Prime example of said obsessions was a few years back when I was looking for another new fall coat. At that moment, colorful pea coats were the thing everyone had. It would take over my life, mindlessly saving new items in my cart, cross-examining the prices and styles on different sites, asking my boyfriend for his opinions on which overpriced coat he thought looked best... He would tell me it wouldnβt be practical to buy a colorful coat that although was nice now, would naturally go out of style by next season, which I later learned to be true. (That red pea coat I bought on the right has only been worn a handful of times).
While most trends start from the high-end designers after each fashion week season, the industry has taken on a new approach to selling trends with a term known as fast fashion. Fast fashion gets you cheaper versions of designer goods that are available almost simultaneously as the designers release their newest collections. The time it takes for these fast fashion behemoths, Zara, H&M, and Forever21 standing out, to copy and reproduce these pieces is incredibly fast (hence the name). It makes us able to be instantly on trend affordably. As Elizabeth Cline states in her book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, these fast fashion companies are receiving new deliveries to their stores daily, some getting up to 400 new styles per week on their websites. This makes us feel like we have to buy continuously to stay stylish and look like we fit in.
Trends however as Iβm sure you know come and go. Itβs in the industryβs best interest for us as consumers to buy into and become obsessed with these trends, just as I had. Naturally, consumption is a necessity for our economy. If you look at the history of fashion seasons and how we buy clothes, youβll notice that the amount of seasons and new trends have dramatically increased. Shannon Whitehead, founder of Factory45, a sustainable start-up accelerator program notes in her Huffington Post article that there are now up to 52 βmicro-seasonsβ! What was once a magical show, sometimes showcasing such avant-garde pieces that would be considered art more than everyday clothing has now become a driving force of consumerism available for everyone, not just the fashion folk.
Supply and demand are on the rise and our perceptions of what clothes should cost has become extremely skewed thanks to these companies overproducing cheaply made fashion. We now expect a t shirt to cost $10 or less and are shocked if itβs any more, even if itβs made ethically and sustainably with organic fabrics. We buy more of these cheap clothes that naturally feel way more disposable to us. The problem is that there isn't enough room for all the accumulating waste and something needs to change. The True Cost movie is an incredible documentary that helps shed light on the true cost of what goes into making your clothing and why prices have become so low.
