Fast Fashion Fact File
The History of Clothing Design
Until the 1950s, clothing designers released four collections of clothes per year: spring,
summer, autumn and winter. Each collection required them to design the clothes and fabric,
then engineer them into patterns, check sizing and then manufacture many of them ready
to go into shops. Some designers would make clothes to order; their customers could come
into a store, get measured and then over the next few weeks, clothes that they selected
would be made up for them in their exact size. This whole process was expensive, so most
people didn’t have enormous wardrobes unless they were very wealthy.
Disposable Clothes
In 1966, the Scott Paper Company in the USA created a new type of material that they
intended to use for household products such as napkins. They came up with a great idea to
market it - they made and advertised paper dresses. This was only ever supposed to be a
gimmick, but teens and university students loved the design and the price ($1.25). To their
surprise, the company sold 500 000 dresses in just eight months.
The Scott Paper Company’s dress inspired lots of fashion designers to create paper clothing.
It was cheap and easy to make and customers loved the trendy designs. These paper clothes
could be worn only a few times before they needed to be disposed of.
“Paper Fashion Exhibition, Antwerp, Antwerpen 2009” by [Carsten Titlbach] is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Rise of Fast Fashion
Because of the success of paper clothing, clothes retailers realised that consumers were
ready to buy more clothes and turn over their wardrobes faster. They began to cater for
this by creating more clothing lines and releasing them more quickly, so consumers could
change their look from year to year or even month to month.
At the same time, new technologies and rapid globalisation meant that it was cheaper to
design and manufacture clothes. This resulted in a lower cost per item for the consumer and
so people bought more clothing.
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Fast Fashion Fact File
Globalisation is the word used to describe the world becoming more connected in the mid-
20th century. It happened because things could be transported by plane, more quickly and
people could easily communicate between different continents.
For fashion retailers, this allowed them to outsource their manufacturing to other countries
where paying the workers cost them less.
The Impact of Fast Fashion
While fast fashion may sound like a good idea, there are problems associated with it:
• Because the clothing produced for fast fashion retailers is only intended to last a
short time, it’s often of low quality.
• Fast fashion manufacturers use cheaper fabric to produce these clothes, and these
fabrics contain significant amounts of plastic and microplastics – which, when the
clothes are washed, go into the wastewater.
• Because the clothing produced for fast fashion retailers is only intended to last a
short time, it’s often of low quality.
What Can We Do?
Shopping sustainably:
• Try to minimise the amount of clothing you buy. For costumes and dress-up days at
school, borrow from a friend or family member instead of buying something new.
• Share the love by handing down clothes with plenty of life left in them. If you can’t
give your good quality clothing to those around you, try donating them to a local
charity or op shop.
• If the clothing is a little worn, you could look into fixing or mending them. Alternatively,
you can upcycle the parts that are still good and use the fabric for other uses.
• Op shops are a great place for finding sustainable clothing with lots of style. You
might be inspired by a vintage piece or develop your own personal style. As an added
bonus, these clothes are usually much cheaper than buying brand new ones.
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Fast Fashion Fact File
It’s not always possible for people to prioritise shopping sustainably.
It can require much more energy, attention and money to be a sustainable
shopper - so while it’s great to try to live more sustainably, it’s important to
understand that not everyone has the same access to resources. These ideas
may or may not be helpful to you and your friends and family, depending on your
circumstances. It’s okay if they’re not.
Retailers:
The biggest difference we can make with fast fashion is convincing retailers to change the
way they work. At the moment, the fast fashion model makes them lots of money - so
they have no incentive to stop. Use your clothing and spending choices to put pressure on
retailers by only buying from shops whose practices you agree with.
Don’t forget that your voice is important too! Consider writing to retailers whose practices
you don’t agree with or start conversations on social media about what you think they could
be doing better. The more retailers hear from people about their expectations, the more
likely they are to make a change.
Making Your Wardrobe More Sustainable
• Learn how to repair your clothes. There are lots of tutorials online for making simple
repairs.
• Find out about the practices of the stores you shop at often. You could start by
searching for ‘[shop name] ethical practice’ or ‘[shop name] sustainability’.
• Look after your clothes so they last longer. Look for the little washing instruction
tags in your clothes - they tell you how best to wash your clothes to stop them from
getting damaged.
• Wear your clothes in different ways to get more use out of them. For example, can
you layer different items when it’s getting colder?
• Look out for second-hand options such as clothing swaps - these are fantastic
opportunities to swap out some of your clothes that you don’t love anymore with
some neat ones from other people. You could even organise one for you and your
friends.
Working towards sustainability is a big job for all of us, so it’s important to realise that all
progress is good. Even making one small change to how you shop is fantastic.
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