Earlier this week, in preparation for a class observation I will conduct at a local community college in an effort to help me plan for a new class I will likely be teaching next year, I read an article called "Why It's Time to End Our Love Affair With Cheap Fashion," by Lucy Siegle. Judging by the title alone, I thoughtlessly concluded this piece would be an entertaining, pop culture article. I should have known better; it was paired with an article by Rachel Carson, environmentalist and author of Silent Spring, among many other books.
Fast Food Fashion
Siegle, a journalist for The Observer, asserts that most of the clothing we buy will be thrown away or donated within a year. One year. This statement was made in the first paragraph of the article, and gave me reason for pause. I still wear a few sweaters I bought fourteen or fifteen years ago when I was in high school. Recently, I wore to a wedding a dress I bought five years ago and had already worn to at least two other formal events. I still own a T-shirt that was given to me when I was four years old (it fits me a little differently now). One of my favorite cardigans is a hand-me-down from my great grandmother. My great grandmother. And most of us will purge our clothes within one year of purchasing them?! This was a wake-up call for me. I had no idea I was such an oddity (at least not in this context).
Siegle refers to this phenomenon as "fast fashion," or "McFashion," mentioning "one-night-only T-shirts." One-night-only T-shirts?! Do people really DO THAT? That's a little bit like throwing away a bottle of shampoo after washing your hair with it in just one shower. Or taking one bite of your sandwich and throwing it away. Almost as startling as the concept that people might actually get rid of a T-shirt they had worn one time, was the assertion that so-called McFashion "was found to translate into more than three million tons of carbon dioxide emissions." Next time we worry about our carbon footprint, we might want to think twice before buying new shoes. (Incidentally, I bought one of my favorite pairs of shoes in Germany eight years ago. I still wear them.)
Investment Dressing
Along these lines, Siegle recommends "investment dressing," which refers to the practice of "buying one piece and loving it for a long time." This does not seem like a novel idea to me, actually, but apparently, it is. Despite the economical and environmental benefits of investment dressing, "just 2 per cent of the average clothing budget goes on services that repair or lengthen the lifespan of our garments and accessories." In the years between 2003 and 2007, the cost of clothes fell dramatically, and the rate at which we purchased clothing increased rapidly, resulting in our getting rid of two million tons of clothing every single year!
Cheap and Fast: Not Sustainable
The problem, Siegle asserts, is not entirely due to a shallow desire to keep up with every changing fashion trend. A large part of the problem is a "fall in fibre quality and finishing." Clothing manufacturers can often produce clothing for such low prices, that buying already-worn clothing is not necessarily going to save a consumer all that much money. In addition, because the clothing is produced so cheaply, its quality has declined, and it may not be likely to last very long after resale. "Fast fashion is scarily dependent on cheap fibres, namely polyester and cotton," both of which are "dogged by sustainability issues."
As for me, my last clothing purchase happened to be at a Salvation Army. I got four pairs of jeans for $36. I felt good because the jeans were long enough. I felt good because I averaged $9 per pair. (I felt better after I had washed the jeans in hot water and dried them in the hot dryer... Twice.) Now I feel good because I didn't contribute to an environmental threat I did not even know existed.
