Week 3
ASA 141
Reading Joy's article about Fast Fashion really made me stop and think about current trends and stores and how our culture is allowing the business of Fast Fashion to flourish. The most popular stores among young adults currently are: Forever 21, Zara, H&M etc., and all of these stores are Fast Fashion stores.
I think they are so popular because of "massclusivity" which is brought about by the important role social media plays in so many peoples lives. The idea of having an "insta perfect" picture can 'only' be done with an outfit that people will like (therefore leading to more likes on the actual picture). This is more likely to occur when wearing styles that the majority of your audience owns themselves.
I think also believe that not having to commit lots of money to individual pieces of clothing that may last a longer time also plays a huge role in why people prefer Fast Fashion. If the articles of clothing are cheaper and do not last as long the possibility/fear of regretting a purchase is nearly/completely alleviated.
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Now onto my own personal opinion on Fast Fashion. Well to be truthful my view on Fast Fashion somewhat messy because I strongly disagree with the harmful impact it is having on our environment and the overall wastefulness of the entire practice. But I also do not agree to the full demonization of Fast Fashion as a concept because, I believe that Fast Fashion could possibly become more sustainable for individual families.
For example; Forever 21 in the past few years created a line of clothing for toddlers/children, which for parents with growing children is a holy grail. Purchasing clothes at a cheap price for their children makes more sense than buying 'nicer' clothes that come with a bigger price tag; because, these cheaper clothes do not have to last the children years. These clothes just need to work for a month or so then the parents can buy the next size up of whatever clothing articles they need. However; even with that small positive the overall world of Fast Fashion is extremely detrimental to our society, people, and environment. iFor instance, I do believe for adults/those of us who have stopped growing the investment in slow fashion, which usually has 'nicer' yet more expensive articles of clothing is worth it in the end. The reasons as to why are the following:A) save you money in the long run, B) it better for the environment/and you will not be supporting brands who use ecologically damaging materials ex:synthetic fibers, and C) the working conditions of those employed to make Fast Fashion are often time horrific and turning away from these brands will most likely force systematic reform.
With that all said you might be wondering why I even brought up any positives at all when discussing Fast Fashion. Well the 'positive' aspect of Fast Fashion written above is simply a means to pose a jumping point for an argument. Hopefully through conversations there can eventually even be an answer to my own personal questions, like whether or not it is possible to modify the industry of Fast Fashion and gear it more towards a subgroup of the population who do need cheap clothes that do not need to last a long time. This then leads to the next problem of Fast Fashion which is, that the clothes do not have a long life-span for the wearer; but, the materials used, make their natural biological degradation life-span nearly infinite leading to catastrophic effects on the environment (ex: synthetic fiber). So my second question is one of whether or not we could find cheap ecologically friendly materials to replace the old materials used?
Overall, I found this reading to really spark my curiosity and has currently led me to question the materials used in fast fashion and how/if they could possibly be changed into more ecologically friendly materials or be recycled/unconventional materials.
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