Lily Huynh / The Cougar
As students, we expect ourselves to care about sustainability while also dressing for jobs, internships and interviews, often on a limited budget. When people turn to fast fashion to meet those expectations, the response is usually criticism of personal choices rather than scrutiny of the system that makes those choices necessary.
Fast fashion thrives not because young consumers lack values, but because the industry’s structure makes quick, cheap clothing the most accessible option. This contributes significantly to environmental degradation and systemic issues that require regulation.
Fast fashion brands are frequently criticized for labor violations and environmental damage, and those critiques are justified. However, the conversation often stops there, shifting to individual morality rather than systemic accountability.
The reality of budget fashion
A few weeks ago, my roommate and I went to the mall. For me, the mall is my own personal nightmare. There are too many options, and spending money scares me. Still, I needed clothes.
We spent around 10 minutes at Zara, most of the time walking past racks of nearly identical items, with price tags low enough to feel tempting but high enough to add up quickly.
We left without buying anything, but the experience stuck with me. The store was packed, the inventory overwhelming and the pace quick, a reminder of how fast fashion is designed to operate.
What stood out the most to me was how normal it all felt. There were no warnings about where clothes came from or how long they were meant to last. The burden, as always, was for the shopper to know better, choose better and do better, even while navigating limited time and money.
People are encouraged to thrift more, shop ethically or simply buy less. While these suggestions may work for some, they are not realistic for everyone.
Thrift stores are not always affordable, size-inclusive or accessible. Ethical clothing brands often charge prices that are out of reach for students, balancing tuition, rent and part-time jobs.
According to research by Sheffield Hallam University, 94% of respondents supported sustainable clothing, 17% shopped at a fast fashion retailer every week and 62% did so monthly. Only 10% claimed they had never purchased from fast-fashion outlets.
For many people, fast fashion is not about excess. It is about necessity. They need clothes, and at every turn, they find fast fashion. Or, it is simply all the person can afford.
When ethical consumption is framed as a personal obligation, it becomes a privilege. It also allows corporations to avoid responsibility for the systems they profit from.
We do not expect people to ensure food safety, enforce labor laws or monitor environmental standards. Governments regulate those industries because the harm is widespread.
Fast fashion should not be an exception.
Behind the bargains
The environmental impact of fast fashion is significant. Clothing designed to be worn only a few times often ends up in landfills or is exported to countries without the infrastructure to manage textile waste. These costs are not reflected in the low prices consumers see in stores.
The Netflix documentary “Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy” shows mounds of clothing being sent to countries like Ghana each day. The workers spoke about receiving too many textiles to “get rid of,” which contributes to pollution and blocks waterways.
According to Textile Mountain, “Over 140,000 tonnes of used clothing are imported into Kenya via the port of Mombasa each year, mainly from Europe, the U.S. and Canada. That is the equivalent of 6,000, 40-feet shipping containers of textiles, each containing 550 bales of second-hand clothes.”
As depicted in “Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy,” labor conditions are equally concerning. Garment workers, often women, are frequently underpaid and working in unsafe environments. Brands usually rely on supply chains, making accountability difficult.
Despite this, the dominant narrative continues to focus on personal responsibility. People are made to feel guilty for participating in a system they did not create and cannot easily avoid.
Regulation would help address the problem. This could include labor protections across supply chains, environmental limits on textile waste, requirements for sourcing transparency and penalties for extreme overproduction.
Fast fashion will change only when the industry operates under rules that prioritize people and sustainability over profit, not because consumers feel ashamed of wearing inexpensive clothes.
Until then, moralizing consumption distracts from the real issue: a system designed to benefit from being unregulated.
opinion@thedailycougar.com
