How Consumer Demand Has the Upper Hand

The impact of fast fashion has taken consumer demand, clothing production rates, and the cost of environmental damage to the next level. 

It was only after World War ll, when fabric was a rarity and style focused on function over form, that consumers were receptive to mass-produced clothing. This upheaval of consumer demands coincided with the development of many notorious fast fashion retail companies: H&M, Zara, Topshop, Primark– all of which were launched between 1947 and 1969.

Low-cost and trendy clothing production significantly increased in the 1960s; young people embraced this opportunity and standardized clothing manufacturing surged. Fashion brands adopted new ways to produce clothes at increasingly faster speeds and kept up with the newest trends, leading to the creation of massive textile mills. This also allowed North American and European companies to save millions of dollars by outsourcing their labor.

“The fashion industry is a labor-intensive one. To reach a cheap cost for the production — wherever people can find cheap labor — that’s where those clothes are made,” says Tracie Tung, professor of family and consumer services at California State University, Northridge. “That’s why 98% of the clothes in the US market are made overseas. Fast fashion brands are always looking for cheap materials, labor, and operation models, to lower the cost so that they can sell their products at cheaper prices.”

Though the sewing machines of the Industrial Revolution led to an inconceivable growth in clothing production, the laborious work involved and the waste it produced shouldn’t be glossed over.

“It’s like the plastic problem we have,” Tung said. “Most of the materials are made of plastic-based fibers and trims (i.e., buttons and zippers). The more we buy, the more waste we create.”

A Princeton research study conducted in July 2020 reported that the fashion industry is currently responsible for “more annual carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.” If the industry continues, “an increase of 50% in greenhouse gas emissions is expected within a decade.”

This study also concluded that the fashion industry consumes one-tenth of all the water used industrially to run factories and clean products. It takes 10,000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of cotton or approximately 3,000 liters of water for one cotton shirt, about as much as a full-sized rain barrel.

“The industry doesn’t just use water, it also dumps waste into fresh waterways, mainly in manufacturing nations like China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, etc. 20% of industrial water pollution globally comes from dyeing and treatment of textiles,” says Ramkumar Bharath, assistant professor of fashion and textiles at Suny Oneonta.

“This is just a sliver of the other environmental damage caused by the fast fashion industry in every step – production, consumption, and post-consumption. For instance, apparel production has been estimated to generate 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. On top of buying one item of clothing every five and a half days, consumers in the US discard their clothes twice as quickly. Most of the clothes that are discarded are disposed of by burning them or sending them to landfills with less than 15% being recycled.”

Bharath explains, “Firstly, manufacturing of clothes went from being almost 70% made in the US in the 1970s to a mere 3% today. The main drivers of this change were trade deals and the opening of international labor markets that gave brands like Gap, Liz Claiborne, etc. access to cheap labor markets around the world, especially China. This meant brands could manufacture all they wanted at cheap prices and sell in huge quantities to consumers in the US and around the world, driving the price of clothing down.”

“The fast-fashion retailer Zara pioneered this approach by bringing fresh, limited quantity fashion to stores 52 times a year, almost one collection every week versus the traditional four seasons in a year,” Bharath said.

What’s most concerning about fast fashion is the waste consumers produce from buying clothes, wearing them a few times, and throwing them away.

Felipe Caro, Professor of Decisions, Operations, and Technology at UCLA, says that “The biggest issue with fast fashion, in my opinion, is that consumers buy a lot of clothes, many of which are used a few times and end up in a landfill. It’s a shared responsibility between the companies and the consumers. It has a lot to do with the consumer demanding a constant renewal of products. Of course, if there is that demand, companies will be there to satisfy it.”

“That’s why this is a complicated issue, and it can’t be solved by pointing fingers at brands. But, the fast-fashion business model could develop ways to mitigate this impact. These brands like Zara are the first ones to prove and mitigate the impact, but there is a lot of effort to make it a more sustainable business model,” Caro said.

Zara has resolved to reach net-zero emissions by 2040, as well as using 100% more sustainable procurement of cellulose fibers, cotton, linen, and becoming free of single-use plastics. By 2030, retail giant H&M hopes to use only recycled and sustainably sourced materials; its Re-Made collection currently upcycles old clothes to create new designs.

“Fast fashion has really become ingrained in our culture,” Bharath said. “Especially in the younger generations. Although young consumers are more aware of the negative impacts of fast fashion on our ecosystem and the people involved in manufacturing these products, the irony is that this is the same group of consumers that continue to support and even promote fast fashion.”

Though consumer demand has proved to be dangerous, it can be just as effective: “If we as consumers demand higher quality, sustainable, and ethical products, what other choice do companies have but to fulfill these demands?” Bharath said. “And this revolution has already begun, as evidenced by the rise of secondhand clothing retailers such as The RealReal, Depop, Poshmark, and thrift shopping in general. Retailers like Nordstrom are now starting to introduce second-hand sections in their stores. All of this is because of consumer demand.”

Tung adds that “Some practices to adopt are to reduce consumption and buy fewer and higher quality items; ask yourself if you’ll wear it thirty times, support eco-friendly, ethical brands; extend the life cycle of a product, and share fashions and circular fashions by purchasing second-hand clothes.”

Bangladeshi workers are just one example of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the low-working conditions that come along with being a garment worker. In 2005, a garment factory collapsed in Dhaka, killing sixty-four people and injuring more than one-hundred workers. Five years later, a Bangladeshi factory killed twenty-six and injured more than one hundred people. One of the worst disasters was the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, which housed five garment companies that sold to North America and Europe. This collapse killed 1,138 people and injured 2,600.

According to Caro, “It’s not a matter of finger-pointing. The solution means a lot of parties need to stay involved. This is a problem that requires a combined effort.”