Shop ‘Til You… Wreak Havoc On Global Life?

Fast fashion continues to desecrate people and the planet

The sweater that’s keeping me warm as I write is made from thick, cream-colored yarn. The material is woven intricately down the sleeves in what fashion calls a cable-knit pattern. Like almost every product I use, it’s hard to tell that it was manufactured in a nameless foreign factory.

A hundred different hands, hearts and minds manufactured the goods that make up our intimate daily landscapes. The Catholic imagination esteems God-given dignity in each of the individuals who crafted our lifestyles in a factory across the globe. Every person is to be seen and treated as sacred. 

Our international fast fashion system, on the other hand, does not value people beyond their potential to generate profit. “Fast fashion” describes the rapid manufacture of textile goods. This trend aims to satiate an ever-growing, global hunger for more clothes: fast and cheap. Many of these clothes continue to be made in foreign factories under conditions that exploit workers and endanger ecological health.

A 2015 documentary entitled “The True Cost” unveils the cruelty of fast fashion. The film exposes how brands like GAP, Forever 21, H&M, Zara and many other transnational corporations exploit laborers in developing countries. Consumers, perhaps without full awareness, support a fast fashion industry that cuts corners, allows dangerous workspaces, uses child labor, pollutes environments and fails to pay workers a living wage.

As Americans, we often adorn our bodies with clothes made under these circumstances. For this reason, every trip to the closet symbolizes disregard for other human beings in the world. We look the other way. We enable manufacturers to continue unethical practices. With minds set only on bargains, we clothe ourselves in human rights violations.  

Fast fashion superficially divides consumer and laborer; it muddies our universal connection. Yet in the Catholic faith tradition, we stand as one body. The humanity that Christ so desperately loved to the point of death on a cross is knit together by uncountable threads. The innate dignity of people calls us to act with intention, integrity and deep care. This call demands the dignified treatment of our crucified brothers and sisters whose bodies and lives pour into producing our own lifestyles. 

Indeed, this responsibility also includes our magnificent Earth. Current modes of fashion pollute land, water and air, which leads to ecological illness. While air travel emits 0.89 billion tons of CO₂, the apparel industry produces 3.99 billion every year. Chemicals used in textile production account for 20 percent of global industrial water pollution. Many of these substances are toxic or carcinogenic, bringing disease and death to the local communities and ecosystems in which these factories operate. 

The creation which God loves, too, must be treated like family. We are meant to live in a way that allows Earth to continue giving life—yet we are destroying its capacities to do so. The Earth cares for us, and it is our turn to return the favor, now that we have overstepped our bounds. 

None of this comes as new information for those of the Catholic tradition. Pope Francis addresses the topic of unsustainable human development in Laudato Si’. “Human beings too are creatures of this world, enjoying a right to life and happiness, and endowed with unique dignity. So we cannot fail to consider the effects on people’s lives of environmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture,” Pope Francis writes.

What he calls the “rapidification” of our pace of life, in addition to amplified patterns of producing and consuming, feed the “throwaway culture.” Fast fashion contributes heavily to this culture; the EPA estimates that the average American throws away about 81 pounds of clothing every year. 

The same culture that so thoughtlessly disposes of things—and that ignores the consequences of these things—also throws away human beings and natural resources. A throwaway culture holds no regard for the sanctity of life.

However, a more sustainable economy has emerged over the past decades. Counter to commodities with opaque origins in the supply chain, hundreds of companies offer an alternative: ethically, sustainably, responsibly-made products. 

Fair Trade and other certifications signify workers receive better pay, healthcare and skills training in decent conditions. One responsibly-produced garment can save 90 gallons of water and reduce the use of dangerous chemicals.

Mindlessly choosing any random item at the store or online can no longer be justified. Many Americans can do better. And to be life-giving in our walk through this world, we must change our practices. 

With much of the world closed down in our current moment, online shopping is the only option for many of us. This opens up the opportunity for making more responsible and intentional purchases. 

Platforms like Good On You provide guides for shopping ethically and sustainably, and a new college-oriented, aggregated e-commerce site called Zarella created by Santa Clara seniors Alexa DeSanctis and Drew Descourouez will launch this summer. 

As Pope Francis writes, “an integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness.” Our daily gestures have the power to further a healthy integral ecology, because each and every one of our decisions make up the whole of the world in which we live. 

It’s become clear through this pandemic that the globe is indeed capable of coming together for a common cause and good. Our way of life is changing in many ways—let’s take the opportunity to further shift our daily gestures toward a future that cares for all beings and this Earth.