Brian: What do you do with your Halloween costume now? This is a call in about clothing and your experiences navigating, or avoiding the fast fashion industry, 212-433-WNYC. It's about much more than yesterday's Halloween costume because, since 2000, clothing production has doubled. The number of people in the world hasn't doubled, but clothing production has doubled in the last 20 years.
People bought way more clothing in 2014 than they did in 2000 to cite one stat about 60% more clothing was bought just in 2014 compared to 2000 but people only kept these clothes for half as long as they did previously. That's According to McKinsey, a company that's come into fire, by the way, for its work with some of the world's top polluters, but it does market research.
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions I have read. It's also according to Business Insider, the second-largest consumer of the world's water supply and the clothing industry is partially at fault for that massive swirling garbage patch in the Pacific because the industry pollutes the oceans with microplastics. Those are the connections that environmentalists have been making.
If you patronize sites that often get named as sellers of "fast fashion", Shein, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Missguided, Boohoo, Zara to name a few, what's the draw, and what keeps you going back to those retailers despite the environmental toll of overconsumption from fast fashion, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692 or tweet @BrianLehrer.
Have you noticed in your own life that you keep your average article of clothing for a shorter period of time than your parents did, let's say, or that you even did earlier in your life?
Well, that's fast fashion. We buy cheaper clothes, maybe they fall apart more, maybe we're willing to discard them for the sake of fashion more quickly. Are you a fast fashion consumer? Are you an X fast fashion consumer? What's your relationship with fast fashion?
Who wants to call in about this? 212-433-WNYC. This is one of the relevant things to talk about as the COP26 Climate Summit is taking place right now. Fast fashion. If you aren't buying clothes from online retailers who specialize in fast fashion, how do you approach shopping for clothes when the need arises? 212-433-WNYC. That may be relevant as many who've had the luxury to work from home start heading into the office again, tell us how do you look for new work clothing, professional clothing, or style the ones you owned pre-pandemic for today if you think they became out of fashion in the last year and a half without contributing to all the waste and pollution of fast fashion.
Now there was an [unintelligible 00:03:32] in the Financial Times, here's the Halloween link, that called Halloween a fast fashion parade, a fast-fashion parade. You can also call and tell us what you did with your Halloween costume. Do you throw it in the trash as soon as the clock strikes midnight, 212-433-9692? Your calls on fast fashion, your relationship with it, how to avoid it, right after this.
[music]
Brian Lehrer on WNYC now to your calls on your relationship with fast fashion and I mentioned Halloween costume. It's almost an aside really in the larger scheme of things, Halloween costumes, but our first caller, Peter Gynt in Queens wants to talk about just that. Hello Peter Gynt.
Peter Gynt: Hi, how are you? My name is Peter Gynt. I come from Queens. I just want to say that as far as the repurposing the costumes that I build them myself from scratch and from other things. I've done costumes from like last night I was a zombie cowboy and before that, I was a dead man from the thriller video and all that and Frankenstein, and I've done a skeletal soldier and all that. I repurpose them and I keep them in the storage facility and I get a lot of use out of it, and I spend a lot of money.
Brian: Thanks Peter Gynt, sweet. Gabby in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Gabby.
Gabby: Hi. It's so nice to speak to you, Brian. I just wanted to make a comment about why I find that I keep going back to fast fashion and some of the companies. It's because they're affordable and unfortunately, the companies that I really like that are socially conscious, that are trying to do fair trade, and eco-conscious resourcing, they're very expensive.
I find myself in that position of how I want to support that but it is way beyond my means to buy one piece of clothing when I can buy several items, say, at Zara for that same price. We're between a rock and a hard place with that.
Brian: Yes, that's definitely one of the tensions. Now maybe our next caller can help address that and a potential way out of that, I don't know, but Harold in Manhattan says he's a former executive in the men's fashion industry so Harold, thank you for calling in. Hello.
Harold: Thanks, Brian, longtime fan. Am I able to be heard?
Brian: Yes, we got you.
Harold: Oh, good. Having spent 30 years in the business, Brian, and a little next step of what we're talking about and maybe take the lead from our restaurant rating. Let's have the courage in the front of all of our beautiful fashion magazines that I hope still have some life to them to have a rating of a Michael Kors or a Calvin Klein, or an Yves Saint Laurent, a code, a plus-five to a minus five perhaps, of how they source and bring their garments to market.
Everything is very price-driven. We work all over the world, often in third world countries for cheap labor, where there are not great circumstances for the workers. Are we only looking for the next new exciting look, when can we also start to get concerned about how we bring them into the stores? Maybe the [crosstalk] council for fashion design in addition to awarding the best designer of the year would be the best designer who's paid attention to those issues.
Brian: It's a great suggestion to have a rating system like that. What would you say to the previous caller, if you heard her, who says the very practical concern of price on the ground in the real world, for people who don't have that much money, is the disposable and environmentally polluting fast fashion items tend to be cheaper?
Harold: Yes, well, the fast-fashion items are meant to be recycled out and people who haven't built their wardrobes with key items, classic pieces that could still be updated and look fashionable are going to tend to go online, buy cheap fashion, and have to discard them more frequently creating these enormous gluts of polluting textiles basically that don't belong anywhere on the planet. They're now being floated on barges. We used to give access things to third-world countries. They don't even want them anymore.
I did hear the caller. I think you have to get more clever and there are independent boutiques around the city that in New York especially that offer really great suggestions and more variety.
Brian: Thank you, Harold. We really appreciate it. I'm told by our producer Amina Srna that there are some third-party waiting systems out there. I guess just nothing as mainstream as what Harold was suggesting where it would actually show up on the piece of clothing or on the store next to the brand when you actually go shopping. Ruth in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ruth.
Ruth: Hi, Brian. I was addicted to a store called Express. The clothes are fast fashion, very disposable, and I found that I was spending more money because every month, you have to pretty much buy them because they fall apart when you wash them. I started doing this for financial reasons, but then I was discovering the clothes fell apart so fast, I was buying clothes more frequently.
I'm in my 40s. I went back to my wardrobe and I found a pair of new Religion jeans I bought 20 years ago. I spent probably $125 for them at Bloomingdale's. I found a sweater I bought from Barneys 20 years ago that was a fortune also. They look better, they're in better condition than all this garbage I had. I got depressed during the lockdown, I threw out all my disposable clothes, most of them. I kept some cute ones that were still in good condition.
Now, I'm struggling to pay my bills, but I would rather do exactly that. Get more creative, build a wardrobe with classic pieces. I hate to say it but it's more affordable for me to buy something from, say, Rebecca Taylor that costs $200, that will last me 20 years as long as I don't gain or lose weight, rather than buy these stupid clothes from Express, H&M, Zara that keep falling apart. It forces you to constantly shop, constantly, constantly.
Brian: Interesting. I guess besides fast fashion, as my producer Carl Boisrond is sending me a message right now, disposable clothes is as good a term for it, maybe better one than fast fashion. Ruth, thank you very much.
I guess if you can look at it through long-term economics, that's one way that that investment might make sense if you can afford it at the moment. Carrie in the financial district is going to be our last caller on this, and I think has some advice for that earlier caller who is concerned about price and what she can afford today. Hi, Carrie, you're on WNYC.
Carrie: Hi, Brian. I just was calling to speak to that caller to say that very often if we shop at consignment shops, especially in our community, we can afford to buy ethically-made garments. I really got into this when shopping for my child.
I used to go to this tiny little shop by Washington Square Park called Clementine Consignment. They've recently gone out of business, unfortunately, but it felt so good to buy beautifully made garments for my child and to know that I was buying this really expensive thing that someone else had already worn, that were still in great condition. I think that you can all continue to do this.
Brian: Yes. Thrift stores and consignment and even eBay, another caller is suggesting. Thank you all for your calls on fast fashion or disposable clothes.
Copyright © 2021 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.
New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.
