Students Avoid “Fast Fashion” for Environmentally Friendly Style

Anna Wood, a third-year elementary education major, worked on her computer in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee library, wearing a patterned sweater that she thrifted from Goodwill, a pair of jeans that she bought from Target and shoes from Nike.

“I think it was last year, I was like, ‘I’m going to only shop from thrift stores because of the sustainability,’ and then I just couldn’t do it,” Wood said. “I try to because I know it’s better, but also there’s sometimes just good fashion there too.”

Wood says she attempts to be environmentally friendly in her purchasing habits and tries to avoid fast fashion companies such as Shein, but she does not consider herself fully aware of what constitutes a fast fashion store.

Fast fashion companies design inexpensive clothing to cater to the latest fashion trends and make a quick profit. The production process of these clothes comes with detrimental effects on the environment.

“A lot of times, you’ll see cheaper fabrics being dyed in certain areas, and the waterways can easily get polluted that way because it’s either not regulated or there’s not a proper sanitation program set up,” said UWM’s Solid Waste and Recycling Specialist Laura Stevens. “It can run right into the riverways, which can pollute the drinking water of those in the community, but can also make its way back to ocean ways as well.”

Leah Button, a sophomore architecture student at UWM, says she purchases most of her clothes from Goodwill and either resells or donates her used clothes. Button says she sees value in recycling rather than buying new and avoids purchasing from fast fashion companies.

“Obviously, I see the appeal,” Button said. “I used to purchase from places like that, but I don’t think that a lot of people know just how poorly moderated the industry is and how it affects the people that are working behind the scenes in other countries.”

Issues also emerge in the disposal process, since fast fashion clothing tends to be made of cheaper materials that are easily damaged, making these clothes harder to recycle, according to Stevens.

“What happens is that they typically do end up in landfills, which then just sit there because landfills don’t decompose items,” Stevens said. “It takes up a lot of space in the landfills, and in the front end of things, the production of these materials uses a lot of resources, like water for example, and like energy, so when it’s only being used for four or five times, it really does become a big waste around the entire process of making that item.”

In 2018, 11.3 million tons of textiles wound up in landfills, accounting for 7.7% of all municipal solid waste sent to landfill that year, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Noah Jones, a freshman linguistics major at UWM, is among those trying to educate themselves on the topic of fast fashion. 

“I’ve learned a bit about it, and I do want to get better about learning it, but unfortunately, there is a lot of fast fashion out there,” Jones said, “and some things that you don’t think are fast fashion can sometimes actually be fast fashion. It’s hard to keep track of sometimes if you’re not well-informed about it.”

When buying new clothes, Stevens says she recommends shoppers research a simple item, like socks, before looking for information on other types of clothing.

“Be intentional about what you’re buying,” Stevens said. “Really look at what you have in your closet first and see if you can shop from your closet. Take everything out, you’ll find a bunch of stuff you forgot you had, and see if you can meet the needs of what you want there. If not, really understand what you need next.”