We have a big environmental problem on our hands: Fast fashion!
This means wanting to buy the latest, most trendy clothing as soon as you can — for example, the loved high tops and jean jackets.
So many people seem to think they need to buy these types of clothing, so the company continues to make them, falling into the fast fashion network with mass production at low costs.
Fast fashion creates so many problems, from polluting oceans and rivers to unsafe working conditions.
Lots of people will wear something for only a few months or even weeks, until it isn't in style anymore. That item is then thrown away, heading to landfills and ending up in the ocean, harming marine life and polluting the water.
Although it is OK to buy from popular clothing brands and be in style, try to shop from local stores as well. You may not know, but your favourite clothing brand most likely has factories in countries where the minimum labour cost is exceptionally low and working habits are extremely unsafe. People who are trying to make a living are treated terribly, often working up to 16 hours a day!
Solutions you and your family can work on include donating old or too-small clothing items to local thrift stores, like Value Village or Salvation Army. Once you donate, you can look inside, and who knows? You might find what you are looking for, without causing factories to produce more brand-new clothes. Plus, if you donate to a thrift store like Value Village, you receive a 20 per cent discount to the store, just for getting rid of the things you no longer want!
Another way to solve this problem is to invest in good quality, long-lasting clothes. This helps by minimizing the clothes ending up torn, or wrecked, which lessens the amount of clothing going to landfills.
Together we can save oceans and people around the globe from the fast-acting fast fashion problem.
Sarah Brewster is a 12-year-old New Westminster resident who approached the Record about providing opinion columns. Her youth viewpoint pieces will run periodically on this website. You can read more about Sarah in this May feature article.
