Boycotting Fast Fashion as a Broke, College Student
In January of this year (2020), I finally fully made the commitment to no longer shopping at any fast fashion brands. As someone with an intense love of fashion who uses clothing to express myself, I have always relied on fast fashion brands like Forever 21, Zara, and Princess Polly to dress on trend and express my personal style (while staying on a college kids budget). After taking my freshman and sophomore year classes as a fashion design student, I simply no longer feel ethical contributing to the exploitation of workers and our environment that happens with fast fashion companies.
I could write an entire book on all the negative impacts of fast fashion, but instead I will just give you a brief overview with some shocking statistics. Because the trend cycle has sped up so much, people are going through clothes at a faster rate than ever before in history. Factories have made their costs so low that people are able to afford buying into trends and then moving on to other trends extremely quickly. Once they are tired of a trend, people are donating or trashing the clothing. So much clothing is going to waste; an entire garbage truck full is being burned or dumped in landfills per SECOND.
Not only is fast fashion detrimental to the environment, it is also putting workers in third world countries at risk. Garment workers, who are primarily women, are being severely underpaid and subjected to dangerous working conditions. These effects are absolutely not worth me having a $12 off the shoulder sweater for fall.
Ever since pledging to myself to boycott fast fashion, I have challenged myself to purchase less, and purchase things I know will last. I have also found amazing second-hand clothing from thrift stores, Depop, and Ebay. In my experience, my personal style has not suffered at all from this switch. If anything, I’ve had to get more creative with my outfits which has made them more original and creative. I will continue to educate others about fast fashion and encourage them to also make the switch.
