Fast
Fashion is something that we are exposed to every day as consumers, and we buy
into it because we want to be up to date on the latest trends and fads. In the
midst of all the colors and fabrics at great prices are we being ethical and
are we really buying fashion? With my current designer’s class, I went to visit
H&M and Uniqlo to get a closer look at the stores that I shop at every day.
H&M has
been one of my go to stores for years now. They always lure me in with their
exciting window displays and themes. What gets me the most is the price,
because I am a college student that needs to watch their budget. Most recently
they created the Margiela collaboration, which I didn’t even stand in line for
because I knew it was out of my price range. I was pleasantly surprised to come
back in and realize that some of the collection was still there and it was
marked down. Some of the items were made of actual silk, leather, and wool,
which means the quality is slightly above that of the rest of the H&M
collections. I loved the idea of recreating garments for H&M that correlated
with the heritage and previous collections of the fashion house. After having a
long discussion about ethics in class and coming here, I saw H&M with a new
set of eyes. This was the dollar store of department stores, and everything I
bought at H&M I’ve thrown away. As mentioned in the article “Making the
Case Against Fast Fashion Collaborations” by The Business of Fashion, the guest
contributor stated, “In the US, the picture is even more dire, with consumers
dumping an estimated 10 million tonnes of clothing annually.” I believe it,
with such poor quality in the garments that we call “trendy” we always end up
throwing them away when they go out of style or fall apart.
I believe
Uniqlo is on the other side of the spectrum, since it focuses its product range
on basics with accents of trend. According to The Economist, 90% of their
garments are manufactured in China. From what I’ve heard from peers is that the
quality is pretty good for the price, and the denim is said to be phenomenal.
Here the ethical question lies in the conditions of the laborers who make the
clothing, and the environmental impact of pollution in China due to clothing
factories. I have been researching about China for my global marketing class,
and one of their biggest concerns is air pollution, because it is affecting the
living conditions of the general public. If they are polluting the air that
means that there are harmful chemicals in our clothes as well. Tommy Crawford from Greenpeace states:
“In a constant race to
get products on the racks, lots of big brands resort to outsourcing production
in countries such as China and Mexico. But this clothing carries a hidden price
tag. In many of these countries, lax regulations give suppliers of
international brands a free hand when it comes to using hazardous chemicals to
dye and process our clothes.”
My overall
opinion on fast fashion collaborations is that they are becoming excessive. We
are going to run out of designers to show case! I haven’t bought anything from fashion
collaborations because I feel guilty. I think that it’s a great way to bring
designer products to the masses, but then I feel that luxury loses its luster. When
I can afford luxury and do have the money to buy myself a Margiela jacket, it won’t
mean as much to me since it was already in H&M. The collaborations are
great now that I’m a college student, but being a fashion student makes me want
to wait for the real thing. I want to lose my fashion virginity in an actual
Yves Saint Laurent store not at Target.
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