In the fabric of contemporary fashion lurks a dark hell that stretches from the deserts of Chile, whose dunes are dotted with used clothing dumps, to Bangladesh, where sweatshop labour in garment factories reaches inhumane conditions. Fast fashion, with its unsustainable production and devastating impact on the environment, is shaking the very foundations of our planet.
What is fast fashion?
The term “fast fashion” refers to a production and consumption model in the garment industry characterised by fast and frequent production cycles, with the aim of offering consumers affordable products as quickly as possible. Products often inspired by the latest fashion trends and distributed through a global network of physical shops and online platforms.
It is a model that is often resource-intensive – from the production of fabrics to the distribution of products – and can have negative impacts on the environment and people, such as pollution due to overproduction and toxic and synthetic materials such as polyester and its derivatives.
The main driver of fast fashion is a marketing strategy that creates a desire for new creations at very low prices, but makes these garments disposable, both in terms of quality and the ease with which they can be replaced.
Junk, full wardrobes
In 2023, Will Media and Sky produced a docu-series entitled “Junk – Full Wardrobes”, available for free on YouTube, which shows us the abyss into which fast fashion is plunging the Planet. The co-author of the series is Matteo Ward, a young entrepreneur who defines himself as a “fashion regret” and who left his job at a famous American brand, Abercrombie & Fitch, to found, with Silvia Giovanardi and Victor Santiago, WRAD, with the aim of making consumers aware of the real costs of a product and giving them the possibility of choosing it not only on the basis of price. Today, Ward has become a point of reference in the field of sustainable fashion, helping to raise public awareness of the problems related to clothing production and promoting more ecological and gender-free alternatives with an educational format, which it proposes in schools: “Tormented ourselves by doubts and questions”, they explain in the presentation of the project, “we felt the need to share with all of you the contradictions of our work and the tools we have developed to date to try to overcome them”. The common goal? To redefine, together, the role of clothing in the 21st century”.
Atacama, an open-air rubbish dump
Among the places shown in the Junk series is the clothing dump that has existed on the outskirts of Alto Hospicio, on the western edge of the Atacama Desert, for some fifteen years. It appears as a huge pile in the dunes, made up of all kinds of clothes, used but also new, amounting to no less than 40,000 tonnes a year.
A place that was covered by the world’s media in 2022.
These mountains of abandoned textiles not only pollute the landscape, but also release harmful chemicals into the air and soil, endangering human health and the surrounding ecosystem.
Easy fashion and labour exploitation
What does the low price of clothing still mean? Cheap and harmful materials, but also cheap labour. Thousands of kilometres away, factories in Bangladesh are bustling with frenetic activity. Here, workers, often underpaid, are forced to work in dangerous and insalubrious conditions. Long working hours and the lack of adequate safety standards endanger the lives and well-being of thousands of people every day.
This does not spare even children. According to the Bangladesh Child Right Forum, some 3.5 million Bangladeshi children are forced to work to help support their families.
Many fast fashion companies manufacture in the Southeast Asian country, including H&M Group, Inditex (owner of Zara), PVH Corp, parent company of Calvin Klein, as well as Levi’s, Gap, Puma, and Abercrombie & Fitch. Despite numerous imports for famous brands, Bangladeshi wages are among the lowest in the world: Tk 8,300 per month. Just over 70 euros.
This has led to numerous protests recently, resulting in violence and deaths between protesters and police.
Necessary measures
Unsustainable production and irresponsible consumption of fast fashion is contributing significantly to climate change, accelerating biodiversity loss, and endangering the survival of many species. In addition, sweatshop labour in Bangladesh is a violation of basic human rights and contributes to perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
What can we do to reverse this trend? It is crucial to change our mindset as consumers and opt for more ethical and sustainable fashion. Shop more purposefully, support brands and companies that adopt responsible and transparent production practices and promote government policies that encourage sustainability in the fashion industry.
It is time to act with determination and responsibility to stop this spiral of destruction and work together to create a more sustainable and just future.
