Most of us probably know by now to be wary of fast fashion. While cheap and accessible, the materials used to make these products can be low in quality, meaning they might not last as long as you’d hope.
That’s part of the goal for major clothing companies: to capitalize on trends that can be mass-produced and sold quickly before moving on to the next season’s in-vogue style.
But just when you think you’ve sussed out all the tricks and deception, a new one appears that can leave you stunned and disappointed.
@andreacheong_ Have you ever fallen for this? The difference is audacious lol got to check those labels 🥲 #zarafashion #sustainablefashion #zaraautumn #autumn2023trends #fastfashion #mindfulmondaymethod #qualityfashion #fashioneducation ♬ original sound – Andrea
TikToker Andrea (@andreacheong_) asked their nearly 250,000 followers, “Have you ever fallen for this?” before detailing one tactic Zara uses to pull the wool (or cotton) over its customers’ eyes.
Andrea showed a gray shirt that had some positive things going for it. “Nice drop shirt from afar,” they began. “Decent enough construction that is kind of crisp. And real pockets! Not see-through fabric.”
However, Andrea noted that some of these qualities should be the “bare minimum” expectation for clothing, and they went on to show evidence of areas of the shirt’s construction that suggested planned obsolescence — design elements that are produced to break or deteriorate quickly.
But a 100% cotton shirt for around $30 is an understandably attractive purchase. Here’s where things get interesting, though.
Andrea then shows the same shirt but in an alternative color. The white version is made from a different fabric, the structure is completely altered, and there is significant evidence of fraying and loose thread that suggests it might not last so long.
The kicker, though, is this version of the shirt is made from a cotton-polyester blend that is almost a 50-50 split. Polyester is made from plastic synthetics fibers, making it much worse for the environment than cotton during its life cycle — from the polluting, planet-warming fossil fuels used to create it to the fact it won’t break down for years after disposal.
When customers find the 100% cotton shirt and decide they would prefer a different color, they might take the other shirt off the rack under the assumption it would be otherwise exactly the same. Andrea demonstrates how wrong that can be.
The list of issues with fast fashion is lengthy. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, fast fashion is responsible for around 10% of global carbon dioxide pollution. It wastes huge amounts of water and energy, and plastic fibers from clothing can come out in wash cycles and send microplastics to water systems.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Environment Programme observes that the equivalent of one garbage truck of clothes is landfilled or burned every second. The problems don’t end there, either.
That’s why, for a number of reasons — including resource conservation, pollution reduction, and energy saving — shopping secondhand can be a huge environmental help. Extending the life of existing clothes reduces the demand to make more, and it keeps items out of landfills that contribute to the production of the planet-warming gas methane.
In many cases, too, you’ll find items that are far longer-lasting and made from better materials than what’s on the rails in stores such as Zara.
One TikToker was stunned by Andrea’s revelation, saying, “Yikes I never thought to look at tags of the same thing in different colors.”
However, others were wise to the tricks. “I stopped buying from fast fashion altogether, secondhand only and going by fabric and construction alone,” another follower wrote.
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