Fast Fashion vs Slow Fashion: Is It Time to Make a Sustainable Choice?

"Fast fashion" is a widely-used term that refers to the rapid production of low-cost, stylish clothing that mimics popular trends of fashion labels, big-name brands and independent designers. As the term suggests, fast fashion prioritises speed and affordability, with the primary objective being delivering fresh collections in quick succession and lure fashion-savvy consumers to buy more and keep up with the latest trends.  

Over the last quarter of a century, the fast fashion industry has grown exponentially. Earlier, fashion cycles used to have two releases a year (spring / summer and autumn / winter), but presently, the shops are getting flooded with a constant stream of new collections. A couple of decades back or even the older generation today, people used to invest in their clothing and keep them until they wore out. In fact, if we talk about the Indian scene, the clothes will be reused for cleaning/dusting purposes until it naturally turns into rags. But in today's day and age, fast fashion has been fuelling unnecessary consumption, with consumers buying more than their actual requirement and discarding old clothes at an alarmingly fast pace.

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Origins of Fast Fashion and its Impact on Environment

The fast fashion model first emerged in the 1970s when retailers began exporting production to countries, particularly in Asia, where labour costs were lower than the West. The concept gained momentum in the 1990s as companies increased production to keep up with rapidly changing fashion trends. However, with the rise of fast fashion, consumers started getting new clothing lines much more frequently, with some brands reportedly releasing as many as 36 collections annually.

It is important to note that the production of clothing involves extraction of raw materials, manufacturing and transportation. Every stage in the production of clothing uses enormous amounts of resources and energy, each contributing to environmental degradation and climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases.

Post manufacturing, the fresh set of attire enters the market where consumers are influenced by latest trends that they encounter around them. Additionally, in the age of influencers, it is easy to be swayed by social media trends or mimic the lifestyle of celebrities.

Once the attire is out of trend, consumers discard them and move on to the next trending fashion, creating a vicious cycle. Due to the nature of the fast fashion business model, the materials used in such clothing are typically not designed for longevity. As a result, these garments disintegrate and wear out much faster than traditionally manufactured items, drawing sharp criticism from environmentally-conscious consumers who have always advocated for a long-term use case.

According to a Roundup report, 87 per cent of the materials and fibers used to manufacture clothing ends up in either incinerators or landfills. Main materials at major fashion brands like H&M, Zara and worldwide are polyester, which accounts for around 52 per cent of total fiber production. The polyester involved in the making of clothing is called Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). It is the same type of plastic that constitutes water bottles. As per a study published in the Resources, Conservation & Recycling journal, about 60 per cent of the total  PET produced goes to textile industry and about 30 per cent goes to PET bottle industry.

PET is produced from petroleum and its production is considered to be energy-intensive, apart from releasing high levels of CO2. Recycled polyester is almost the same as virgin polyester in terms of quality, 59 per cent less energy compared to virgin polyester, according to a 2017 study by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment.

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Slow and Seasonless: Is It the Way Forward?

Rooted in the core principles of reuse, reduce, and recycle, consumers could live by the tenets of slow fashion. Considering the disastrous impact of the fast fashion culture, driven by overproduction and overconsumption, taking refuge in sustainable habits could be beneficial for both the consumers as well as the planet.

The term 'slow fashion' appeared in 2007 when journalist Kate Fletcher, a fashion and sustainability pioneer, coined the word in an article published in The Ecologist. The concept of slow fashion was inspired by the slow food movement, founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986. The slow food movement eventually would become part of the larger slow living movement of our times.

Another aspect of sustainable fashion is "seasonless fashion" which allows consumers to invest in pieces that can be worn year after year without going out of style or generating waste.

According to an Earth.org report, 100 billion garments are produced globally each year, with 92 million tonnes of them ending up in landfills. If this trend continues, fast fashion waste is expected to rise to 134 million tonnes per year by the end of the decade.