What I Learned Working in Fast Fashion
Stepping into the office every morning felt a little like working for the enemy. My constant mantra was, “This is just to understand the problem, to gather information, to expose fast fashion.” Curiosity and eagerness to learn kept me upbeat, even when I was faced with their questionable business practices.
I left my comfortable ethical fashion start-up job in October 2016 knowing that grad school was on the horizon, but still had almost a year before it started and was pondering my next steps. Since arriving in New York City I had the luxury of staying in my bubble working at a brand where I trusted the product, knew exactly who made the clothes and the materials going into them. The mass market, price-driven fashion world was foreign and incomprehensible, yet this was the world I was going back to graduate school to change. It dawned on me that I needed to have that understanding in order to become the impactful leader that I was striving to be. So I started applying to production jobs at mainstream fashion brands.
Cautiously hopeful – this was my attitude on the first day. It was all a bit of chaos, no one knew I was coming. For the first couple weeks I just sat there, observed and listened. They made off-price mens clothing and I was managing production. The work was a bit monotonous, but I grew to really enjoy my co-workers. A couple of them had been in the industry for decades and I loved hearing about the good old days when the NYC garment district was bustling.
My last day was June 23rd and I walked away feeling grateful for the experience, and also incredibly relieved I no longer had to pretend. I’m happy to be able to carry what I’ve learned into my next chapter, here are three of the biggest takeaways I had from my time there.
Throw away culture – from product to people
Now, I don’t want to over generalize and say that all fast-fashion companies operate in this way, but the one I worked for did and I have a suspicion that many others do too. There is a lot of turnover within fashion as a whole and a lot of this is due to do with the volatile market and an uncertain future for retail. Yet, the “employee as dispensable” is very different from a struggling business model trying to find it’s place in an ever-changing market.
From the moment I started, I got the feeling that if I left they’d just go find someone else eager to break into the fashion industry. Pay was horrible, there were no benefits, zero vacation, and we worked most holidays. I would get into the office at 9:30am and would stay till at least 7pm, sometimes staying till 8pm or later. I wasn’t the only one that felt under-appreciated and cast aside, my co-workers would rant about being talked down to, and overworked.
This sense of being expendable wasn’t just with the employees, it started with the product. When developing pieces and producing for customers, the product just had to be good enough; most important was affordability. There was no pause to question, what is the process of creating this wash effect? Or, how are the factories sourcing their materials? It just had to look like the CAD (kind of) and be at the right price. A product isn’t coming out right? Cancel the order and move on, create more. Employee not working out? Get rid of them and find someone who will do the job, for the least amount of money.
100% trend driven – constant pressure to copy
This might be obvious, but it shocked me to what extent the designs were merely copied. I had heard the horror stories of independent designers getting their designs ripped off, and have seen how quickly the trends go from the runway to Forever 21, but the blatancy of it was unsettling.
If we didn’t have the specs for style, we’d go out and buy one from a competitor and copy it. I understand buying reference samples to base a design off of, but to make no tweaks or adjustments didn’t feel quite right. Maybe I was living in an idealized world before but I had seen designers work hard to create new shapes and innovative designs, and to see that is being stolen without any thought was tough. Especially since this was so normalized and encouraged.
One day we got some samples from a factory, we opened the box to discover that the designs were not ours. Seeing the fresh new designs, our boss loved them and wanted to produce it for ourselves. Immediately the designers were told to tweak the colors and and make CADs for the next sales meeting. These decisions were made without even the blink of an eye.
Business is booming – Americans want a deal
Even with retailers facing uncertainty and consumers shifting their buying habits, the off-price market seems to be having a moment. Most Americans are looking for cheap clothes that they feel like they’re getting a deal on. I had no idea that new garments were being made with price stickers advertising reduced special pricing even though they were never sold at the higher price. The mind game had sure worked on me, they got me fooled. Many Americans are falling for it too, feeling good about all the money they “saved”.
The off-price market is huge, and although it might be a little daunting to try and make it more sustainable or ethical, the potential is massive. It’s not really about the consumer, they don’t particularly care if it’s sustainable. It’s about creating new methods and technology to make sustainable practices a better business model, think Ray Anderson and how he radically reduced waste and environmental harm in his carpet company by adopting sustainable business practices. It’s not a necessarily a marketing tool or value add like it has been in the luxury and contemporary markets, although it could be as our society shifts towards a more sustainable future. With a combination of making sustainability more attainable and shifting the mindset of the consumer, there could be an amazing opportunity to crack into this market. It’s probably all a bit idealistic, but I’m a bit of a dreamer.
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I never went overseas where the clothes were manufactured, but I could only imagine the working conditions. I saw the prices we were buying the clothes for and knew that only about 10%, if that, would go to the person making the garment. It made me sick. Not to mention the washing, dyeing and sandblasting done on the jeans creates hazardous environments and were probably making the workers sick. This would be a whole other research project, something I hope to better understand and figure out solutions for while at NYU.
Ultimately, I’m left with more questions than answers. I saw the inside of a very small price-driven fashion company, but one that is making a significant impact in the world of off-price fashion. I feel more motivated than ever as I enter graduate school, knowing that I have more clarity on the industry I’m trying to innovate and change.
The Complexities of Transparent Material Sourcing
Many people ask me “what is sustainable fashion?” and I’m always at a loss for a quick and easy answer. I usually end up responding with something like, “being conscious of your choices, knowing where your clothes come from.” But honestly, it needs a full explanation, especially for those who are new to the apparel industry and the garment manufacturing process.
The fashion industry has struggled with how to tackle the issue of transparency in its multi-layered supply chain, mainly due to the fact that very few fashion brands are vertically integrated. Generally speaking, the people that grow/produce the fibers, process the fibers, weave the textile, dye the fabric, cut the fabric, sew the clothing, and ship the product are all different. At each step along the way the material and labor could be coming from any number of places, much of which is kept under wraps. This makes it very difficult to track if the materials are produced sustainably or ethically.
Many brands work with factory agents that then coordinate production with their factories abroad, you might not know exactly which factory your goods are being made. Mills could get their resources from several farms, some of which could be using slave labor. Factories abroad can get a backlog of work and sub-contract out your production to a facility that uses child labor. All of this is sadly all too common in garment manufacturing, and many brands choose to look the other way.
As a consumer, understanding the process of making textiles and how clothing is made is the first step in making sustainable choices in your wardrobe. With new innovations and technology, the materials going into garments is constantly growing. It spans from your traditional natural fibers like cotton, wool, linen etc., to wood pulp based fabrics, and recycled plastics. There are pros and cons to each type of material, and there is no one miracle sustainable textile. You can use the overview below as a general guide.
Natural fibers
Cotton – Wools – Linen – Silk – Hemp
There are those out there that vow to only wear “natural fibers” meaning those taken from the earth. It’s also important to pay attention to how the fibers were processed, this category usually contains fibers in their pure state, not overly processed. Of course organic cottons/wools are better, otherwise you may be exposing your skin to harmful chemicals.
Wood Pulp Based
Rayon – Cupro – Lyocell – Bamboo
Although no animals were harmed in making these fabrics, the process is highly chemically intensive. Not to mention some of these fabrics using wood pulp are sourced from endangered forests. Many people think of bamboo as a sustainable textile, but when processed in this way I would argue that it’s not, even though the cultivation of the crop is more environmentally friendly than others in this category.
Plastics/Synthetics
PVC – Polyester – Nylon – Recycled PET/Recycled Polyester
Traditional synthetic materials, PVC, Polyester, Nylon, have no benefits in terms of sustainability. But, now that these materials are in our eco-system, people are recycling them to make new garments. Many active wear brands that rely on these synthetic fibers are making recycled PET and recycled polyester more accessible, which is exciting.
Reclaimed Materials
Vintage Fabrics – Recycled Cotton – Repurposed Goods
I personally love this category. From unravelling old sweaters and using the yarn to using tuna skin from food waste to create leather, there are a lot of opportunities here. It’s all about looking as what others see as disposable and turning it into a usable product. This might be less common, but you’re getting something truly unique and special when you use materials with a past.
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It takes a lot of time and effort to examine a brand’s ethics and sourcing practices, but if you’re motivated to do so, sites like Project Just are helpful to get started. I’ll write a post just on research tools this month.
There are also some great online e-tailers that have your back, one of my favorites is Fashionkind, but there are new one’s popping up all the time and honestly it’s hard to keep up. It’s wonderful to see that people are looking for places to find sustainable fashion, which the growing demand hopefully we’ll start to see a shift in the industry.