Today’s opinion is from Haley Justus.
The time is now for fast fashion retailers to adopt more sustainable practicesFast fashion, stores like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21, has shaped how people shop for clothes in society today. By giving constant options and encouraging a consistent rotation of new attire, the consumer has become accustomed to searching for the next best thing. This has created a faster consumption of items that has a life span of about of no more than 10 wears, according to the New York Times. This system perpetuated by fast fashion brands fuels the amount of clothes that end up in landfills each year. According to the EPA, “Landfills received 11.3 million tons of MSW textiles in 2018. This was 7.7 percent of all MSW landfilled.”
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic retail sales are in free fall as people reallocate their spending priorities. The pandemic has caused consumers to pull back spending by two-thirds according to Refinery29. As profit continues to fall across the board, retailers are looking to ecommerce as their primary revenue stream. This, however, presents a new set of sustainability issues for the fast fashion industry.The transition to more digital shopping in response to the pandemic also means an increase in shipping, handling, and packaging that brings those items to the consumers doorstep. According to the BBC, “Returning items can effectively double the emissions from transporting your goods, and if you factor in failed collections and deliveries, that number can grow further.”
As the fast fashion industry continues to dive into a deeper hole, CEO’s are wondering how they keep business alive. A Refinery29 article states, “The bigger question for fast fashion is whether the model, which hinges on its prodigious volume to make the razor-thin margins work, will survive the pandemic.”
If they are already going to have to think about how to reshape their business because of the pandemic, why can’t they rethink their business models and encourage more sustainable consumerism?As much as people have stopped spending, they have also started caring. Caring more about who or what they are giving their money to and what those entities represent. An AdAge article about Gen Z stated, “73 percent of those it surveyed would pay more for sustainable items, with the majority of that chunk willing to pay a 10 percent price premium.”Fast fashion brands have an opportunity here to help save our planet as well drive some consumers back to opening their wallets for their products. They will need to vet their authenticity and actually follow through with affective strategies that address their sustainability issues if they hope to see the shift save them from decline. It’s time for them to authentically step up to what their consumer base is demanding more of and start to put planet over profit.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200310-sustainable-fashion-how-to-buy-clothes-good-for-the-climate
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/04/9714553/coronavirus-effect-on-fast-fashion
https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/generation-z-willing-pay-more-eco-friendly-products/2227101
https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/textiles-material-specific-data
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/sustainable-clothing.html#:~:text=A%20separate%20study%20found%20that,of%20textile%20waste%20per%20year.