Wikipedia:Fast fashion industry in China and climate change

Within the clothing industry, fast fashion is defined as the system in which replicated luxury items are mass-produced into the average consumer market at a fast rate to keep up with trends and sold at a lower, affordable cost. The operation side of fast fashion's business model requires that the supply chain is able to keep up with constantly changing consumer needs. In order to keep these clothing garments low cost, fast fashion retailers will seek to manufacture their products in countries where labor costs are low such as China, India, Cambodia, and Indonesia. The United States was the world's largest apparel maker, holding 13% of the market share with China leading second at 12%. In 2019, China's market share grew to 47% while the US dramatically decreased to only 3%. Other obvious characteristics of fast fashion the use of synthetic materials, clothing items don't last more than a few wears because they become less trendy or the item falls apart, and if there's a clothing deal where the prices are too good to be true.

Some of the most popular fast fashion brands include:


 * Zara
 * H&M Group
 * Forever 21
 * Shein
 * Top Shop
 * GAP
 * Nasty Gal
 * Fashion Nova

Background
To many, its second nature to notice the tags on many shirts saying “made in China.” This label highlights the global imports of Chinese made goods but also the general idea of mass production, low quality, and cheap clothing. China is one of the most efficient countries for mass production of textiles as they have the machinery and technology for meeting the high demand. The “fast fashion” model has only appeared within the past sixty years. Standardized clothing production became more common after World War II and thus middle-class families were able to afford purchasing mass-produced clothes. By the 1960s, the fashion industry changed to what we are now familiar with in modern day. Amancio Ortega Gaona, entrepreneur of the Spanish stores Zara and Inditex, was one of the pioneers within the fast fashion industry. At the time the annual sale of these two companies was $30 million but by 2006, had sales of $8 billion. The reason for Inditex's success was because it strayed from the traditional model of seasonal clothing lines and responded to fashion market demands quickly through vertically integrated designs, real-time production and distribution, and retail locations for direct communication of customers to designers. It was also with the help of the younger generation that propelled fast fashion forward as they rejected how generations before them had traditional bought clothes. They were more focused on being up to date with the newest fashion trends. This demand pressured fashion brands to open more textile manufacturing facilities and thus begin outsourcing their labor. What started as a European business model eventually spread to America by the 1990s. The first use of the term “fast fashion” appeared in the New York Times when describing Zara's mission to execute an idea into a final product in only 15 days. This societal shift in preferences for fashion, willingness to pay for clothes, and frequency in which new items are bought have shaped how “fast fashion” is viewed today. The growing success of the industry has also brought a lot of attention to the ethicality of labor and environmental practices. Critiques argue that in order to maintain these affordable costs for buyers, textile mills will implement questionable practices that hurt the environment and exploit workers in these developing countries. Rising awareness of the ethicality of “fast fashion” has also pushed consumers to looking into sustainable habits to incorporate in daily life such as zero-waste living or simply being more conscious in the businesses that they're putting their money into.

Zara
Zara was founded in 1975, A Coruña, Spain by Amancio Ortega. It is the largest and most international branch of the Inditex distribution group. The retail store sells clothing for women, men, and children and has a brand value of $14.7B and a total of $21.9B sales. As of the beginning of 2022, there are 321 Zara stores and 56 Zara Home stores in just the Americas. What make's Zara stand out from many other retailers in the market is it's internal development. Even in 1990, Zara had around 11,000 distinct items produced while competitors only about 2,000-4,000 items. The utilization of vertical integrated supply chain also allows the company to get an idea of a design to the actual finished product in retail locations in three weeks. Inditex has been trying to source closer to their origin location or what they call “proximity” markets which is mainly Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. This is unlike most fast fashion companies who source in China. Their distribution center has also remained in Spain where products will be then shipped to stores globally. Within the stores, Zara has constantly changing product lines and clothes that buyers claim to be worn 10 times.

H&M Group
H&M Group was founded in 1947 as a womenswear only store by Swedish entrepreneur Erling Persson, in Västerås, Sweden. At the time the retail store was under the name Hennes, Swedish for “Hers.” In 1954, after the opening of their second store in Stockholm, Hennes debuted their first color ad in a Swedish magazine, aligning the power of marketing to their values. H&M's history emphasizes its rapid expansion throughout different countries. At the end of 2021 last year, H&M Group had a total number of 4,801 stores open around the globe with the United States leading as the country with the most stores. They also have 54 online markets within the group. Roughly 87% of these stores are for H&M, the clothing store typically found in malls around the US. The CEO of H&M, Karl-Johan Persson states that their business concept is “Fashion and quality at the best price” and strongly believes in putting the people in the company and their customers at the front of their vision. They also claim to doing business “the H&M way” which is by being ethical, honest, and responsible. Now, the company has $20.16B in total sales and 107,375 employees globally. Their 602 commercial product suppliers responsible or manufacturing all their products throughout their brands are in Europe, Asia and Africa, with China and Bangladesh being the largest producers for their clothing. They have the largest number of suppliers and manufacturers in China with the numbers being 321 and 380 respectively. Each factory is covered by the Sustainable Impact Partnership Program which is H&M's standard of sustainability. In recent years, they have been more vocal about promising to provide more transparency of their current and future business practices.

Shein
Shein was founded in 2012 Chris Xu and specializes in selling primarily womenswear. With no actual brick and mortar stores, Shein relies on making their clothing accessible through online platforms such as their website and mobile app. They sell to more than 150 countries and employee roughly 10,000 people worldwide. Throughout the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shein has experienced a major increase in popularity among Generation Z. Shein has been considered part of a new wave of “ultra-fast fashion” as they are able to reach new customers through the plethora of social media platforms that have saturated the lives of many young buyers.

The Role of Social Media
Unsurprisingly, these fast fashion companies have been incredibly popular with the younger generations of today's day and age, specifically to the Generation Z population. The popular industry is largely growing due to the influence of social media. According to a 2021 survey taken by Piper Sandler of 10,000 U.S. teens, Snapchat is the No. 1 favorite social media platform while TikTok follows in second place. Clothing is also the No. 1 priority of what teens will spend their money on and their favorite e-commerce sight is Amazon followed by SHEIN. Brands mentioned above such as PacSun, SHEIN, and are all gaining share in the past year. Fast fashion and companies such as SHEIN and Zara, considered ultra-fast fashion companies, “Has changed the way that fashion is produced” says Eric Schmidt, a senior analyst at Coresight Research. In recent years, online platforms such as TikTok and Instagram where users can repost short videos has given rise to new social media trends such as posting hauls of what they've bought from these fashion companies. These videos are wildly successful for many reasons. For one, it's free marketing for the companies. Video creators will often showcase these hauls using captions or video titles such as “$100 SHEIN Haul.” This captures the attentions of viewers who will find that there's a lot you can buy from these websites for extremely cheap while staying within the current fashion trends. The comments on these videos often echo the same sentiment of people needing or wanting the clothes are whatever is being advertised. When searching up the hashtag #sheinhaul on TikTok, there are roughly 5.3 billion views of all videos combined that use that hashtag in their caption. This goes to show the impact social media has on the fast fashion industry as these videos reach millions of users everyday, encouraging people to spend their money on these products which ultimately supports all of the pros and cons that comes with these companies.

Influencer Culture
The increasing usage of social media also provides opportunities for content creators to become internet celebrities also known as “influencers.” The Cambridge Dictionary defines the term “influencer” as “someone who affects or changes the way that other people behave” and “a person who is paid by a company to show and describe its products and services on social media, encouraging other people to buy them.” To summarize, content creators showcasing a product can be doing it because they signed a contract with a company to sell new product lines or it can simply be because they recommend others to use the product. As mentioned above, fast fashion is heavily inspired by celebrity styles and luxury catwalk designers. Throughout the past few years, social media has been able to serve as a vessel to develop relationships and trust between the follower and the influencer. This also means that followers are highly influenced by the content creators they watch and will aspire to wear the same clothes and look the same way. These factors combined—influencers promoting clothes and products and viewers persuaded to buy these items—lead to the issue of overconsumption. Without much discourse from the content creator on the environmental impact of such hauls, viewers are lead to believe it's a sustainable way of purchasing clothes from these fast fashion companies. According to one survey, 71% of people aged 16–24 years old blame influencers for the rise of fast fashion. On one hand, previous low income households were often limited to buying secondhand but with fast fashion as a new outlet for accessing affordable high-end fashion trends, online retail now allows for everyone to buy stylish clothes regardless of their economic status. On the other hand, however, the fast fashion industry continues to add to environmental issues that need to be addressed.

Kylie Jenner and House of Sunny Dress Example
One such example of influencer culture was when Kendall Jenner, a model and a member of the Kardashian family clan, posted a picture on her Instagram for her 135 million followers at the time where a House of Sunny's Hockney Dress in 2020. The marble green dress retails for around $128 and quickly went viral and garnered popularity on other social media platforms such as TikTok. With its high price point, owning the dress became a brief symbol of being in an ultra-exclusive social club. But within weeks, fast fashion companies began releasing clothing items almost identical to the Hockney Dress for a fraction of the price. On SHEIN there's one dupe that's being sold at only $7.50. Critics of this dress dispute that the desire by many to want to be included in this group of people who own the dress encourages overconsumption. Multiple users on TikTok have agreed that the dress was no longer fashionable once so many people had hopped on the trend bandwagon and soon deemed it as an out of date style. This also points to another issue in fast fashion of accelerated trend cycles. One interviewed TikTok user states, “We’re consuming so much media now that it’s using a lot of confusion in what we like” which summarizes the overall issue many see with influencer culture.

"Throwaway Culture"
"Fast fashion has also exacerbated another issue in today’s culture known as “throwaway culture.” Within the fashion world, it is traditional for designers and brands to release new clothing lines for fall/winter and spring/summer, roughly two seasons a year. In recent years, fast fashion has changed the scene especially with brands like Zara executing clothing ideas within a matter of a couple of weeks. Now, rather than customers waiting for seasonal clothes to come out twice a year, Zara is delivery products at least 26 times a year. In addition, Zara’s business model shows that retail stores only receive a few items in each style, so inventory is scarce leading to constantly changing clothes on the racks for the customers. The mindset then for customers is that they should buy it if they spot it in the store because the next time they visit Zara, it’s likely not going to be there anymore. In an NPD Group Survey, the average shopper who is brand loyal typically visits a store four times a year while a Zara shopper will visit the store 17 times per year. This emphasizes Zara’s value proposition again of newness and scarcity. Some people believe, though, that this creates hyper-consumerism in individuals. One research report by McKinsey & Company found that the average number of clothing items people purchased from 2000 to 2014 increased by 60% but kept them for half as long. This indicates that people feel less attached to their clothes, especially if the price they pay for their clothes is so inexpensive. Some people even dispose their clothes only after a few wears. One survey from 2017 found that 18 to 25 year olds feel the need to wear different clothes every time they go out and another one from 2018 found that British people will disposed about 2.7 billion pounds of clothes only worn once that summer. This goes to show that this “throwaway culture” is a global phenomenon. A majority of these clothes being thrown away are manufactured in China and Bangladesh and the United States is the largest consumer of these clothes and textiles in the world. Akhil Sivanandan, co-founder and CEO of Green Story, comments," “Why spend $80 on repairing a pari of sneakers when a new pair costs exactly the same? It’s a throwaway culture.”

Impact on China
Fast fashion greatly impacts China's economy because not only are such stores located within China's urban cities, but also through the general textile industry and manufacturing facilities. Many of the brick-and-mortar fast fashion brands mentioned throughout this article, such as the Inditex group, H&M, and Uniqlo, all have hundreds of store locations in China. Inditex has opened more than 300 stores in more than 40 Chinese cities since entering their market in 2007. H&M also opened their first location in Shanghai, China around this year, and by 2021 has a total of more than 500 retail stores throughout the country. H&M also reportedly manufactures their products through more than 350 facilities in China. The Japanese brand Uniqlo was the first fast fashion brand to enter China in 2002, and as of April 30, 2022 has more than 865 store locations in China. China's own domestic fast fashion brands are also gaining market size with the biggest name being HLA Corp. Under its umbrella, HLA corp has more than 13,00 store locations dispersed throughout China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

The sheer number of these stores as well as their strategic placement in malls provides the perfect opportunity for China to grow their already strong textile industry with fast fashion. Within China's fast fashion market, sales have reached 2.1 trillion CNY in 2018 which is roughly $312 M U.S. dollars. Fast fashion products were generating sales of 534.7 billion CNY and a CAGR rate of 14.5% between the years 2010–2015. As of this year, China and the US take the lead in having the largest apparel markets in the world. The global apparel market is estimated to be 1.55 trillion U.S. dollars and will surpass 2 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026. How does China play a role in this global market? It's estimated that China exported 154 billion U.S. dollars worth of apparel which is the highest value of apparel exports in the world. This comes to no surprise when understanding that China accounted for 39% of the world textile exports in 2019, and produces on average 3.66 billion tonnes per month of textiles. In addition, China's National Textile Industry currently employs more than 15 million people in their factories who are mainly women and many who identify as migrant workers. Researchers all agree that the fashion industry and textile industry has no plans of slowing down in the near future.

External Challenges
As a global leader in the apparel market, China has had its fair share of rocky relationships with other countries, most specifically, the United States. Within recent years, China has increased tariffs by 5 to 10 percent on on most of its textile, apparel, accessories, and footwear that it exports from the United States. With the emergence and spread of COVID-19 production has been on the decline and limited China's usual operating power. China's strict quarantine regulations greatly impacted the textile industry as well as its relations to other countries in terms of meeting the demand of international customers. In a survey of 350 related apparel manufacturing businesses from 2014 to 2022, the main issues that enterprises reported included 25.1% of a production decline of 50% or greater, 73.4% reported increased production costs, and 66.8% reported declining orders. Freight costs have increased from 20 to 30 percent due to delays of trucks transporting and delivery goods between regions. The delays have also affected the time in which raw materials, parts and equipment, and other important components are received by businesses ultimately hurting the entire supply chain. In addition the slow delivery to domestic and international buyers is also due to the increased cost of labor has and labor shortages due to laying off people during COVID. The bottleneck effect in the supply chain has also lead to other implications such as buyers either stopping their orders or altogether turning to other facilities in regions of Asia. However, things are looking up as COVID becomes more manageable with the release of the COVID-19 vaccines. The National Bureau of Statistics found that in the first quarter of 2022, that textile exports increased up to 15.1% for a total of $36.6 billion U.S. dollars and apparel exports were up 7.4% or $35.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Capitalism
As mentioned early, fast fashion has exacerbated the issue of overconsumption which is strongly related to capitalism. Capitalist ideology in China has only developed in the past 50 years after Deng Xiaoping, China's former leader of the People's Republic of China, took control of the country after Mao Zedong's reign. One of the most defining characteristics of Chairman Mao was his wholehearted belief that communism was the way in which China should govern itself. This greatly affected how China played a role in the global economy, or lack thereof. Under his leadership, market economies were eliminated and capitalism was the enemy to his vision. Mao's legacy includes the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the Great Chinese Famine, and the enforced concept of collectivism. However, when Mao died and Deng Xiaoping was one of the pioneers for developing China's economic growth and encouraged the formation of private businesses and property. Karl Gerth states, “China soon witnessed the return of pre-Communist markets for seemingly anything that one could buy and sell” (Gerth 158). By 1978, China had opened its borders to foreign investment and international trade during its beginning economic reforms (Harney 19). A once isolated country was now at the forefront of the capitalist economy. China's rapid industrialization and mass production facilities have all contributed to the massive growth the world has witnessed in China. This has lead to what many people around the world are familiar with, the “China price.” In order to manufacture the products China exports, including fast fashion, many of these laws go unchecked to maintain economic prosperity. Some people argue that the cheap cost behind these articles of clothing being sold through online retail stores is one of the many negative consequences of capitalism. The $5 tag on a shirt is not the only cost associated with the price. Rather many customers are often unconsciously supporting unethical human rights and labor practices as well as  detrimental environmental pollution from the factories. China's race to become an economic superpower through capitalist tendencies is severely impacting the future of our planet and generations to come.

Greenwashing
Customers of fashion haven't only changed their preferences for clothes that are cheap and trendy. Rather, the fashion world has become polarized between fast fashion and sustainable fashion. A survey taken by Vogue of their readers found that intent to buy sustainably has risen from 65% in October 2020 to almost 70% in May 2021. When interviews, Scott Clarke, VP at Publicis Sapient, explains that customers understand many of the brands they're loyal to won't change overnight but do hope that the inclusion of environmentally and ethically made clothes will be produced in the future to “lead by example. ” Many fast fashion brands are aware of the opinions of the customers they serve through incorporating “greener” practices. However, not all brands are as “green” as they promise to be and are being accused of “greenwashing.” The term “greenwashing” can be defined as “the practice of making unwarranted or overblown claims of sustainability or environmental friendliness in an attempt to gain market share.” This concept is not new, but the commitment fast fashion brands have to the environment in recent years to meet increasing demands of consumers can be misleading. While some companies may actually act on their promises, others will be straight out deceptive, use subtle advertising, or will talk the talk without walking the walk on the actual impacts of their products. Clothing brands will often use buzzwords such as “sustainable,” “eco-friendly,” or “natural” on the clothing tags itself or within their new product lines. In an interview to the Guardian, Greta Thunberg, a climate activist, disputes, “You cannot mass produce fashion or consume ‘sustainably’ as the world is shaped today.” A few ways to tell whether a fast fashion brand, or any type of brand, is greenwashing:


 * Reducing carbon emissions at corporate buildings: promises of using solar panels for their offices does not address the root issue which is the need to reduce greenhouse gases throughout their entire supply chain
 * Recycled packaging: companies now claim that the packing products come in are more “eco-friendly” either because it's recycled, minimal, or “recyclable.” While it's a good surface level tactic, fast fashion companies should focus on reducing waste throughout the entire manufacturing process.
 * Paying laborers “minimum wage”: minimum wage in developing countries is often different and lower than a “living wage” which can cover the costs to feed their family, pay rent, and other living costs.

H&M “Conscious Collection” & “Cherish Waste Collection”
H&M recently released a “Conscious Collection” last year for Summer 2021 but has been myth busted by many people claiming that it's not conscious at all given its business model. Not only is H&M still one of the biggest polluting fast fashion brands in an already pollution heavy industry, they produce an average of 3 billion garments per year. Some characteristics H&M claims to incorporate in their collection includes using sustainable materials such as organic cotton and recycled polyester. However, product listings on their website show that materials used are rayon, acrylic, and other synthetic fibers. It's been reported that these materials are actually even more damaging than clothes excluded from the Conscious Collection. Climate activists have protested against these false claims by H&M saying that the business will never be sustainable until they focus on de-growth and drastically changing the business model.

This year, H&M released a “Cherish Waste Collection” that they claim is “made with circularity in mind.” Ella Soccorsi, concept designer at H&M, explains, “We are passionate about circularity, so most pieces have labels inside to encourage customers to write their names and a message to pass them on.” Environmentalists on social media don't see how this addresses the environmental problem that H&M contributes to. Jeans take about 7,500 liters of water to make and within their collection, the composition of their jeans is 98% new cotton and only 2% recycled cotton. This singular example seems to indicate that this new collection is simply a marketing tactic for H&M to continue growing its profits rather than trying to address the ongoing climate crisis.

Generated Waste
As briefly touched on throughout the rest of this Wikipedia article, the fast fashion industry generates millions of tons of waste. Take SHEIN. SHEIN's on-demand business model allows them to manufacture products in batches of roughly 100 items and will up production to meet the demands of customers. The company argues that this control their waste generated because they are only making large quantities of products that customers do want. However, critics argue that the 6,000 new items added to its range is not sustainable nor environmentally friendly. To generalize, the fast fashion industry plays an environmental poverty price through two global textile trends: overproduction and waste. This section will focus on how waste is affecting the environment.

Chinese apparel and textile companies and consumers dispose about 26 million metric tons of clothing each year. Of this number, only 3.5 million tons are recycled and reused in 2017. To put this number into perspective, this number represents about 3.8 million tons of petroleum and 230 thousand hectares of farmland. Other parts of the production line such as sweatshops that piece together the clothes supply massive amounts of carbon emissions and toxic chemicals, damaging ecosystems around factories. There are currently inadequate standards and regulations in place to monitor textile waste collection in China. Not only that, but clothing and textiles occupy 5% of landfill space. If clothing doesn't end up in the trash, it may be found in the second-hand clothing trade in developing countries. 1000-pound bales of used clothes are exported from the U.S. to be examined low-wage workers to be resold to citizens in their respective countries. Kantamanto Market is one of the most significant repercussions of textile waste problem. Unfortunately, not all clothes can be saved and resold and end up becoming solid waste polluting the water, greenways, and ending up in the ocean with other trash.

Materials Used in Fast Fashion
The materials used in fast fashion products are intentional for being cheap and easy to produce at mass quantities. Roughly 90% of all clothes bought by the U.S. are made from either cotton or polyester. These materials cause both environmental and health farms during the processing time since polyester requires oil, making it essentially plastic, and to grow cotton requires both high quantities of water and pesticides. The dyes used for such textiles are also harmful to surrounding waterways in addition to the improper disposal of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals. This demonstrates that humans aren't the only ones affected by fast fashions impact but so are animals and ecosystems. Researchers are continuously gathering data on how synthetic fibers in clothing can having lasting health impacts on wearers and have found that polyester is linked to hormonal disruption and carcinogenic. Factory workers who work directly with these fibers face many other fatal health issues. Polyester and any other synthetic fiber, like nylon, are non-biodegradable and unsustainable which contributes to the climate crisis.

Carbon Emissions
Carbon emissions within the fast fashion industry are yet another factor that impacts the climate crisis. Activities that emit carbon into the Earth's atmosphere in the fashion production process such as the energy to run the factories and the distribution to retail stores across the globe only touch the surface of a much larger effect. In recent developments, fashion requires more energy than both aviation transportation and shipping combined. The fashion industry accounts for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity or a total of 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon output. What makes the fashion industry incredibly dangerous to the globe and exacerbates global warming is the fact that fashion trends and human demand are constantly changing. The pace of change that consumers push the fashion market at is encouraged by retail stores. This is an example of how capitalism and the climate crisis are enemies. Researchers have found that producing a simple cotton t-shirt might emit 2 kg of carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere and a polyester dress might release over 17 kg of carbon dioxide. If these fashion companies continue to prioritize profit over the environment, it is expected that within the next decade greenhouse gas emissions will increase by more than 50%.

Alternatives to Fast Fashion
There are a few alternative ways to being fashionable without falling into the traps of fast fashion companies and living a more sustainable lifestyle.

Buy Intentionally
Overconsumption is one of the main problems that fast fashion encourages. On average a consumer will wear only 20% of their clothes. Be conscious of how fast fashion companies market their products and buy with intention to wear the item.

Buy secondhand
As previously discussed, tonnes of used clothes in all conditions are resold or donated when no longer wanted by the original owner. Supporting secondhand clothing stores such as Goodwill or Salvation Army can not only extend an article of clothing's lifespan by 9 months but can also reduce its carbon footprint by saving it from the landfill. Depop, ThredUp, and even EBay are other ways to thrift online which can be easier for many.

Invest for Long Term Reward
Buying clothes that are made with natural materials and looking after them can keep more clothes out of the disposal cycle. Slow fashion stores and boutiques do price their items higher than fast fashion retailers but this price covers natural and organic materials that will last longer and can also reflect the cost of more ethical practices within the supply chain.