Runway to Rags – Costing you more than just your riches!

In a world where people wake up with trends and hashtags instead of resolutions and where a Monday morning is an aftermath of a hangover, you have to show up at the office. now the parameters as to how good you pull off the Monday Morning Mood depends upon the professional look that you rock with shady shades. It helps to do what your concealer can not. There are seven days in a week and repeating the attire, would be a disaster. Peer pressure has taken a back seat today and what we witness more is the socio-cultural pressure to always look new. Your virtual world of social media would look down upon you if you repeat that same blouse once again. Although on the same social media platform we would double tap on the posts which mention a big “No fucks to give” but at the same time would never upload two pictures in a row that are in the same attire. Why? Because of what your so-called followers would think? No wonder what happens to the nonchalant attitude then. The process seems exciting because you know you will be able to shop new trends at your nearest stores or online and get that oomph going. But have you ever stopped to think about what happens after that? 

What is fast fashion?

Fast fashion is the process of turning new design ideas that you can watch on the ramps and models showcasing brilliant fabrics and clothing ideas that are going to be on the market and around the streets for that season. Now all the high-end designer wear of course does not come cheap, so how are you going to get that runway look for this upcoming season? This is where fast fashion comes into play. They mass-produce the ones inspired by runways instead of the same patented designs. Clothing brands like Zara or H&M have this expedited process of producing new clothes. It only takes somewhere from 14 to 21 days for the whole cycle to complete. From the inception of the concept to sale. This mass production of affordable clothing can lead to a massacre which social media does not show. Hence, so you are not aware of it. The victim here is just one, our mother earth.

Production

One of the leading fabrics used to make clothing today is polyester and this so-called magic material is a petroleum-based fiber. This is again in turn manufactured from fossil fuels and thanks to the burgeoning fast fashion industry, the number of natural resources used to create these synthetic fibers is outrageous. These are being used more and more in the fashion industry because the time taken to process these are nothing as compared to the natural materials and can be formed into anything. They provide a variety of textures that can be used in myriad forms. What were the pros, but to provide more quantity in less time, the quality has been compromised far more than you can imagine? The use and throw are not just limited to utensils, the newer clothes we buy the more we discard the older ones, and this is the challenge. Petroleum-based fabrics are non-biodegradable  

Impact

Polyester clothing sheds fibers that go into the water streams and increase the number of microplastics in the oceans. The United States textile recycling industry recorded a whopping 2.5 billion pounds of textile waste per year. Now you can imagine the magnitude of what your 10-dollar shirt can do to the planet. The impacts are not just adverse, they are already way out of hand. Unless we take immediate steps to curb this trend of fast fashion, there will only be a point of regret. No amounts of likes and posts on social media will be able to undo this damage. The textile industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the aviation and shipping industries combined! First, natural resources are used to produce the fibers which are then dyed using chemicals, and of course, colossal amounts of water are used and rendered toxic in the process. To cut the cost of producing the clothes these fast fashion brands have completely neglected the cost of disposing of them. 

Conclusion

Since you discard the things you buy. You need an overhauling of the product cycle. So that instead of producing waste, these clothes can be reused. Trashing a piece of cloth just because of one loose stitching or a loose button is not a status symbol. Instead, it is digging up your own grave. If we do not stop, there might be no wood to make coffins. Let us take steps so that it does not have to come to this while we still can. Upcycle your clothes, lend and borrow stuff so that they can be used more. Just liking and sharing an Instagram post on the current environmental conditions is not going to help improve them. Ask yourself are you doing even a little bit to improve it? You do not need an influencer on your social media to make you realize where to head. They, endorse a brand, so you huddle at the next store you watched online. 

Ask yourself, is the planet that you live on worth less than a few double taps on a virtual platform? Will the virtual world provide you home when you destroy the one you live in right now?