We hear people say fast fashion all the time but TBH they usually say it so quick there’s no time to say HANG ON WOMAN ON TV, EXPLAIN.
So, fast fashion is cheap, rapid, and large-scale production of low-quality clothing. It samples ideas from the catwalk or pop culture and produces them ASAP so shoppers can buy them while they are still at the height of their popularity and then, discard them when they’re out.
Obviously refuting our theory that it was fashion that makes you run fast..
And we know it’s bad for the environment (duh) but it is like flavoured sparkling mineral water bad or coca cola with guarana bad.
We’ve done some digging around for facts surrounding fast fashion and it’s actual impact on the environment, and the results were scream-movie-sleeopover-circa-1990s scary.
“Fast fashion companies generate more pollution than international Aviation and Shipping combined. If fast fashion were a country, its carbon emissions would rank almost as high as the entire European continent” - Environmental Audit Committee, 2019
“We discard 92 million tonnes of textile waste that the industry generates annually. From clothes that do not fit anymore, items that have gone out of fashion, or even clothes that have never been worn - Earth.Org, 2022
“Plastic particles washed off from products such as synthetic clothes contribute up to 35% of the primary plastic that is polluting our oceans. Every time we do our laundry an average of 9 million microfibers are released into wastewater treatment plants that cannot filter them.” - Ocean Clean Wash, 2023
Urgh. Cue immediately feeling uncomfortable in my synthetic sweater, running through all the clothes I’ve thrown out over the years.
We used to shop far less frequently. And we’re not talking about caveman days (I’m fairly certain they only shopped designer furs), we’re talking about only 30 or so years ago when shopping was a “beginning of a new season” type-thing, something our parents would treat us to before school started or in the lead up to big event.
But now?
Now shopping is a weekly hobby. We pop into the shops to buy some bread and quickly get some jeans from Cotton-On, or go to KMART to buy our kids some onesies and come out with 12 t-shirts, 8 dresses and 2 pairs of shorts we’ll never wear.
"Australians buy 14.8kg of clothing, or 56 new items, every year, a new report has found, making Australia one of the highest consumers of textiles per capita in the world” – Australian Fashion Council, 2023
So how to we help?
And by we I mean us.
You. Me. Him. Her. That cat on the lounge. All of us.
Well for starters, buy less.
And for middlers, buy quality!
Buy the clothes that are invested in by actual designers who care about sustainability. Existing and emerging Australian and New Zealand designers are being recognised around the world for not only their jaw-droppingly-amazing designs, but for their sustainable ethos. They focus on where its being made, how its being produced and what its crafted from.
Maggie Marilyn - “Maggie Marilyn believes that our planet's survival hinges on its ability to dream up a better tomorrow, which is why we believe that the future of fashion is one rooted in transparency, circularity, regeneration and inclusion”
Matteau - “We design with the intent that our styles will last a lifetime, are not disposable, and don’t become obsolete with the changing of the seasons”.
Sir the Label - “To us, responsible business is a balance of people and planet – both with their own set of challenges. At SIR we treat sustainability as a driving force behind our design and development”
Camilla and Marc - “Our focus lies in creating pieces that stand the test of time, and encourage our customers to care for their garments for longer, so that they can be passed onto future generations, with love”
Zimmermann - “We care deeply about the environment and prioritise processes that help protect it. We feel confident that our garments already have a long life. We are encouraged to see our pieces passed on through the second-hand economy”
But..If you’re like the majority of us shoppers in that you LOVE the sustainable designers, you LOVE the up and coming styles and you LOVE feeling like you’re making a conscious choice but you DON’T love the cost?
We’ve got a solution for you.
For enders, shop pre-loved designer clothes!
Companies like Restitched are being founded in our times to create collections of designer clothes, in brand new condition, available to you. They’re allowing our beautiful and talented designers to keep doing their thing, allowing all of us access to their brilliance and allowing the planet to keep turning on it’s axis.
You get the clothes, the conscious choice and the cost saving.
Basically they allow you to have your cake and eat it too (you gorgeous, lucky thing).