Fast Fashion: The Threat of Consumers on Our Environment
Research Question:
How do consumer mindsets affect the environmental and humanitarian damage caused by fast fashion and its byproducts?
Photo source: Green Match
Fast Fashion
It has never been easier to acquire new clothes, especially ones that keep up with the latest trends and movements in fashion. Alongside that train of thought the idea of fast fashion is present in today's fashion industry and has become a staple for many brands. A large portion of why fast fashion has grown so popular since its birth in the early 1990s is the shift in people's mindsets, from how we look at what we own, to why we are buying it, and everything in between.
The shift in how we look at clothing is the main driving force behind the fast fashion industry. Subsequently, it is also where we can start the process of change. We can start to look at the effects consumer mindsets have on the environmental and humanitarian damage being done by the fast fashion industry.
Literature Review
Understanding the damage:
Western views on fashion have been around since the beginning of the Fourteenth century and have steadily grown into what we have today. Today is an age of self-expression and unknowingly falling into social media fashion trends. Many people, especially today's youth, fail to understand the implications the fashion industry has on the environment. The damage done by the fashion industry has skyrocketed into one of the most harmful industries globally resulting in over 1.2 billion tons of CO2 produced annually (Blase, 2023). As of 2023, the impact that the fashion industry has on climate change and global carbon emissions sits at 10% of all global carbon emissions (Shedlock & Feldstein, 2023). This makes the fashion industry one of the most harmful global industries today.
Source: Refinery29
Understanding consumer mindsets:
Social media trends can lead to an increase in damaging habits, particularly in the demographic of young women, where clothing and outfits are not meant to be worn more than once or a handful of times (Brenard, 2023). This issue continues when you look at the awareness of women when viewing sustainability and clothing. With women being more aware of fashion and fashion trends alike, they are more likely to participate in the consumption of fast fashion. Women are also more aware of sustainability and related issues, yet we see a continued surge in the consumption of fast fashion from women (Hageman, 2023). The issue of sustainability and fashion must be addressed and it is pertinent to understand the connection between consumers' mindsets of consumption and those of sustainability. The term behind the understanding of sustainability, but the lack of ethical consumption, is known as the attitude-behavior gap. 30% of consumers want to make sustainable purchases, with only 3% making ethical purchases (Hageman, 2023).
It is also important to understand that this application can be applied to many areas of consumer consumption habits throughout many industries. Social media's intense growth over the past decade has created a new world of consumer consumption in our technologically advanced world. Particularly apps and social media spaces like TikTok have been capitalized on by big brands. Many of the top fast fashion companies like Shein use social media and apps like TikTok to gain most of their clientele. Shein is TikTok's most mentioned brand on their app (Brenard, 2023).
Environment facts about Fast Fashion:
Accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions.
Making 1 shirt uses roughly 713 gallons of water.
Making 1 pair of jeans uses roughly 1,800 gallons of water.
Developing countries, specifically in Asia, make up 60% of clothing production. 70% of Asian countries' water sources are contaminated by textile production.
A truckload of textiles is disposed of in landfills or incinerated every second.
Humanitarian facts about Fast Fashion:
Early 20th century America produced 95% of American fashion-branded clothing, now less than 3% are produced in the United States and not outsourced to low-income countries.
Outsourcing of production = welcomed social injustice.
1,100+ were killed in the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, an issue that shone a light on the terrible working conditions of those in the fashion industry.
Child labor is extremely common in the fashion industry.
The Fast Fashion Industry alone has millions in what is considered Modern Slavery by the United Nations.
Photo source: Clean clothes Campaign
Methods:
I will be conducting a mixed methods approach to data collection by using a survey aimed at incoming freshmen for the sample population. Freshmen make up a large audience online while at the same time being susceptible to trends in fashion, in which they are actively trying to fit into a new environment. In conjunction with the survey, I will also be conducting a content analysis of social media users and brands online and how they market their products to work with growing trends.
Photo source: UX Booth
Justification:
The justification for my mixed methods approach comes from the understanding that this issue is deeply intertwined with social acceptance, fitting in, and the need for instant gratification (Nidhi et al., 2022). Surveys are the best way to reach a good sample size, while still allowing for in-depth questions about shopping habits and other personal questions. Using a survey and a content analysis of big brands and large social media influencers, I will gain the necessary data to apply to my research. This data will help me better understand how consumers' mindsets affect fast fashion consumption.
Photo source: IOA's
More on Understanding Consumers and Sustainability:
References:
Anita Uchańska-Bieniusiewicz, & Krzysztof Obłój. (2023). Disrupting fast fashion: A case study of Shein’s innovative business model. International Entrepreneurship Review, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.15678/IER.2023.0903.03
Bailey, K., Basu, A., & Sharma, S. (2022). The Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion on Water Quality: A Systematic Review. Water (20734441), 14(7), 1073. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14071073
Bernard, A. L. (2023). The Hidden Costs Behind Cheap Clothing: Addressing Fast Fashion’s Environmental and Humanitarian Impact. Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law, 25(3), 541–567.
Bläse, R., Filser, M., Kraus, S., Puumalainen, K., & Moog, P. (2024). Non‐sustainable buying behavior: How the fear of missing out drives purchase intentions in the fast fashion industry. Business Strategy & the Environment (John Wiley & Sons, Inc), 33(2), 626–641. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3509
Hadro, D., Patora-Wysocka, Z., Fijałkowska, J., & Mróz-Gorgoń, B. (2023). Sustainability and Fast Fashion from the Executive Perspective – the Case of LPP S.A. Journal of Intercultural Management, 15(3), 148–178. https://doi.org/10.2478/joim-2023-0015
Hageman, E., Kumar, V., Duong, L., Kumari, A., & McAuliffe, E. (2024). Do fast fashion sustainable business strategies influence attitude, awareness and behaviours of female consumers? Business Strategy & the Environment (John Wiley & Sons, Inc), 33(2), 1081–1098. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3545
Lawrence, K. (2022). The future of fast fashion : how New York’s proposed fashion sustainability legislation could change the industry. SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals.
Ndubisi, N. O., & Nygaard, A. (2018). The ethics of outsourcing: When companies fail at responsibility. Journal of Business Strategy, 39(5), 7–13. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBS-03-2018-0037
Nidhi, Arora, R., Aggarwal, M., Agarwal, A., & Babbar, E. (2022). The Environmental Price of Fast Fashion. International Journal of Applied Marketing & Management, 7(2), 6–12.
Shedlock, K., & Feldstein, S. (2023). At what cost? unraveling the harms of the Fast Fashion Industry. At What Cost? Unravelling the Harms of the Fast Fashion Industry. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/sustainability/fast_fashion#:~:text=The%20fast%20fashion%20industry%20is,of%20global%20carbon%20dioxide%20emissions
Webber, K. (2022, November 27). The environmental and human cost of making a pair of jeans. EcoWatch.
Webster, G. (2023). Too Fast of Fashion: A Literature Review on the Destructive Social and Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion. Perspectives (University of New Hampshire), 15(1), 107–121.
