Fast Fashion - Andrea Fischer

Fashion That Costs the Earth

Fashion is attractive. For different parties, such as the consumer, the worker and the CEO of the label. Yet the apparel and footwear industry accounts for more than 8% of the global climate impact. Apart from the environmental consequences, there is also the human cost. The question to be answered is: Do you know who made your clothes?

For the consumer, price matters. Especially at a young age, when you start spending your own pocket money, it is often crucial that items are cheap. With clothes, you start to define your individual style. If not the parental generation, then the countless influencers promote a lifestyle, where life doesn’t have to cost a thing. Over the last few years, shopping has become a form of entertainment. It is a way of spending money.

Whereas for the garment workers it is often the only way to earn money. The majority, who are girls from officially 18 to 25 years- make not just a living for themselves, but also for their families they’ve left back in the village to work in the city. However, the prospect of a job does not atone for being paid a low wage without basic human rights.

Every Week Is Fashion Revolution Week

There is a change in the industry. After the disastrous Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, the world held fashion companies accountable for their actions. This week marks the 8th anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse on April 24, 2013. Altogether 5000 Bangladeshi garment workers of multiple fashion brands were employed in this building under mostly inhuman conditions. No one should die for fashion, 1 134 garment workers did however die on this day or due to the injuries that have been caused. 2 500 of the mostly young women have suffered injuries from the disaster. This event and its disastrous outlets have raised an awakening all over the world. The fashion industry has been a dirty business for a long time, from the cotton production to the bleaching process with dangerous chemicals under unsafe working conditions. Its ecological and social impact is enormous.

The new trend is to consume consciously. A distinction is made here between greenwashing commercials and truly transparently ethical firms. The most sustainable way to consume fashion is to value what you already have and not to consume more of precisely those businesses, who got the ball rolling in the first place.

Fashion Revolution Week is a global movement to raise awareness about the social and ecological injustices. It is within our responsibility as consumers, who we support with our money. At first, it takes a certain strength to turn down the tempting offers. It all starts with a certain question for yourself. Do you know who made your clothes?