Understanding the vast implications that fast Fashion has created can be intimidating. Fast Fashion has seemingly endless impacts, and its effects are seen in all facets of life. To ease some of the confusion, we’ll take you through each step in a garment’s lifecycle and reveal some harmful impacts that can arise along the way.
The garment we’ll be looking at today is Urban Outfitters’ Claudia Blouse (pictured below)
Phase One and Two: Resource Allocation and Production
For Urban to make one of their Claudia Blouses, they need to gather the resources and then hire people to put it together. It seems easy enough; however, these first two steps are where some of the most egregious impacts happen in a garment’s lifecycle. Fast Fashion is infamous for its unethical resource allocation practices and inhumane working conditions. Workers typically have 14-16 hour shifts seven days a week, with little breaks and often in highly unsafe conditions. “Accidents, fires, injuries, and disease are very frequent occurrences on textile production sites,” according to Sustain Your Style. It is also common for children to work in these factories- Sustain Your Style estimates that about 160 million children work in the fast fashion industry to date. However, as consumers, we could never definitely know how Urban Outfitters obtains their materials or how they treat their workers; and this is because they disclose zero information about either. The 2021 Fashion Transparency Index research showed that Urban Outfitters has 0% traceability and 0% transparency, meaning they disclose no information about their supply chain or how, where, and by whom their products are being made.
The company has released numerous mission statements and policies about its working conditions and even “promises” to provide its manufacturing workers with a living wage to ease public worries. However, as stated in the 2021 Fashion Transparency Index, “there’s more transparency on major brands’ policies and commitments than how they implement them.” Despite not knowing anything about the first two steps in a Claudia Blouse’s lifecycle, it’s safe to assume the worse.
Phase three: Distribution
If you want to get your hands on a Claudia Blouse, you can find it in-store or online. According to Urban’s website, the blouse is one of the top-rated garments, sold out in nearly every size and color. Urban, like other companies, has optimized its distribution, making conceptualizing ideas and selling them a process that’s faster than ever. An analysis of the company says, “The goal is to reduce the time from designer concept to store shelf from 18 weeks down to 9 or 10.” This increase in distribution speed helps maintain the fast-paced fashion cycles that have made the fashion industry so toxic today. As consumers, we scramble to keep up with what’s trendy and find ourselves wasting money on garments that won’t be relevant in a year.
These practices work to reinforce the rampant overconsumption of capitalism that has a hold on our global market. Urban, which is sitting on revenue of $3.2 billion and growing, has no plan on stopping or slowing down distribution practices-even if it’s for the greater good. They’ll continue to pump out products like the Claudia Blouse and happily line their pockets while doing it.
Phase four: Wear and Durability
If it can last the trend cycle, the Claudia Blouse will then have to prove durable enough to survive in your closet. The Claudia Blouse is 91% rayon and 9% spandex. Rayon is a relatively new fabric in the fast fashion industry and has grown in popularity because it’s regarded as a sustainable alternative to most textiles. Yet, it’s proven to be one of the least durable. It’s said that the material behaves like silk and is known to be particularly sensitive to heat. Rayon can barely withstand a normal wash-and-dry cycle and is known to shrink, tear and fade after minimal wear. To get the most use out of your rayon clothing, you should hand wash it in cool water, but I suggest avoiding the faux sustainable fabric altogether. Unlike rayon, the 9% spandex is highly durable, so much so that it’ll outlast you, me, and maybe even our grandkids. Spandex is more durable and stronger than rubber. The Claudia Blouse isn’t a garment designed to last in your closet. After a few wears, it will end up in landfills contributing to the annual 92 million tons of textile waste we as a planet generate, bringing us to our final phase in a garment’s lifecycle-landfills.
Phase five: Landfill
The last stop in a Claudia Blouse’s life is the landfill. Though landfills alternatives could be considered for the blouse’s final resting place like donations or composting, it may not be suitable for either of those. Considering the garment’s fragility, it can probably only survive one owner, and the harmful chemicals used to create it are better left out of the compost.
Despite being a plant-based fabric, rayon is still treated with toxic chemicals. So when decomposed, though relatively fast, it’ll leave behind harmful chemicals that will end up in our waterways and subsequently make their way into our food webs and bodies. A similar phenomenon happens with spandex and microplastics, which we touch on in this article.
Although rayon decomposes quickly in controlled environments, waste behaves differently in landfills due to the immense amount of waste. Shockingly, a head of lettuce can last 25 years in a landfill today. Meaning the Claudia Blouse will probably take decades to decompose too, or even longer considering it’s partially made of spandex which can last 20-200 years naturally. The Claudia Blouse wouldn’t simply take up space in a landfill but rather release the greenhouse gas, methane, into the air as it slowly decomposes, making the Fast Fashion industry a major contributor to climate change and the climate crisis.
All this seems pretty depressing, I know, but it just stresses the importance of shopping sustainably and avoiding fast Fashion when you can. We as consumers have more influence than we know, and if used correctly, our money could be used as a handicap to fast Fashion and its impacts rather than the fuel.
Sources!
“Distribution.” Urban Outfitters, 3 Apr. 2015, https://ghsituationanalysis.wordpress.com/distribution/.
“Fashion Revolution+Fashion Transparency Index 2021.” WikiRate, https://wikirate.org/Fashion_Revolution+Fashion_Transparency_Index_2021?filter%5Bnot_ids%5D=&filter%5Bcompany_name%5D=Urban+.
“The Impact of Fast Fashion on the Environment - PSCI.” Princeton University, The Trustees of Princeton University, https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/7/20/the-impact-of-fast-fashion-on-the-environment.
“Is Rayon Biodegradable? What Happens When It Goes in the Trash?” Ecocult, 28 Aug. 2020, https://ecocult.com/rayon-viscose-modal-lyocell-tencel-biodegradable-compostable-microfiber/.
“UO Claudia Blouse.” Urban Outfitters, https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/shop/uo-claudia-blouse?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=020&searchparams=q%3Dclaudia&type=REGULAR&quantity=1.
“Working Conditions.” SustainYourStyle, https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/en/working-conditions.
Great Job Kyndal. I was completely unaware of how fast-fashion worked. Thanks for keeping me informed.