What is fast fashion? Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly, while demand is at its highest. This produces an enormous amount of waste because of its quick shelf-life and rapid obsolescence, which adds to growing landfills. Not to mention the unjust labor costs, and pollutants from the factories. We follow trends that are in magazines, online trendsetters, and companies like Stitch-fix or Dailylook with a personal stylist, but what makes fast fashion so detrimental to our ecosystem across the world?
Ever watch Emily in Paris? Fictional character Pierre Cadault, a high-fashion designer in Paris, has an encounter with streetwear artist Grey Space and they have a style war. Pierre takes a newer approach to the idea that the best fashion can be upcycled. He takes fast fashion and puts a streetwear twist on his catwalk using upcycled material. While this particular show may or may not be using sustainable choices in clothing and footwear, according to green4ema.org, “The emphasis on pre-loved fashion, recycled accessories, and eco-conscious sports events suggests this show is moving toward a more environmentally aware direction, aligning with EMA’s mission of encouraging greener characters and plotlines in popular media.”
Trendy TV shows, clothing, influencers come and go, but your clothes don’t have to: Why buy at high quantities when you know the products are coming from a place of mass production? We reached out to film producer Zayan Agha, of Boston, originally from Pakistan, who interviewed on the role of fast fashion and climate change.
Kelly Marino (Motif): What is your role and understanding in the background of fast fashion?
Zayan: I’m a filmmaker, from Pakistan, I grew up there in the heart specifically, and growing up you see fashion. My mom and my three sisters were all over this, and would wear a lot of fashion. I didn’t care much for it till I was in filmschool, because I was making a film documentary about the smog situation in the heart of Pakistan. I began researching why it happened and the phenomenon of this thick blanket of smog always above the city. Pakistan is like Bangladesh, a lot of pure clothes, like if you go to your Nike, ZARA, Adidas, Puma, and you pick out a shirt, t-shirt, or any garment actually; a lot of them say, “made in Bangladesh,” or Pakistan, especially a lot of ZARA. A lot of factories and textile mills in that part of the world. A lot of the smog traces back to these industries which were polluting the air, which is how I got into my hypothesis. My films centered around climate change. Fast fashion is the problem because it has a lot to do with climate change and sustainability.
KM: You’ve seen the fast speed of production coming from your country?
Z: Of course, I’ve seen fast fashion and the back-end of how it works. When you’re in this part of the world, your understanding of fast fashion is that it’s this huge industrial complex, which is run by a lot of wealthy people. These brands have a lot of malpracticing, but when you’re in a country where you see this being made, you see how this is hurting the environment. For the people who are working, a lot of the time they are being paid less of what they should be paid, but at the same time they are being paid. So those nations, like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, those people are very poor as well, and these things sort of keep them afloat. They are being paid and have a job, it’s a very weird kind of loop. For example, if I am coming from that part of the world I’m also seeing the good, or the little good that is in it, and the bad, so I project what I have seen.
KM: What are some key characteristics that differentiate fast fashion from other types of fashion? For instance, the production coming from stores like Gap, Old Navy, Adidas, Nike versus the clothing that is sustainable. Do you see that part of production too?
Z: Yeah for sure, and I refer back to my whole upbringing. The film I recently made about single-use plastic, as well as clothes, was about a grandmom and grandchild trying to come up with a DIY something for Halloween from years of leftover stuff. When I was coming up with the idea, I traced it back to my own experience growing up with my mom. She was born in the late ‘50s and with the sensibility of you don’t have to throw that out, nothing is trash. She was also born in Pakistan when it was still a developing country, so you could feel the effect of the capitalistic forces. They had this mindset that nothing was trash, and everything is recyclable. We used to recycle everything, for example we wore this dress called Salwar Kameez in Pakistan, it’s a very traditional dress. You wear a long shirt which extends to your knees, and loose trousers/ and men from India all wore that. My mom would buy unstitched or she would stitch it herself. She would also take help from a local seamstress. There are a lot of local seamstresses that would do these types of things and they would make these clothes from unstitched to stitched. The whole process makes the community, and my mom used to go, and I would go with her, and we would go to all these little markets to buy unstitched clothes. We would buy the embroidery, and all the different parts of it. In the stores, like ZARA, you get a ready made shirt and you just buy it, right? But when you are doing something like that you are going through a whole mental and physical process. I’ve seen that part and honestly, my mom still does that actually. Now you can go buy traditional clothes already made, I think it’s just where the world has moved. People want to get things quicker, and my mom and dad still don’t like to do that. They’ve had something for three or four years, and instead of throwing that away, she would add a piece to it, unstitch it, she would do other things to it. She did a lot for charity as well, she would make over the base of the fabric and then donate it to someone. Other times she would just make rags out of it or make clothes for my sisters out of it. That is what I have seen, the complete opposite of fast fashion is that you see fabric for 20-25 years, it’s just there with you.
KM: It is something you remember and it puts a smile on your face!
Z: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. For example, I moved countries 2 years ago, and I was not able to bring a lot of stuff from back home. Some of the t-shirts I have are 15 years old, that whole thing of, “Nothing is trash,” so I never threw anything out. When you have that t-shirt and it gets old, dirty, or not that usable, you can do other things with it.
KM: How do you stay informed about current fashion trends?
Z: About six months ago, when I was writing for this film, I retouched on sustainability, through traditional media news, TIK TOK, and Instagram. There are a lot of influencers who are doing things sustainably. They tell you why they are doing DIY stuff, if they’re not buying from a brand and why they’re not buying from that brand. If they are buying from a brand, and why they buy from that brand. For example, they show themselves off in a nice picture, and they would write where their outfit comes from. In their description their blazer was thrifted from this market, or the pants I’m wearing my sister bought from this place in 2013. I think that is the best thing these days, apart from influencers, there are media companies and Instagram pages that talk about fashion. @atmos on Instagram is really good about their climate communication. I think young people are aware of the current affairs of the fast fashion industry through social media. •
You can find more about Zayan at zayanagha. format.com, and an extended interview at motifri.com/zayan