The Perils of Fast Fashion by Molly Hughes https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo en-us 2023-03-28 18:00:30 UTC 2025-10-27 04:51:34 UTC hello@padlet.com The History of Fast Fashion mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2550604795 Even though Fast Fashion is a big part of our society it didn’t begin yesterday.  Fast Fashion did not exist before the industrial revolution. The sewing machine was invented on July 9, 1819. During the 1900s, after the sewing machine was invented businesses found ways to make clothing production more efficient.  Perhaps too efficient? In the 1960s trends were changing faster than ever, and the demand for cheap, in style clothes was higher than ever.  In the 1980s Zara had been experimenting with the idea of making cheap clothes fast, and selling them for little money.  They didn’t put these clothes on the shelfs until the 1990s. Eventually, the story started coming out. The term “fast fashion” was coined by the New York Times in the 1990s to describe Zara’s new business model. The New York Times discussed Zara’s goal of having items, and garments make it onto the shelf in less than 15 days. Skip to today’s world consumers are hoping for more sustainable garments. Despite that, the fast fashion industry is still booming. Fast fashion is a 1,051.66 billion dollar industry as of 2011. Fast fashion has had so many years to develop in the industry that it isn’t going away with one new sustainable company. 


]]> 2023-04-11 18:55:14 UTC https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2550604795 Human Impacts of Fast Fashion mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2550606402 It seems like everyone loves fast fashion. Cheap trendy clothes that just keep coming. Who wouldn’t love that?  Fast fashion companies are pressured to get lots of workers because lots of people like their products. The workers in Shein and H&M factories are horribly mistreated. Shein workers work 75 hr weeks. Some reports have said factory workers work 18 hour shifts. The typical americans work week in 40hr. That is 35 more hours every week! This is caused by the fact that the companies need a lot of garments fast.Workers rarely get holidays, in fact they only get one day off a month. Due to the fact that they do not get paid a lot they need every penny, so they often do not take their day off. A factory worker at Shein makes $572 per month, or 4 cents per clothing item made. This may seem like a lot to you. However, a Mcdonald's worker is a considerably low paying job. They make $2,137 a month. Shein workers are also exposed to mounds of toxic chemicals. Marketplace did an investigation by taking a sample of 38 clothing items. They found that 20% of the clothes had toxic chemicals such as lead, PFAS and phthalates. Experts on the topic concerned were because workers often spent hours around these chemicals. They often have very poor health due to this. Even though fast fashion is convenient for us it is awful for workers who need money. 

]]> 2023-04-11 18:56:51 UTC https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2550606402 Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2559364097 Fast fashion has a huge negative impact on the environment. The industrialization of fast fashion has led to more energy consumption, water usage and microplastics. The industry uses roughly 700 gallons of water to produce one cotton shirt. Due to this fast fashion brands waste billions of gallons of water everyday. Tie-dyed shirts are worse than cotton shirts. Tie dying a shirt uses many chemicals, and powders to create the dy. After the dying process is completed lots of residue from the dys runs into streams and rivers because it is not properly handled. The effect of having lots of chemicals get into clean water sources is that it cuts off a water supply that could be used by animals, plants, and possibly people. The chemicals in the dies could make animals very sick or possibly die. Fast fashion brands are increasing the amount of microplastics in the ocean. The cause of this is most fast fashion brands use synthetic fibers to make materials such as polyester, or rayon. Synthetic fibers are responsible for 35% of the microplastics that end up in oceans. Returning clothes causes more destruction to the environment. 85% of clothes returned, or taken off the shelfs end up in a landfill to be incinerated.  This causes the  burning garments to produce methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that has 25 times the effect of carbon dioxide. The fast fashion industry makes a negative impact on the environment.


]]> 2023-04-19 00:54:47 UTC https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2559364097 Economical Impacts mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2559366716 The fast fashion industry has a deep impact on the international economy, and individual countries' economies. Fast fashion is responsible for roughly 5% of the United States’ economic growth. Researchers predict that it will grow by 6% in the next year. This makes sense because millions of people in the U.S. buy from fast fashion brands every day. Fast fashion grows the global economy by creating jobs in developing countries. The fast fashion industry employees over 300 million people worldwide. This is helpful because it is important to countries with developing economies to get money flowing through the economy. However, the laborers in the fast fashion industry, especially the factory workers, get paid very little. This causes the economy not to improve because workers have little money to spend. This only benefits the higher up people in the industry because they keep extra money for themselves. Fast fashion grows the economy in the U.S., but it is not great for the global economy. 


]]> 2023-04-19 00:57:00 UTC https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2559366716 How We Can Solve the Problem mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2561927100 Fast fashion is a huge problem, but it isn’t hopeless. Many little, or large scale changes can be made. One personal solution is buying clothes from more ethical brands, or higher quality brands. Ethical brands try to use certified organic cotton, recyclable or no plastic packaging, and ethical production practices. Some of these brands include Pact, Vetta, Kotn, and Quince. You can also buy higher quality products like lululemon. This is a solution because  it is less likely the companies produce clothes fast, and cheap. It is also less likely you will have to return them because of bad quality. Another solution is you can  thrift clothes. Thrifting clothing is a great way to incorporate buying second hand clothing into the fashion habits. As far as returning products goes most people know that it is an issue because when you return a product brands do not put it back on the shelves. Instead of contributing to more waste you can swap clothing with family and friends. If the clothes you buy don’t fit, there should be someone in your social life who does fit, and who wants it! You can also reuse, repurpose, and upcycle. Upcycling is taking clothes that don’t fit you anymore, or are bad quality, and turning them into something new. These quick fixes are great for reducing the amount of returns, and the amount of clothes in a landfill which is an issue. Fast fashion is a very big problem, but each individual can make the world a little bit better just by making a little change in your shopping habits.

]]> 2023-04-20 14:19:11 UTC https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2561927100 mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2561929637 2023-04-20 14:20:50 UTC https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2561929637 mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2561932920 2023-04-20 14:22:54 UTC https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2561932920 mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2561942623 2023-04-20 14:29:19 UTC https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2561942623 Citations mh28096 https://padlet.com/mh28096/ej2rbr5dkxz855yo/wish/2562515098 Assoune, Alex. "How Does Fast Fashion Affect The Economy." Panaprium, 2011, www.panaprium.com/blogs/i/how-does-fast-fashion-affect-the-economy. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.
---. "Top 10 Solutions To The Fast Fashion Industry." Panaprium, 2011, www.panaprium.com/blogs/i/solutions-to-the-fast-fashion-industry. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.
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Komozova, Iryna. "Fast Fashion is Destroying Our Planet: What You Can Do." World Clean Up Day, 29 Sept. 2022, www.worldcleanupday.org/post/fast-fashion-is-destroying-our-planet-what-you-can-do. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.
Liberatore, Stacy. "Fast fashion is 'choking Africa in dead white people's clothes': Mountains of garments promised to be reused by brands like H&M and Zara are instead flooding waterways of Ghana." Daily Mail, 4 Nov. 2022, www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11391883/Mountains-garments-promised-reused-brands-like-H-M-flooding-streets-Ghana.html. Accessed 7 Nov. 2022.
Mellor, Sophie. "Fast-fashion giant Shein investigated its own factories after damning report on working conditions—and the results are costing $15 million to fix." Fortune, 6 Dec. 2022, fortune.com/2022/12/06/shein-factory-investigation-finds-breached-local-labor-law/. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.
---. "Fast-fashion giant Shein investigated its own factories after damning report on working conditions—and the results are costing $15 million to fix." Fortune, 6 Dec. 2022, fortune.com/2022/12/06/shein-factory-investigation-finds-breached-local-labor-law/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.
Strategyzer. "Zara Business Model." Strategyzer, www.strategyzer.com/business-model-examples/zara-business-model#:~:text=In%20the%201980s%20Zara%20disrupts,vertically%20integrating%20its%20supply%20chain. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.
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