Ever since discovering statistics surrounding the poor working conditions and environmental impact of her favorite fast fashion brand, senior Maxine Badgley stopped buying from that company and decided to invest in sustainable clothing instead.

“When things get difficult, or I just want to buy from fast fashion brands, I just think about those people working away and getting nothing in return,” said Badgley. “Just how it impacts them mentally and physically.”

According to Lisa McNeill, professor of marketing at the University of Otago, fast fashion is clothing that is purposefully designed for limited use.

“Most [fast fashion] items, for example, are designed to be used less than five times,” said McNeill. “The idea behind the fast fashion system is that consumers will replace items, or purchase more items, in an ever-increasing frequency.”

According to Jaeha Lee, professor of retail merchandising at North Dakota State University, fast fashion companies cannot be considered sustainable no matter what sustainability initiatives they implement.

“On average, an American household discards approximately 70 pounds of clothing each year, and fast fashion is accelerating this crisis,” said Lee. “Fast fashion also generates significant carbon emissions, as the production, transportation and disposal of clothing leave a massive carbon footprint.”

Several fast fashion retailers use greenwashing to promote their clothing as environmentally friendly.

Greenwashing occurs when a company convinces consumers that they are undertaking actions to address the environmental issues created by their own industry, McNeill said.

One greenwashing strategy is when companies use vague environmental buzzwords without being transparent about the actual meaning of the labels.

“If you think about [greenwashing] in a fast fashion context, you will see a lot of fashion brands have [a tag] on their clothing that says ‘recycled,’ as an example, but there is no information about what that actually means,” McNeill said.

According to Nancy Engelhardt, professor of business administration at Marymount University, the use of terms like “wildlife-friendly,” “climate-friendly” and “organic” are unregulated by the government, allowing retailers to make these claims even when they are not necessarily true.

“Companies know that, as humans, we want to do what’s right for the environment,” said Engelhardt. “So companies latched onto this and are finding creative ways to promote their products as being environmentally friendly when, in many cases, they are not.”

According to McNeill, greenwashing is an effective marketing strategy because consumers want to be
convinced that their purchases do not cause harm to the environment.

“We already have the motivation to buy [fast fashion, but] we’re feeling a little bad about our consumption,” said McNeill. “The greenwashing lets us get rid of that guilt.”

According to Badgley, she often notices many of her peers shopping from major fast fashion brands.

“I think they just want to be on trend and just have that style, or they’re just not fully aware [of the impacts],” said Badgley. “It’s mostly like, ‘Oh, it’s a cute outfit, I’m just gonna buy it once.’”

According to McNeill, clothing marketed as a trend is a red flag of fast fashion.

“Anything that is marketed as the latest thing to buy, that should be a red flag because those items will be produced as cheaply as possible,” said McNeill. “They will be produced with the idea that they’re not going to last you long at all.”

According to Engelhardt, fast fashion does not just have an environmental impact, it also affects the consumer mindset.

“We are starting to think of fast fashion as the norm rather than the exception,” said Engelhardt. “I can remember when I was younger, a T-shirt would last you 10 years, and you would end up using it as a cleaning cloth because the quality was good, and the price was not as cheap as it is today.”

According to Badgley, she wants consumers to learn about their impact on the environment when purchasing from fast fashion brands.

“Take baby steps,” said Badgley. “Do your research about how it impacts others and things we don’t see behind the scenes of these big brands and their fast fashion.”