The Price We Pay For the Democratisation of Fashion
The ability to do away with brick and mortar stores and sell directly to consumers digitally has led to the mutation of fast fashion into ultra-fast fashion. Take the example of China-based retailer Shein that recently overtook Amazon as the most installed shopping application in the world. The retail giant has cut the time taken from creating the design to finished product in half compared to erstwhile fast fashion giants such as Zara and launches new products almost every day. The pricing is cheaper, and the algorithm of the application is constantly being tweaked to incentivise buying in multiple ingenious ways.
The apparel industry’s production impacts on climate change increased 35 percent between 2005 and 2016, and are projected to rise steadily in 2020 and 2030, because the more we consume, the more brands are incentivised to produce.
From the production of yarn to the final packaging of the finished product — the industry…