, we must end this covetous cycle.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com. — In the Featured Photo: H&M Shopping Bag. Featured Photo Credit: Fernand De Canne.
