Say goodbye to fast and take it slow

Fast fashion

In a YouTube “shopping haul” video with more than 100,000 views, sccastaneda shares her finds from Forever 21, H&M and Old Navy. Among the bargains: a $22.80 top, a $9.50 skirt and a $6.80 bracelet.

The camera pans to an overflowing closet, and at one point, sccastaneda says offhandedly: “I picked up this tank top, which I put in my cart last night online, and good thing I didn’t purchase it, because I already have it.”

In her new book, “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion,” author Elizabeth Clinedescribes the consequences of our growing fast-fashion habit, starting with the sheer waste resulting from cast-off clothing.

Stores like H&M, Zara, Forever21 and Primark are updating their collection almost four times a week. But why do we need all those new clothes? Do we need to shop every week? For a lot of girls it is therapy. Now please don’t get me wrong. Myself, I also shop at these stores. Why? It is cheap, and yes I love to walk around and just look at all the new clothes they have. But sometimes I wonder when I look at my own closet, do I need ten tank tops? Do I need that one top I will only wear just once? Why don’t I purchase an more expensive better quality top that I can wear more than once? I am still a student and some prices are just to high for me. But why don’t I save up and have a longer lasting happy feeling after my purchase?

I didn't quite realise the impact of how this common consumer behaviour of 'always wanting more' could be so damaging to the world around us until I did some research for this post.

I was shocked to hear just how much it takes of not just manual labour but how an unbelievable amount of resources such as water, petroleum, time, electricity, space is needed just to make one item that can end up going straight to a landfill site.

We hear about this constantly in the news, stories of retailers just throwing away garments that have used so many of the planet's valuable resources, for ultimately, nothing. Surely the production lifecycle can be better planned in order to avoid rendering such materials useless by such simple ways: recycling, reusing or reselling. So why is it still happening?

I think it is out of fear for especially girls to be outfashion. If you are having an party you want that new outfit that makes you feel new and fresh. It is more psychologically you talk yourself in to it. So why don’t you talk yourself out of it?