Ultrafast Fashion - a new and unfortunate Trend

Some time ago, I read an article about „ultrafast fashion“ – a new, very unfortunate trend. Young influencers such as 16-year-old Mia Grantham (yes, she belongs to generation Z aka generation Greta!) gave an interview in the „New York Times“, stating that she „usually wears a dress only once.“ Hello?! This trend is driven by a few fashion companies and social media. I cannot believe! 

Fashion and our carbon footprint

When we think about our personal carbon footprint we mostly think about cars, travel by plane and waste of energy. Many of us do not realize that the fashion industry is one of the largest polluters in the world. What? Yes.

Think about the chains of raw material production, manufacturing (gallons of water are being used) including dyeing and shipping (mostly by old vessels cruising on our oceans). And tons of clothes are hardly used and end up as garbage. Did you ever think about how many clothes in your wardrobe you are actually wearing?

Ultrafast fashion sold to teenagers like Mia is extremely cheap. I even don´t want to think about production in a third-world country such as Bangladesh. Young girls like Mia show off their clothes on social media and never want to appear in the same dress – understandable but does this have to result in a headless consumption?

Don´t get me wrong – I love to buy clothes here and there and many of us know the good feeling once you are wearing a brand new shirt or suit. But how much of that stuff do we really need? I sometimes discover shirts in my wardrobe which I have worn for just a few times, so silly!

I now watch out for clothes that may be old but still look good and are fashionable again. Fashion always comes back – always! And there is that black Gucci suit that I love so much. I must have bought it almost 20 years ago and it is of excellent quality. I recently got it taken in to look more up-to-date and I am proudly wearing it at events.

Less is more

Hollywood legend Jane Fonda recently wore a dress at the Oscars she had already worn at the opening night of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. And as always, she looked great!

Well, these examples may sound a bit exaggerated but it does not hurt to think about our consumption, not only of textiles. A recent study says that the average consumption of Germans makes up for 36% of our carbon footprint. Let that sink in. 

And you know what? It makes you feel so good if you clean up your wardrobe. „Less is more“, how true is that. And a more cautious consumption may help our planet a lot.

If you have liked this article, you may also be interested in reading this one about true luxury.