While fast-fashion is rampant across the country today, few know of its dark implications. This website defines it as “A phenomenon in the fashion industry whereby production processes are expedited in order to get new trends to the market as quickly and cheaply as possible.” Globally more and more people are getting aware of the necessity of “ethical fashion” (you can read our feature on 4 Indians Who Have Given up Fast Fashion), the large-scale environmental hazards the commodity fetishism fuelled by fast-fashion is devastating and hard to ignore after a point.
Not convinced? Let’s talk numbers because they speak more starkly than humanitarian appeals. The member of the family that owns the H&M label is Sweden’s richest person, the Spanish founder of the Zara fashion chain has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world’s richest man, while Forever 21 co-founders are reportedly worth more than four billion dollars. Yet, as seen in Rahul Jain’s documentary “Machines,” the workers of an unnamed textile factory in India get paid three US dollars per 12-hour shift and most of the workers take just one hour’s break between shifts. It’s time to ask ourselves - what is the true cost of fast fashion?

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