Fashion Needs And Consumption

After my last blog you must be thinking as to why did I suddenly talk about environmental issues and climate change. Well, as embarrassed I feel while writing this, people do need to know how fashion industry is an industry of pollutants and how we all play a major role in polluting our environment. And now that somewhere I am a part of this industry, I do feel responsible for it. This is also what we discussed in our last session- the shortcomings and issues of this industry, which I'll be now sharing with you all. So, let's get started! 

There's this old saying, usually attributed to Yves Saint Laurent: "Fashion fades, style is eternal". But this may no longer be true, because of fast fashion. Fast fashion is a term used to describe clothing designs that keep on changing according to the mutating trends and seasons. This fast fashion creates clothes out of inexpensive materials such as synthetic fibers, which are creatively used to produce affordable fashion. And since we use synthetic fibers in 80% of our designs (which eventually end up being dumped at a landfill) these clothes soon will become an important part of the fossil record since they can not decay. Future archaeologists may look at landfills and deepest part of the oceans that are taken over by nature and discover evidence of brands like H&M and Zara. And this is because of the existing mass market and our mindless consumerism. 

Mass market in fashion refers to the provisions made available to wide range of customers, producing ready-to-wear clothes in large quantities and standard sizes. Due to the demand, the number of these mass market retailers is on rise, but we need to understand that buying from these retailers and brands is only harming our environment. And not only this, if you try to look what's behind the scenes, you'll find how large number of people, specially children are being deprived of their future and adequate working conditions. Due to which the gap between rich and poor has also widened. And this all is being done for what? Just so we can look beautiful and glamorous, and of course, because of our growing demands and consumption. 

While talking about consumption, let's look at another important term in fashion- mindless consumerism, which refers to the process where we buy without thinking, usually on impulse. And this is because of the phenomena of desire and social acceptability. In order to feel a part of a system or to maintain our identity and image, we tend to spend lavishly on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying our immense wealth. Also, to compensate for the emptiness or certain emotions that we experience. And because of our mindless consumerism not only are we devastating our natural resources, but also placing importance on ideas of greediness and materialism. There's now typical psyche attached about shopping from big brands, because in today's time we all want to fit in and do what others are doing. 

But this concept of fast fashion and mindless consumerism was not always there, it came into existence in the beginning of 20th century, just after the Industrial revolution. Before that, we only had bespoke handmade tailored garments available. But today, with the advancement in machines and technology, the assembly line production has increased. It has given birth to these mass production brands like Zara, H&M, Primark etc. who are trying to make cheaper fashion accessible. And the idea of mindless consumerism is now just increasing with time, only because instead of focusing on our needs we focus on our desires. 

At the end I would only say that this rampant development is destroying our world and the biggest problem with all of us is that we are not realizing that this problem even exists, that we need to stop being materialistic. And this is not only about you, same goes for me, even I wasn't aware and I have been consuming and buying things unnecessarily. But I've decided to be more mindful about it since we all are consuming quicker than our planet can replenish, and this needs to stop now. So I'll do my part and I hope everyone reading this do theirs's too! 

All the pictures are sourced from Pinterest. 

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