maybe dumb question how bad is fast fashion

[partgypsy]

So, I still work a regular office job. while my entire life I've supplemented with thrift store or consignment finds, in general if is easier for me to buy stuff online. In the past couple years I have bought quite a few things from Old Navy, both for myself and my 2 kids. I do return the stuff I try on and don't want. The stuff I keep however I generally wear until it wears out. It is true that ON clothes will generally not last a long as more durable clothes, but how bad is it to purchase from places like ON if you wear it for full lifespan?

[GuitarStv]

Buying the clothes and wearing them until they fall apart isn't too bad.  But you have to factor in that most of the clothes you return will be sent to landfill because it's not worth the time and effort to sell them again . . . so if you get three shirts and keep one you're probably generating three times the waste you think you are.  Couple that with the shorter life due to crappy materials/quality and it's not too good.

[affordablehousing]

Just a plug for finding clothes on the street. I justify spending a bit more on more durable clothes that I wear for office visits / construction work, with everyday clothes supplied by what I find on the street. It helps if you are a standard size, and I recommend washing stuff before you wear it, even if its neatly folded on top of the garbage, but it's amazing how much variety you can find of normal shirts, pants and shorts. I do also skip socks and underwear, as I draw the line there, though I know some folks have no problem with it.

[GuitarStv]

Just a plug for finding clothes on the street. I justify spending a bit more on more durable clothes that I wear for office visits / construction work, with everyday clothes supplied by what I find on the street. It helps if you are a standard size, and I recommend washing stuff before you wear it, even if its neatly folded on top of the garbage, but it's amazing how much variety you can find of normal shirts, pants and shorts. I do also skip socks and underwear, as I draw the line there, though I know some folks have no problem with it.

I do this with winter clothes all the time.  Over the past ten years I've found six winter hats and several pairs of gloves.  Just pop them in the wash and they're good to use.  I don't seem to ever find pants and shirts though.

[YttriumNitrate]

Perhaps I'm not that hard on my clothing, but I've found that even cheaply made clothing (by today's standards) still lasts a really long time. This past winter, I made it my goal to were out a 10+ year-old sweatshirt that I bought for about $3. I wore it literally every day, and was finally able to declare it "worn out" when my right elbow punched through the sleeve. I've also had freebie t-shirts stay in my bi-weekly rotation for a decade or more. Cheap jeans do tend to rip a bit sooner in the knee than expensive ones, but it's probably the difference between ~150 days worn and ~200 days worn.

[Sibley]

Thrift stores are hit or miss of course, but assuming you have access to one that gets stuff you're interested in that's wonderful. I need to go about 30 miles to visit the thrift store that makes sense for me to visit, but luckily it's very close to an office that I work at periodically.

[BDWW]

Climate town video about fast fashion

https://youtu.be/F6R_WTDdx7I

[StarBright]

I would say that fast fashion is no worse than anything else - as long as you aren't wearing it as fast fashion.

I remember reading once that people tend to only wear fast fashion 5-10 times before passing it on (which usually ends up in a land fill).

That obviously isn't good.

But I have some Old Navy tees that I bought over a decade ago. I hand wash and line dry them and they are fine. One has gotten a bit thin and it got moved to the rag pile. I am wearing wide legged Old Navy Linen trousers today. This will be their 4th summer. Gentle cycle and line drying are key.

I still use my Old Navy maternity shirts for night gowns now (my youngest is in 2nd grade). If you use the clothes up they aren't the worst.

There are obviously concerns with working conditions for fast fashion. That is really hard to get around. I used to use American Apparel for my basics. I still order from them online sometimes, but have also aged out of their demographic so it is harder to fine things that fit.

Do your best. Don't be wasteful. Find alternative uses for old clothes. That is the best any of us can really do.

[iris lily]

I get stuff on the street too, clothing stuff.

The most common article is probably gloves. People drop a pair of winter gloves fairly often not sure why.

I remember one’s picking up a hat and putting it right on my head, and one of my friends remarked wow you would do that without even thinking of Nets? And she’s right, I hadn’t thought about Nets. We didn’t have nets in my generation and I don’t have kids so I never got to experience that joy.

 I got two separate bed covers from the street, as I work downtown and a urban environment. The street people leave crap all over. One of them was a nice winter quilt recently laundry, you can smell the Tide.

Of course I bring them home and put them in the washing machine anyway.

Winter coats are scattered all over downtown streets by street  people.

But all this is really not necessary because we have wonderful thrift stores around here. Even though the prices went up after Covid, they’re still around $4-$5 per article of clothing.

[partgypsy]

I ended up talking to my friend about this same topic. She actually had gone to a thrift store and found some great finds. She is very stylish and almost all her clothes are 2nd hand. Other than thrift, we agreed that the most important R is reduce, and the least is recycle bc it is really hard to know what really happens post use. She told me that Africa has accepted so much clothing from the US, it's becoming an environmental disaster. I'll try to be better going forward. I don't return as many items as probably some do, as I have 2 daughters and we are all slightly different sizes. So often if it doesn't work for me, they can use. I also have learned, I don't need to wash things as often, (esp jeans) as I was taught. And when I use the dryer I dry for 40 minutes then hang dry. That helps with longevity. Also I have gotten in the practice when I'm doing dirty messy house chores (painting, mudding) I'll wear a big apron which helps keep my clothes clean.

[E.T.]

This can be hard to do but I think it's important to try and avoid plastics in the clothes you buy new as well. Go for 100% cotton or other natural materials when you can. I think all the synthetic / polyester clothing is part of what makes fast fashion terrible for the planet. All those micro fibers that get worn off in production, washing, and at the end of the product's life cycle just end up in the environment.

[wenchsenior]

Perhaps I'm not that hard on my clothing, but I've found that even cheaply made clothing (by today's standards) still lasts a really long time. This past winter, I made it my goal to were out a 10+ year-old sweatshirt that I bought for about $3. I wore it literally every day, and was finally able to declare it "worn out" when my right elbow punched through the sleeve. I've also had freebie t-shirts stay in my bi-weekly rotation for a decade or more. Cheap jeans do tend to rip a bit sooner in the knee than expensive ones, but it's probably the difference between ~150 days worn and ~200 days worn.

Yeah, before I became aware of 'fast fashion' and stopped buying it, I mostly bought all my casual clothes from Old Navy, Target, or Victoria's Secret (back when they made actual clothes). Most of the pieces were bought 10-20+ years ago and are still going strong. I did wear out a few things, and I think quite a few of my very old Old Navy t shirts will soon hit the bin, but for the most part these clothes have lasted me years and years, sometimes decades.

Now, swimsuits are a completely other story. Those last me 2 years and then are worthless and bound for the trash. And I no longer buy those from fast fashion companies, it's just that I use the hell out of them and the elasticity deteriorates and/or the seams come apart. I do notice Speedo one piece training suits have a longer life span.

[skellig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st5Ij9fz754

Here's a clothing designer's take on it. I personally try to limit my purchases from fast fashion places. Most of the time when I know I'm working at a greasy job, ie fast food or the like, I will purchase something like jeans. They tend to get filled with oil and will end up being thrown away in either regard. For more long-term pieces, I want to make sure they're in a classic style and I can wear them for many years. Here is where I will buy quality. I have a $300 dress that I bought 3 years ago. "designer" and still going strong. I will wear it out.

[mm1970]

The most common article is probably gloves. People drop a pair of winter gloves fairly often not sure why.

Ooh, I do!  Even though I don't live in a winter place anymore...I take my gloves off and put them in my pocket.  Then I put my keys in my pocket.  Or my money.

Then I take my keys out of my pocket.  And the gloves fall out while I'm pulling the keys out, and I just don't notice.

(Replace "gloves" with "mask", and that actually happened yesterday somewhere on my lunch walk.)

[SquarePeg]

So where can one get good quality, long-wearing clothes that aren't made in sweatshop conditions and aren't crazy expensive?

[Fresh Bread]

So where can one get good quality, long-wearing clothes that aren't made in sweatshop conditions and aren't crazy expensive?

There are a few online rating systems that can help you like these:
https://directory.goodonyou.eco
https://baptistworldaid.org.au/resources/ethical-fashion-guide/

And there's a book called The Conscious Closet which goes through how to pick good clothes. There's supposed to be an online resource related to it too but I can't find it.

The author points out that although it adds very little to a garment's price for the sewer to be paid a living wage, the smaller, more ethical businesses cannot produce at the scale of the big businesses. So their products are more expensive because of scale, not ethics. However, you can look up your favourite big brands and see which one is doing best. And you can write to (via a social media comment) a favourite brand  that is performing poorly and ask them to do better.

[Cranky]

So where can one get good quality, long-wearing clothes that aren't made in sweatshop conditions and aren't crazy expensive?

Thrift store. There is so, so much stuff available.

[jeninco]

So where can one get good quality, long-wearing clothes that aren't made in sweatshop conditions and aren't crazy expensive?

Thrift store. There is so, so much stuff available.

If you can get yourself to a reasonably-sized, upscale town or neighborhood. Plus, they're pre-shrunk, which (as a tall-ish person with long-ish legs) I really, really appreciate.

[draco44]

+1 to the suggestions to reduce your consumption overall and make full use of what you do have, regardless of where you got it from. Buying from thrift stores is great, as is swapping through groups like Buy Nothing. Both Buy Nothing groups I've happened to be involved with have had various wardrobe bags for various size ranges that rotate between members for people to add or take whatever they want. Do what you can, and don't be swayed by greenwashing in advertising campaigns.

Also chiming in to add a reminder that clothing is overproduced in general. Most clothing donated to thrift stores is never sold, and often gets either trashed domestically or shipped to other countries where much of the volume is ultimately just incinerated: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/reader-recommendations/dead-white-man's-clothes-the-environmental-disaster-fuelled-by-used-clothes/?topicseen

[familyandfarming]

My childhood was during the '70's. Each member of my family had about 9 school/church-appropriate outfits, some t-shirts, shorts and jeans. (Shorts and jeans were not allowed at school.) We had maybe 3 pairs of shoes to last the year. Malls didn't exist. 

Since the early 2000's, I've attempted to get to that '70's mind set again. If I need something "new" I always attempt to find it pre-owned online. It's so much more cost effective to own 2 pre-owned cashmere sweaters as opposed to 6 Old Navy sweaters. My important clothing is nice but minimal. And used.

When my 3 daughters were in middle school & high school, I told them if they got clothing 2nd hand, I would pay for it. If it was bought retail, they paid for it. They hardly ever bought new. That included prom dresses and wedding dresses. I'm pleased to see they have adopted minimalism fashion.

I think many others are doing the same.

[cats]

As someone else has mentioned, it's the return process that is particularly bad--the faster the fashion, the less likely anything you return is actually going to make it back onto the sale floor (or into another online purchase).

I like thrift shopping and have also scored good clothes either off the street or from my local Buy Nothing group.  For more specific items, I have recently started using thredup and have had a pretty good experience with it.  They do charge a re-stocking fee per item so I am pretty careful about what I buy.  My tips would be 1) to filter so that only "new with tags" or "like new" items come up--otherwise it's just tooooo much stuff 2) stick with brands that I've bought in the past and know pretty well what my size is (you can filter items by brand as well).  They have a kids section also which can be useful especially if your kid is at a school with a "uniform" policy of specific colors polo shirt/pants. I will also shamelessly plug my thredup referral link (use it and we each get $10 off an order)