Fast fashion is the term that many millennials know, which is the rapid consumption of clothes at very cheap prices. However, what is rarely talked about are the negative social and economic costs that fast fashion has. By definition, fast fashion is “An approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends available quickly and cheaply to consumers”. The term was first used at the beginning of the 1990s, when the clothing company, Zara, landed in New York. It was created to describe Zara’s goal to take only 15 days for a garment to go from the design stage to being sold in stores. Since then thousands of companies have created similar goals to maximize profits.

Fast fashion comes at a hefty cost socially. To make just one pair of regular jeans it requires 3,625 litres of water, which is the same amount of water one person requires for basic survival for around two and a half years. The excessive use of water has had serious impacts on the environment. From 1960 to the 2000s the Aral Sea in Central Asia lost approximately 60 percent of its area and 80 percent of its volume due to the high consumption of water by fast fashion.  In addition to the negative environmental impact, gender inequality is an issue. In a majority of factories where the clothing is made a culture has been formed where young women and children are the primary work force. This cultural norm has created gender inequality in countless undeveloped countries. Not only do they work in dangerous factories with outrageously low hourly pay, but they also are routinely subjected to violence. I’m proposing an increase in regulation over production to decrease the occurrence of these horrific things.

Economically fast fashion has a large impact as well. Countries such as India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh do not have the organizational structures in place to hold apparel manufacturers accountable for pollution, and even if they did, it is unlikely they would be effective. The reason why manufacturers do not upgrade their systems to reduce pollutants is because of upfront investments and uncertainty of outcomes. The fashion industry prospers due to the ability to undercut production costs in developed countries. Manufacturing has become a very thin margin and low profitability operation. The factories save costs by under-investment in worker health and safety and by forcing overtime. Increasing regulation would require costly restructure, completely undermining maximum profit.

Legislation should be passed to authorize the federal government to penalize textile companies for negative externalities in factories outside the United States. Fast fashion has impacts on society, economics and the environment. In America alone over the last 20 years, the volume of clothes thrown away has doubled from seven million to 14 million tons. Fast fashion is a social problem that has been underplayed by the United States government despite the horrendous negative effects on the globe. It is time for a change and it starts with the passing of legislation.