Fast fashion, a term that has become the fashion industry's buzz-phrase of 2020. Instead of having two seasons, fast fashion gives us new variations on T-shirts and trousers every week. And although there are hundreds of new items coming into the high street shops every day, seems like recently, people have started being aware of how their clothing is made, and where and who made it. This could be primarily because of a non-profit organisation- Fashion Revolution, whose campaign "Who made my clothes?" launched in 2013. People have slowly started to notice the hard work that goes into making and sourcing materials of even a basic T-shirt. The water used in the process of making one comes up to 2,700 litres, that's how much a single person drinks in 3 years. How many T-shirts do you buy in a year? How many litres does it equal? Quite a lot huh?
Currently, the world is being hit massively with a global pandemic. And as everyone is trying to combat the virus, the whole fashion industry has been put on hold. And even though fashion workers are currently classified as non-essential workers, the apparel and footwear market globally is currently worth £2tn ($1.5tn), and it brings the UK more than £30bn a year in revenues. (bbc.co.uk) Only in the UK, over half a million people work in the fashion industry, according to Fashion United. That means that at the moment, the majority of the retail workers are being either fired or furloughed. Also, small fashion businesses are struggling as many don't know if they will ever be able to recover due to the major loss of finances and the oversupply of stock - unfortunately, many will not be able to make it through this.
On a brighter side, the world has been forced to slow down, factories have closed and all transportation has been minimised which means the pollution levels around the world have dropped massively. At first, dropping pollution levels were only visible from the space but now, we see them from our window, as wildlife is coming back to its original places, wildflowers are blooming next to the motorways and the Earth is finally allowed to breath again.
The people working in the fashion industry are slowly adapting to its new online presence, as most employees within the industry are now trying to figure out the new way of working through their screens from home. The current situation is forcing people to come up with new, more creative solutions to their day-to-day working, which could help battle the climate crisis in the long run as fashion is one of the biggest polluters of the planet - producing over 20% of global wastewater and 10% of global carbon emissions. The current situation could help reduce the emissions by coming up with alternatives for fashion weeks around the world -those themselves produce tons of emissions every season, but most importantly, it could be beneficial for a more environment-friendly way of consumption.
But how will this situation affect a normal day-to-day fashion consumer? With all brick and mortar stores closed, consumers have been dependent on online retailers such as Asos, who are seemingly thriving right now. As the shoppers stay at home, they are being bombarded by emails announcing 20%, 30% off brand new collections that only just landed on their sites. And although those emails might seem like a great deal at the moment, in reality, those markdowns scream "HELP!", as the retailers are beginning to struggle. But at this time, we don't need 3 new pairs of shoes or a new 'going out' dress. This is the time for everyone to think about what is the difference between 'want' and 'need'.
We have never experienced anything like this as a generation but I believe that despite the lives that this pandemic has taken, it will allow humanity to re-set its values into buying less and realising, we already own the clothes we need.
I am hopeful for better industry and better consumption habits this lockdown will teach us.
