Environmental Ethics of Fast Fashion

By: Redya Reinarto

Edited by: Anna Carmelita

Do you know that during Christmas, the average family will increase spending on clothes by 43 percent? Christmas, just like any other celebration, is undeniably one of the most common times to look your best; especially while celebrating with our friends and family, wearing or giving new christmas clothes and accessories can always be the best way to boost our confidence around our loved ones. 

Other than that, the Christmas Sale is still a common practice in the fast fashion industry, an offer where you can get clothes and other fast fashion products at a lower price, especially with some interesting “Special Christmas Edition'' choices of designs. You might think ‘we’re getting special clothes that will make us look more confident at a lower price, what could go wrong?’ The truth is, the fast fashion industry can be really harmful to our environment.

First of all, what is fast fashion? 

Fast fashion can be defined as cheap, trendy clothing that samples ideas from the fashion or celebrity culture and turns them into items of clothing in high street stores at incredible speeds to meet consumer demand. The goal is to launch the newest trends as soon as possible so that consumers can purchase them while they are still extremely fashionable. Sadly, they are often made in sweatshops where underpaid workers work for long hours in unsafe conditions and are exposed to harmful chemicals used in textile production. 


Buying from fast fashion brands is not very sustainable.  These brands continue to use an unsustainable, fast fashion business model and the majority of the materials it uses are not environmentally friendly. There is also no proof that it is on course to fulfill its science-based aim for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations and supply chain. For these reasons, many brands are not very eco-friendly, although people are trying to look for alternatives to save the environment.

Although, many companies have been making an effort to promote itself as a firm that cares about the environment. This has been done through the use of in-store recycling bins and the brand's Conscious Collection, a variety of clothes manufactured from sustainable materials. Customers can drop off their used clothing in these recycle bins to receive a discount that they can use on their next visit to the store. H&M's marketing gives the impression that the company cares more about the environment than it actually does.

Their recycling bins for clothing are an example of this. H&M makes it sound like the clothing placed in their recycling bins is turned into brand-new clothing. Elizabeth Cline, an environmentalist, claims that's unlikely to occur with more than 1% of the clothes gathered: According to The Economist, just 25% of the clothing that is recycled worldwide actually ends up in sorting facilities. 

This year, we should start shopping sustainability for Christmas! Around Christmas, we regularly face pressure to purchase a lot of presents, food, and decorations, which adds up in expense quickly and produces a lot of garbage. This holiday season, we can all save money and the environment by shopping more responsibly.

You can start by:

  • Purchasing your gifts from local brands. Your purchases will have a smaller carbon footprint because they won't need to travel as far for shipping. Also, you will be helping your community!

  • Buying used Vintage clothing, books, and furnishings makes really good environmentally friendly gifts or thrifting.

  • When it comes to gifting, quality over quantity is important. Spend time selecting high-quality presents that the people you love will genuinely want and that will last a long time. The majority of people will value a single, thoughtful gift more than a collection of random goods you feel pressured to get.

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