Dear Consumers, 

Since when did being fashionable mean hurting the Earth? Since when did the majority of the clothes we produce become made of unreliable materials, feeding off our beautiful home? And thus, why do we, claiming to be lovers of the Earth, continue to produce these clothes? 

Often, we are in search of the next new style, the next popular brand, never stopping to recognize the negative impact our habits have on the environment. By the year 2030, a number that seems quite expansive but is yet quickly approaching (less than four years away), consumers would have bought over 102 trillion tons of clothing. That is not normal! 

And where do these clothes go when we are done with them? They do not just disappear, no. They pile up in landfills, buried and forgotten, or get shipped across the world to places already struggling to manage their own waste. Fabrics like polyester, which make up so much of fast fashion today, do not simply break down. Instead, they sit for years, releasing microplastics into our soil and water. The exact same water we drink, and the exact same Earth we claim to care about.

How many outfits do we truly need? As a registered “outfit-repeater,” frowned upon by society, am I at least proud not to be a registered “Earth-destroyer.” Choose your battles. Who pays the price of our cheap, monthly, and unforgiving micro-trends? Us. Yes, you who are reading this. But not just you, every single person on this planet, including future generations. 

Okay sure, maybe you single-handedly do not have much of an impact and are pointing quickly at SHEIN and Temu. It is incredibly easy to put the blame on big companies, and yes, they play a major role. But they continue solely because WE continue. We buy, we scroll, we chase the trends that change faster than seasons. We convince ourselves that one more shirt, one more pair of jeans, will not make a difference. But multiplied by millions of people, it does make a difference.

So what now? Do we just stop caring about fashion altogether? No. Fashion is an important form of self-expression, creativity, and culture, but it should not come at the cost of our planet. Maybe it starts with wearing what we already own a little longer. Screw it, join the “outfit-repeater” club. Maybe it means thinking twice before buying something just because it is trending. Maybe it means choosing quality over quantity.

We should not put the solution in the hands of our future generations. That is not fair, and it is not responsible. The damage is already happening, and even if we act now, it will take a long time to fix. But doing nothing only guarantees that it gets worse. So the real question is not “what is trending next?” but rather “what kind of future are we creating?”

Sources:

NY Times: How Fast Fashion Became Faster – and Worse for the Earth: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/learning/how-fast-fashion-became-faster-and-worse-for-the-earth.html 

Boston College: Welcome to the Age of Fast Fashion: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/learning/how-fast-fashion-became-faster-and-worse-for-the-earth.html