The Fabric of Society

One has to wonder, why haven’t the karmic forces of the free market corrected for fast fashion? Unfortunately, that is not what our economic system is designed to do—the reason sustainable brands are not able to dominate the market as much as fast fashion companies is that the market incentivizes underhanded practices and cut corners.

That is where the core of the issue lies. Unethical companies stay unethical because they are rewarded, whereas sustainable brands must eat the costs of more expensive materials and production costs and paying their employees a fair wage.

This proves that we can’t rely solely on consumer conscious to see our way through this climate crisis—nor should we. That’s both an unfair expectation on the average consumer as well as misdirected absolution of responsibility for more powerful bodies like the companies themselves or the government.

There are regulatory steps that can be taken to mitigate the environmental harm and incentive ethical behavior. The New York Senate recently introduced the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act, which, if passed, would mandate that retailers and manufacturers digitally publish social and environmental policies.

Much of the pushback against the sustainable fashion movement may be what many feel is a disproportionate focus on the consumer end, when they are the ones with the least power. This is a fair point to make, but the issue is clearly nuanced and, in the end, it is a problem for the consumer end as well.

“Ending is better than mending” —this line out of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is becoming more and more relevant the older the words are. In the UK, one in three young women (the biggest segment of consumers) consider pieces worn once or twice to be old. 

It is apparent that the solution to this crisis demands a culture change too, not just a business one. And while our world is far from the futuristic dystopia of the World State (not too far, though), it will take significant action steps to prevent our future from becoming its mirror image.