How Bad Is it Really to Shop Fast Fashion?

Most of the clothing that I buy for myself and my daughter are secondhand. For me it’s about 95% secondhand and for my daughter it’s probably close to 85%. (The men in my family shop so little for clothing I’m not even considering them in this equation.) So, overall I feel pretty good about being a conscious fashion consumer and my impact on environmental and ethical factors that go into producing fashion today. I was recently faced with a real dilemma. My daughter had a semi-formal awards ceremony to attend for her choir and she wanted to buy a dress. Okay, that’s totally reasonable. Then she told me that she wants a NEW dress…as in…not thrifted. Okay…deep breaths! The whole experience had me reflect once again on fast fashion and how bad is it really to shop fast fashion. And, how should we feel about it if we do?

Dress Shopping

After my daughter said she wanted to get a new dress I had to sort of rack my brain for where to shop. No kidding. I genuinely wasn’t sure where to go. She suggested Marshall’s and Ross. Okay great, at least those are affordable options! But, it turns out they were a total bust. They each had lots of dresses but nothing semi-formal. After a few days of her sulking with disappointment, I took her to…deep breath….THE MALL! We started in a department store but didn’t see anything to her liking. So, we ventured into the mall and hit one of the popular fast fashion chains where a lot of girls get their dance dresses. She immediately found several dresses that were good contenders for her event.

While she was looking around, I decided to peruse the clearance section just to see if there were any hidden gems in there. I was floored. Almost every item in there was pilled, torn, pulled or literally looked like it was falling apart. These clothes were so cheaply made that they couldn’t even last long enough to make it out of the store in one piece. Imagine trying to wear one of these more than once? I think they might just disintegrate!

The Aftermath

Fairly quickly, my daughter was able to find the dress that she liked and we chose a couple of accessories to go with it. I held my nose at the cash register as I paid $79 for a dress that would probably fall apart as soon as she wore it. We got home later and my husband asked how it went. Of course, my daughter was elated with her dress. After she left the room, I told him that I had a hard time shopping in that store because it was all such crap. Then, I reminded myself that a purchase at a fast fashion brand is a VERY RARE occurrence for us. It does no good to beat myself up for it. It does create a learning opportunity. I decided to dig deeper into how bad is it really to shop fast fashion. 

The Fashion Footprint Calculator

I decided to turn to Thredup’s Fashion Footprint Calculator. It’s a really great tool and I hope to have one like it built for my website one day. After answering all the questions about my shopping and laundry habits, the calculator told me the following:

• My fashion habits contribute to 794 lbs of carbon emissions annually
• My footprint is 51% lower than the average consumer. 

I was honestly hoping for a better number. I think the fact that I do so much laundry is what really drives it up. I’ve been practicing wearing an item multiple times before washing and trying to educate my family to do the same. My daughter will wear something for an hour and then throw it in the hamper!

Try the calculator for yourself and see what your impact is. Whatever your number is, this is not an invitation to beat yourself up! Knowledge can be power but really it is APPLIED knowledge that is power. Get a sense of where you stand and start making some small changes. I am clearly far from perfect at this thing called conscious and sustainable fashion. But I have been trying to take steps to make improvements. You can follow a little. of this journey in my two blog posts of my Concsious Closet Cleanse Part I and Part II.

So How Bad is it Really?

To answer the question in the title of this post – How Bad Is It Really to Shop Fast Fashion – I did the calculator again. This time I did it as if I were someone who frequently shopped, didn’t choose secondhand or sustainable brands, and didn’t have environmentally friendly laundry habits. The result?

• Those fashion habits contribute to 2337 lbs of carbon emissions annually
• A carbon footprint that is 44% higher than the average consumer

Even though I had hoped my numbers would be better, I am happy to know that the effort that I put into having a conscious wardrobe does make a difference. 

You Can Make a Difference

If you are someone who cares about the environmental and ethical impacts of fashion, there is a lot you can do to help the equation. 

• Shop sustainable brands
• Shop secondhand
• Do less laundry by wearing each item more than once
• Repair your clothing
• Buy quality items that will last

The best part is that you can still have a wardrobe full of clothes that you love, nix fast fashion AND do it all on a small budget. I know that the fancy sustainable brands can feel out of reach but it is totally possible to create a more conscious wardrobe that you love! For more details, download the Checklist for Creating a Sustainable Wardrobe on a Budget.

In what ways have you tried to reduce the negative impact of fast fashion? Drop me a comment below and share your best practices so we can all learn and do better!