For most people shopping in America, it’s unavoidable: Fast fashion is all over the place. Though definitions may vary, this large chunk of the clothing available today includes items made and shipped as cheaply and quickly as possible. And though fast fashion puts all the latest runway trends in shopper’s baskets right away, the speed and trendiness comes with environmental and ethical consequences.“ Depending on who you're talking to, they'll be more aware of one aspect of over the other,” says Christine Ekenga, an environmental epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
And even for those who study the impacts fast fashion has, understanding exactly how much waste or environmental damage fast fashion creates is challenging. Brands and manufacturing facilities don’t often have an incentive to be transparent about their practices, says Kamyar Shirvani Moghaddam, a sustainability scientist at Deakin University in Australia. Companies hoping to make clothing as cheaply as possible for buyers in wealthier countries outsource much of the textile production and treatment process to lower-income nations, particularly those with few manufacturing and labor laws.
