The Rising Cost of Fast Fashion
It may surprise you to know that the early iterations of Saturday Swimwear weren’t as obsessed with sustainability as we are today. Only when Emily personally experienced an emphasis on sustainable fashion while traveling abroad did she flip the entire business model to be rooted in sustainability. After learning about the impacts of fast fashion on people and the environment, Emily was motivated to ensure her business would be a part of the solution to fast fashion.
Fast fashion is the production of low-quality garments as cheaply and quickly as possible. In order to maximize a company’s bottom line and keep pace with ever-changing trends, fast fashion’s deceptively cheap garments sacrifice safe and ethical working conditions, devastate the environment, and perpetuate an unhealthy “more is more” mindset.
Historically, fashion operated on a bi-annual cycle. The global design houses set trends within their spring/summer and fall/winter collections, and more recently resort and pre-fall collections brought in two additional opportunities for something new. Styles were then picked up by celebrities and trickled down into mainstream wear through accessible versions of the looks developed for the general public. Now, with instant access to fashion bloggers and society’s obsession with social media, trends have become mainstream significantly more quickly, creating shorter and more frequent cycles. Brands have adapted to pumping out new styles as often as weekly, leading to “ultra-fast fashion.” In this model, companies rely on large volumes of inventory and the cheapest possible labor to keep costs down, so customers are attracted to unbelievably low prices. These cheap, low-quality items fuel customers' desire (and perceived need) for new items and drive the cycle for more production.
To dig into the world of fast fashion, you’ll need a prop. If you are at home reading this, head over to your closet or dresser and pull out a piece of clothing you haven’t worn in a while. Whatever item you chose will be your guide as we tackle this big topic, so hang onto it as you follow along.
Let’s start with some basic questions:
How long have you had this item?
When was the last time you wore it?
Why haven’t you worn it since?
Most of us have items in our closets that we haven’t worn for years or even at all. Maybe we bought that garment because it was on sale, it looked cute online, or maybe we genuinely really liked it, or at least the idea of it. Perhaps you don’t wear it because it’s no longer in style, it doesn’t quite fit or feel right, or you just don’t like it as much as the other options surrounding it. While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fashion industry are still evolving, Americans today are buying about five times more clothing now than in 1980, and globally, we only wear an individual item seven times before it’s discarded. In some parts of the world, that number drops to only three times. The 80 billion (and increasing) pieces of clothing made annually produces 10% of the world’s carbon emissions, which is more than international air travel and maritime shipping combined, and a garbage truck’s worth of textile waste is dumped or burned every second. That’s enough textile waste to fill the Empire State Building one-and-a-half times every day.
The more times we wear a piece of clothing, the more we help to prevent both textile waste and additional carbon emissions. For example, wearing an item only five times instead of 50 will produce 400% more carbon emissions. As a result, we believe the more uses an item has, the more valuable it is, not only to the wearer, but to the world. This is one reason versatility is so important to Saturday Swimwear. We design each piece to live outside of trends by putting our contemporary spin on classic styles. Classic silhouettes and timeless designs are not only flattering across different body types, but also transcend trends to become a staple in your wardrobe. To maximize style and versatility, our suits are designed to be mixed and matched and are not limited to the beach - one of Emily’s go-to outfits is an Isla Top under overalls for an effortlessly chic look. By offering versatile, gorgeous styles independent of trends, we keep suits out of landfills and reduce the need for more items in your wardrobe.
Let’s talk materials next.
Check out the tag on your garment. What is it made out of?
Rub the fabric between your fingers. How does it feel?
How has it held up to being washed?
How is the quality of the material and stitching?
There is a really good chance that synthetic fibers, which are made from chemicals or artificial substances instead of natural resources, are at least a portion of the item in your hands, as upwards of 72% of clothing now contains synthetic fibers. Synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon, raylon, and acrylic are made out of plastic fibers, which can take up to 200 years to break down and release two to three times more carbon emissions during production than cotton, a natural material. Every time you wash garments made from synthetic fibers, hundreds of thousands of microfibers, which are less than 5 mm in diameter, are released into the water system. Microfibers are estimated to make up 31% of the plastic pollution in the ocean, with 500,000 tons of them making their way into the ocean each year. That’s the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles added to the ocean every year. Because microfibers are so small, they’ve also made their way into the water we drink, the fish we eat, and even in the air we breathe. While more research is needed to understand the effects of all this plastic in our bodies and food chain, using microfiber filters, washing bags, and dryer balls can help catch microfibers before they are released into the environment.
Many natural fibers aren’t perfect either, though. It takes 700 gallons of water to produce just one cotton T-shirt. That’s enough for someone to drink eight cups of water a day for about three and a half years in a world where 750 million people don’t have access to clean drinking water. Soil degradation is another enormous global issue. We depend on healthy soil to both produce food, but also to absorb CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Overgrazing of goats and sheep to obtain fibers like cashmere and wool is leading to the desertification of places like Mongolia and Patagonia. If the fashion industry continues at its current pace, there will be a 30% decrease in food production over the next 20-50 years due to the industry’s effects on soil degradation.
Because fast fashion depends on speed to get new styles to consumers as quickly and cheaply as possible, you can probably feel the lower quality of the item in your hands. Perhaps it has already started to fray, fade, shrink, or stretch after only a couple wears and washes. This is by design: fast fashion clothing is meant to be replaced more often to ensure a constant flow of consumers.
We’ll dive deep into our materials and production process in a future article, but because we haven’t found a perfectly sustainable swimwear fabric that has a completely neutral or even positive impact on our environment (yet!), we intentionally choose to use recycled or recyclable materials as much as possible. We are also actively working on ways to make our finished garments even kinder to our environment, and hope to have some exciting updates on this by Spring of 2023. By using Econyl® regenerated nylon, biodegradable hygiene liners, and paper hang-tags and mailers, we intentionally choose recycled or recyclable materials. We believe that less is more, so you won’t see new designs or styles coming out more than a couple times a year and we don’t have mountains of inventory in storage. We produce what we need and even turn fabric scraps into coordinating scrunchies to reduce as much waste as possible.
Finally, look at the tag on your garment again:
Where was it made? Can you confidently say that the factory in which your garment was made provides a safe, ethical working environment for its team members?
Who made it? What do you know about the life of the person who made your garment? Do they have opportunities through their employment to enjoy a quality of life all human beings are entitled to?
Do the values of that brand align with your own?
The average garment worker in most apparel-supply countries works 14-16 hours per day, 7 days a week, or roughly 100 hours a week. Despite these unbelievable hours, most earn less than a living wage, meaning they are unable to afford basic needs such as food, rent, healthcare, clothing, and education. Conditions within factories are often no better, as garment workers are frequently victims of verbal and physical abuse and work in spaces with little to no ventilation despite the prevalence of toxic substances and particles permeating the air. Fires, disease, injuries, and even death, are common in garment factories because profits are prioritized over the physical safety of workers.
For me, trying to imagine what daily life must be like for the individuals making that top I bought on a whim because the price was unbeatable is heartbreaking and stirs up an indignation for the corporations and cultural norms that perpetuate such inhumane business practices. We may not have the ability to drive immediate change on a global scale, but we can put our money where our mouth is and choose not to support businesses who refuse to place people over profit.
Currently Emily and Molly hand sew each Saturday Swimwear suit from their homes in Bend, OR and Boston, MA. It takes about an hour to make one suit and they hand stamp each aluminum logo tag on the back of every suit. Our suits are meticulously crafted to ensure they withstand adventure after adventure for years to come, and you can feel the quality the moment you receive your suit. As we continue to grow, researching and vetting production partners that also prioritize their worker’s rights and working conditions, as well as their environmental impact, is our highest priority.
When you purchase a Saturday Swimwear bathing suit, you join our community, share our values, and partner with us in our mission to protect people and our planet one suit at a time. You become a force for good and an advocate for change. The fashion industry won’t change until we start demanding it. Don’t settle for vague claims of “all natural products,” “eco-friendly” options, or broad sustainability statements without evidence - that’s greenwashing at its best. Do your research. Do brands you buy from hold certifications such as Climate Neutral, Climate Positive®, B Corporation®, or 1% for the Planet®? Do they put out a regular impact report with significant, meaningful, and specific goals with data and/or explain their sustainability practices transparently on their website? If you’re not sure or can’t find the information you deserve, contact the brands you love and ask them about their sustainability efforts. Ask questions like:
Where are your garments manufactured?
What protocols are in place to ensure safe working conditions for your employees?
How are you reducing your environmental impact?
Do you have a sustainability/impact report that you can share with me?
I love your products and sustainability is important to me. I’ve learned that XYZ material is harmful to the environment in ABC ways. Are you considering swapping XYZ material for a more sustainable option? If so, I’d love to hear more about the progress on those efforts.
Return to that garment in your hand. That is just one piece of clothing in your closet, just one item in your entire home. Think about what could happen if, for every purchase you made, you considered the brand, the people, and the practices behind it. There is too much at stake to be unthoughtful consumers, but significant and sustainable change won’t happen at once. Take small steps to learn about where your purchases come from. Start with one category, like fashion, and begin making small changes in your purchases as you go. Changing behavior takes time, individuals, and the broader collective, but we believe it can be done.
As Japanese author Ryunosuke Satoro said, “Individually we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
Article sources and resources for additional learning:
These facts show you how unsustainable the fashion industry is
Making Climate Change Fashionable - The Garment Industry Takes on Global Warming
A shopper’s manifesto: These three simple questions are the key to quitting fast fashion
How long do fashion trends last? Distinguish between fads, trends and classics.
This article was written by Lauren Hokenson.