I had always considered myself to be fairly well educated on the environment, and always tried to do my part to be less wasteful. However, this year I began to specifically research the impacts of the fashion industry on the environment and realized I really didn’t know anything. One of the main factors causing the fashion industry to be so harmful to the environment is our current fast fashion cycle.
This is what you see at stores like Forever21 and H&M, where new styles are constantly brought into every store. While I see the obvious problem with these stores, I certainly can’t berate consumers of these brands because I also love to get a good deal, as I’m sure all college students agree. This is a dilemma that designers and consumers will have to face together. Some of my main takeaways from my research were that as consumers, we need to be smarter shoppers in choosing garments that we will REALLY wear for a long time, your fabric choices matter, and garment upkeep is essential. …
