In an increasingly digital world, it is easier than ever to click "buy" on an item without much thought. However, the price may be higher than some people realize.
The nonprofit More Perfect Union (@moreperfectunion) recently posted a video on TikTok highlighting how our clothes have become less comfortable and more likely to break.
@moreperfectunion It's not just you. And it's not just Shein. Fast fashion is making all of our clothes worse. #labormovement #corporategreed #labor #fastfashion #fashion ♬ original sound - More Perfect Union
"Why don't my jeans fit properly anymore?" a TikToker asks. "... If I were to buy a similar pair of pants today, they likely wouldn't feel as nice as these do," they continue while showing off their jeans from the 90s. "They wouldn't be 100% cotton. There'd be frayed edges and loose threads, and the zipper would easily break."
"It's not just you," the caption explains. "... Fast fashion is making all of our clothes worse."
The clip goes on to detail how this happened. For one, free trade agreements in the 1990s — some of which didn't have language accounting for environmental impact, per Inside Climate News — allowed companies to move overseas and begin producing cheap products.
The TikTok also argues that corporate executives took advantage of the Great Recession in the early 2000s to sell poor-quality clothes that could still benefit their companies' bottom lines.
As Business Insider notes in an article examining how recent recessions influenced fashion, as the fast-fashion industry grew in the aftermath of the 2007 financial crisis, women were typically faced with the most outside pressure regarding their appearance in professional settings — and encouraged to incorporate these low-quality items into wardrobes to keep up.
Ultimately, this practice costs people more in the long run because they have to replace the items more quickly.
"And with the internet now pushing us to chase every new microtrend, we're brought to the crisis of fast-fashion today," the post explains, calling out brands like Shein that earn billions of dollars in profits (per Business Insider) from mass-produced cheap clothes that contain toxic plastic fibers.
"And we're left to deal with the consequences," the TikTok concludes, sharing screenshots of other articles detailing some of the devastating impacts of fast fashion, including alleged human rights abuses, illegal deforestation in Brazil per Environmental Health News, and polluted landscapes, per National Geographic. The fast-fashion sector also accounts for more than 20% of water pollution worldwide, per Earth.org.Â
Several commenters offered a thoughtful solution that is becoming increasingly popular, particularly as more stories surface regarding people's incredible finds from secondhand retailers.
"I buy pre-owned from thrift shops and online auctions," someone shared. "It's super tempting to buy fast fashion, but it's way more satisfying to find good deals on used items."
"I exclusively thrift," another person wrote in response to a question about how to find properly fitting clothes.
"Can we normalize not buying trendy fashion? And hang onto clothes?" another asked.
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