The approach to clothing has changed owing to the rapid availability of styles and designs at affordable prices. With over a thousand new products weekly, brands like Zara, H&M, and Shein create a culture of overconsumption and a buy and discard culture. Despite the flashing advertisements and constant availability of prices, a broken and harmful business model lies below the surface.

Every week, Zara, H&M, and Shein launch hundreds of new styles. Within every new collection, there are countless pieces that are designed and made each week. This rapidly changes the production lines and keeps factories always running. H&M and Zara are the most noted brands. They disrupt the previously calculated pace of the fashion industry. This means the old, slower system of making clothes has been replaced. By providing immediate and cheap access to the latest trends, these brands became the most popular. People enjoy fast fashion, but their business models are built on weak and harmful foundations. They care more about speed and money than about people or the planet.

Because new styles are always forecasted, people buy more than they need. They often wear garments only a few times and then throw them away. Most of these items are incinerated or disposed of in landfills. This creates a lot of waste and pollution. The expansion of cheap synthetic garments has made the burning of cheap clothing more common and popular. These synthetic clothes are not natural, and they do not break down easily. The worsening of cheap clothing trends has made the incineration of unsold garments and cheap clothing more common.  This harms the environment more and more.

Most of these workers are young women. They have to work long hours to keep up with fast production. This kind of work is tiring and unfair. From the leaching and rinsing of the synthetics to the dyeing and final laundering, the fast fashion industry uses a lot of water. It causes both air and water pollution, harming the environment and the climate. The burning of cheap garments releases harmful and toxic dye wastes into the environment. Finally, the washing of clothes containing polyester releases harmful microplastics and other synthetic ocean pollutants into the ocean, harming sea life. These small plastics never disappear and stay in the water, hurting animals and the planet.

By Taeyoon Kang