You may not think it, but fashion and appearance are something very prominent in today's society. Now with social media, it has been bigger than ever. Big clothing retailer's like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21 are typically in most malls and dominate fashion for everyday consumers with low prices and trendy garments. CNBC reports that Zara alone pulled in 3.9 billion in 2018. These retailers thrive off their quick, trendy clothes and cheap prices. Combined with their in-person stores and online websites they make up a huge chunk of the fashion industry for normal consumers. With the amount of clothes they manufacture, low prices, and trendiness it may call into question how they meet these standards.
PRICING AND QUALITY
Stores like H&M are known for their prices. They can go as low as $5, but how can H&M stay relevant and turn profit when everything is priced so cheap? H&M sources their factories outside of the United States, mainly in Europe and Asia. With the clothes being manufactured outside of the United States, H&M takes advantage of locals by throwing them into small, compact factories with little safety regulations. Along with severely underpaying their workers, they tend to be cheap when it comes to the quality of the materials used for the clothing. Based off personal experience, H&M clothes will only last 2-3 washes. As reported by The Guardian, the Rana Plaza collapse killed 132 garment factory workers and H&M pledged to improve their conditions as a result, but as time has gone on little change has been made. With all this shown, it is very clear that fast fashion companies like H&M only care about the money and obtain these wide profit margins through very unethical business practices.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Although the clothes is very affordable, places like H&M create an abnormal amount of waste and hurt the environment. To start, none of the materials in H&M's catalog are eco-friendly. Business Insider has done the research and has found that 85% of all textiles end up in the dump. Along with this, Business Insider states the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of carbon emissions, which is more than all international flights and maritime combined. Not only do fast fashion business procedures emit tons of pollution, but they also waste non-renewable resources. Earth.org states that the fashion industry is the second largest consumer of water. Around 2,000 gallons of water go into making a single pair of jeans. Along with this, its been found that textile dyeing is one of the biggest polluters of water sources. Fast fashion is in it for a quick buck and has zero regard to the damage they're doing to the earth and for its future generations.
