April 11, 2024
By: Sophia Mangino

Fast fashion has become one of the most detrimental ways to negatively affect the environment, and has worsened over the past ten years. According to the recent “The State of Fashion” report, published by Business of Fashion and McKinsey, about 40% of United States consumers have shopped on different fast fashion platforms (such as Shein and Temu,) over the past 12 months. This has led to creating new significant problems within the fashion industry, the market, as well as social and economic challenges.

womanworking.pngCaptured: a women working in a Shein factory in China in 2022.


Fashion is undeniably a wonderful way to self express and show off one’s creativity, but over time has unfortunately led to the issue of overconsumption for many individuals. From the years 2000 to 2014, the production of clothing doubled and the number of garments and items increased by 60%, which is mostly due to the rise of fast fashion. Fast fashion consumers are very quick to throw away clothing they do not wear anymore due to something going out of style, while having no problem doing so due to the cheap prices they bought these garments for. For every five garments produced, the equivalent of three end up in landfill each year, which extremely affects the production of greenhouse gas emissions from textiles.
 
fastfashion.pngA fast-fashion landfill full of unused clothes, grown to an astronomical size.
 
With this being said, there are many ways to shop sustainably and to slow the production of fast fashion. With spring cleaning season arising upon us, we must emphasize the importance of donating unused clothing to local thrift stores, or donation centers. Here at the Catholic University, we have the wonderful opportunity of having our own on-campus thrift store, Cardinal Closet, located in Gibbons Hall, room B17. Not only can you donate clothing you do not want or wear anymore, but you can also get clothing from the closet for free! Cardinal closet is a great way to discover new ways to shop and be thrifty, while helping to save the environment from the fast fashion epidemic. There are many other benefits to Cardinal Closet, such as helping to save copious amounts of money you would spend on clothing at a mall or regular retailers, exploring new ways to dress and style yourself, and its easy access to CUA students with the closet being on campus. It is definitely something to take advantage of, and a great way to discover a new and easy way to shop. Cardinal Closet has many different types of apparel, such as business wear, athletic wear, and casual wear.

                                  cardinalcloset1.png                                  cardinalcloset2.png
Pictured above: images of our very own cardinal closet! There are so many amazing
options for not only clothing, but footwear as well.

If shopping sustainably is something that has officially peaked your interest, there is a great array of options to go thrift shopping in the DMV area, some stores being Goodwill, Frugalista, Fia’s Fabulous Finds, and more! One person’s help can make a big difference, one step at a time. Will fast fashion eventually come to a end after emerging after so many years?

References
McKinsey & Company. “What is fast fashion?”
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-fast-fashion 
CNN. “What is fast fashion, and why is it so controversial?”
https://www.cnn.com/style/what-is-fast-fashion-sustainable-fashion/index.html 

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