I have a shopping obsession, I won’t deny it, but over the last year or so I have focused that obsession on sustainable and eco-friendly brands. It can be really challenging to see a cute dress or a pair of shoes at Forever 21 and not give in to buying it. However, keeping their unsustainable and fast fashion practices in the back of my head has allowed me to gain some self-control and not make those quick and cheap purchases. I have found that while there are a good amount of people aware of fast fashion and its harmful effects on the environment, there are many who shop without this knowledge or choose not to care. With this, I wanted to provide some information on what fast fashion is, its negative impacts, and the brands that participate in the practice. Lastly, I have provided some alternative brands to purchase from instead, so you don’t completely have to eliminate your shopping obsession after all!
Fast fashion is a practice of mass-producing inexpensive clothing in order to keep up with the newest trends and designs on the runway. At first, it sounds interesting and looks great when every piece of clothing is $10. Yet, it’s important to look deeper into the practice itself. While it may be a $2.5 trillion dollar industry, it’s also one of the greatest leaders in pollution. The method of accelerated production and reduced costs causes environmental regulations to be ignored in order to make a profit. Some of their unattainable practices include the use of toxic textile dyes, textile waste caused by their mass production, and of course, clean water pollution.
Not only does the fast fashion industry participate in actions that have serious negative effects on our environment, but they also use something called Fast Fashion Labor. Fast Fashion Labor is labor involving garment workers, that work in unsafe factories, with most of them working without any rights or protections. Globally, there are an estimated 40 million garment workers who also fall under the category of the lowest-paid workers in the world. With that being said, 85% of these workers are women, and just 2% of them earn a living wage. If you’re interested in learning more about fast fashion’s unethical practices, I totally recommend watching the 2015 film, The True Cost, which covers the 2013 Bangladesh clothing manufacturing complex collapse that tragically killed 1,000 of its garment workers and injured 2,500.
The following brands are proven to practice environmentally damaging methods and unethical practices:
- Forever 21
- Zara
- SHEIN
- Fashion Nova
- H&M
- ASOS
- Urban Outfitters
- Bershka
- Misguided
- Zaful
- Brandy Melville
- American Eagle Outfitters
The fashion industry in general, including the non-fast fashion brands, is ranked as the second-largest polluter of clean water worldwide behind agriculture. As an alternative to fast fashion and a source to buy with the lowest environmental impact, I have created a shortlist of brands that follow more ethical and sustainable practices. Thrifting is easily the most sustainable form of shopping, other than not buying as much, and now you can thrift straight from your phone with apps such as Poshmark, Depop, and Mercari (which I have used before and highly recommend). However, if you really want something new and trendy (which is totally understandable) I have created a list of brands that are a great alternative.
You may notice that many of these brands tend to be more expensive. This is a result of sustainable manufacturing and producing only what is ordered, instead of mass-producing and having extras that end up in a landfill. Unfortunately, this practice is much more expensive than mass production, but the organic and sustainable materials used to make their products are of better quality and increased longevity, reducing the need to buy more often. Hopefully one day everyone will realize how important our environment truly is, make the unsustainable brands and practices more expensive, and make the ethical and eco-friendly brands cheaper instead.
Here are just a few of the sustainable and ethical brands out there…
By far one of the most impressive brands when it comes to traceability. As I was browsing their website, almost every product I clicked on included the materials it was made from, the location and name of the factory in which it was produced (including a link that takes you to a page with photos and information on the factory), and other information regarding its materials, production, and care. Another great thing about this brand is that they use various recycled materials, including plastic bottles, to craft their products.
Definitely one of the most well-known sustainable fashion brands, but also on the pricey side. They are a women’s fashion brand with very stylish pieces, and their sustainable and ethical production makes it even better! The ‘About’ page on their website provides information about their brand and sustainable practices, as well as a page dedicated to information about their factories.
This brand has the cutest graphic tees, all with a design somehow related to the environment. What’s even better? It’s a lot cheaper than many other eco-friendly brands. Don’t worry though, they still practice very sustainable production methods. They use organic cotton, eco-friendly water-based ink, recycled bottles, organic cotton, and bamboo to produce their products. As a bonus, all their orders are shipped in recyclable and biodegradable packaging. Definitely a great option for cute and comfy casual attire.
This eco-friendly shoe brand uses merino sheep wool to produce its shoes. They have a whole page on their website dedicated to information about the materials they use as well information on how their sheep are treated. Their process of using sheep wool requires 60% less energy than materials used in typical synthetic shoes. In addition to sheep wool, they also use recycled bottles and cardboard as materials for their products. Like many of the other brands mentioned so far, they also have a page that describes their sustainability goals of eliminating their carbon footprint.
This sustainable activewear brand produces long-lasting designs that are meant to stay out of landfills. The sustainability page on their website provides information about the fabrics and packaging they use, where its sourced from, and why it’s a better alternative for the environment. Their products are stylish and trendy and range around the same price as companies such as Lululemon and Athleta.
A tip when researching sustainable and ethical fashion brands is to find how easily you are able to trace back where their products are made, what materials are used in production, and the conditions in which they are produced (this is also called traceability). In addition, be aware of “Greenwashing.” This is what many companies do in order to make themselves look more ethical and sustainable than they actually are, which is exactly why traceability is so important. I believe that the more traceable a company is, the fewer secrets they have or feel the need to hide.
Through my research, I came across a company, called Good on You, that provides ethical and sustainability ratings on brands through detailed research and traceability tests. They also have an app that I will definitely be using when shopping from now on!
Happy shopping (or thrifting)!
**Edited by: Emily Day