Sustainable Style or Disposable Fashion: The Pitfalls of Fast Fashion Microtrends
Illustration: Maiya Focht | Base photo: The Donkey Sanctuary
The rise of microtrends in the fashion industry is affecting the economy and the history of fashion. With microtrends rapidly fluctuating, the industry produces excessive amounts of clothing, much of which shoppers eventually end up dropping off at the thrift store or throwing away. With these ever-shifting fashion trends, people tend to hop on and off the trend boats containing different styles, details, colors, materials, and more. Once I tell you about the truth of fast fashion, I doubt you will feel good about buying a ton of clothes that you probably won’t like in a month.
When you first come across online websites like Amazon and Shein and stores like H&M, it might seem like you’ve hit the jackpot for insanely low prices. The problem here is that the photo listing of an item may deceive you. The products being sold on these online stores are giving you pictures of, for example, the perfect prom dress that was everything you dreamed of, with the perfect color, perfect detailing, and perfect fit—and that’s where you go wrong. These pictures are being taken in a studio that has lighting which was made to fool you. The clothes are being worn by models whose images have been proven to be edited; they even wear “tailored” clothing with clips to make them seem like a perfect fit. The clothing you ordered is probably not even going to be the same thing that the model is wearing because fast fashion tends to be cheap remakes of higher priced articles.
The fast fashion industry was largely influenced by COVID-19 quarantine, since it was a time when people had both the time and opportunity to become creative. This led them to start making their own clothes, and some people made small online businesses, advertised on platforms like TikTok, and sold their products on Poshmark and Ebay. When creators became popular because of their unique abilities to design and sew, larger companies took notice of the trends the small businesses created and stole designs people liked. In this case, there wasn’t much a small business could do because small business owners were often people who just enjoyed making clothes at home and did not have the resources to reserve copyright.
These days, you will come across many different types of clothing on Amazon that are being sold by mass-produce sellers who buy in bulk and use Amazon as a filtration system to seem “trustworthy.” The amount of fast fashion product that is produced is more complicated than it seems, as the problem is essentially stemmed from customers and their addiction toof new and cheap products.
One of the problems of interacting with microtrends is the pollution of microplastics that accompanies clothes and accessories that will eventually end up tossed aside. The online fashion industry is hurting the economic state of the world day by day, as a tremendous number of online shops use cheap fabrics that contain plastic fibers, which ruin the marine environment.
Not only is fast fashion ruining our environment, but it’s also ruining fashion culture through the production of microtrends. What comes with fast fashion is over-reproduction of similar items, which tend to overuse one trend. Essentially, microtrends are items of clothing that only stay in fashion for a short period of time, and then quickly lose their appeal. Fast fashion mass produces endless microtrends to keep up with the designs and pieces people crave, but they last only for so long.
In addition to the negative impacts fast fashion has on the environment and the fashion industry, there have been many controversies surrounding it. One recent example is the “cancellation” movement of online shopping website Shein, which sells clothes, accessories, and other products for extremely low prices. People started to come forward on TikTok and complain they were receiving clothing items that had tags with things written on them such as “help me” and “I need saving.” Taking into consideration that some people lie on social media for views, we do not know if the rumors are true. However, NBC News examines a trip social media influencers went on to China to visit Shein manufacturing facilities in hopes of clearing allegations of child labor use by the company. NBC states “there have been reports of alleged forced labor abuses, human rights violations and potentially hazardous materials in clothing at Shein.” The influencers posted videos during the tour of the facility, showing the working conditions and speaking to employees who said everything was “normal.” This then shed light on the accusations, making the audience even more concerned that this could be a cover-up. The NBC article comes to the conclusion that, whether or not the alleged child labor rumors were true, the Shein employees did not confirm anything regarding this problem, so it remains a mystery.
Not many people are able to confess to being a fast fashion microtrend victim, but I am willing to share that it has had an impact on me. In my experience, most of the fast fashion items I have purchased are simply not good, under any circumstance. The quality of these clothes is terrible because of how quickly the trends circulate; shipping usually takes weeks (if not longer) and can get fairly costly. Now that I have seen for myself the truth behind fast fashion, I will never go back.
If you are looking for ways to effect positive change, you can shop locally at flea markets or thrift stores and restrain yourself from constantly buying the next new trend–which often entails throwing it away soon after. If you have clothes you want to get rid of, try recycling them for a better use or giving them to someone in need including local charities. Most importantly, be mindful and sensible of what and where you shop!