Cristina Moon’s text “On Failure” provides a fascinating look into the world of fast fashion through the very people whose careers, salaries, and lives rest on the off chance that their creativity and innovation has a moment of success amidst a culture of continuous failure. These people, the workers who spend tireless hours in small, informal venues sewing and stitching the very clothes that we wear from big retailer names (Forever 21, Zara, H&M, and so on), work alongside fellow creative hopefuls who perform a sort of juggling act between the stresses of rejection, drama in the workplace, and an environment of ever-changing styles and trends. Moon exposes an often forgotten truth, that thousands people in the world work in these inhospitable and cutthroat workplaces. While fashion designers and stylists alike are often glamorized, these workers have lives that are far from enchanting or carefree. Through her essay, Moon does pay a sort of tribute to these workers, recognizing the thankless work that they put forth and the endless scrutiny of their jobforce. However, the overall idea of fast fashion carries with it a sense of overall negativity, as the truth of it continues to gain recognition in the modern world. People display a sense of aversion to the idea of the clothes on their backs being stitched and crafted by underpaid, overworked migrant workers. At the same time, they frequently turn away from such ideas. As hundreds of thousands of men and women shop in stores like Forever 21 each year, they often fail to recognize the sweat, anxiety, and effort that went into a certain $7.00 shirt being featured in mass quantities. Feeding into this theme of a “blind eye” of sorts, the following article published by “Study Breaks,” titled “The Benefits of Fast Fashion for College Students,” emphasizes the supposed reasons that fast fashion is an essential part of our consumerist world. Author Flavia Martinez notes that fast fashion has resulted in the “mixing of social classes,” as everyone desires and has access to to be trendy in modern day society. She states that “clothing is a camouflage of social class,” as people from all socioeconomic positions shop from the big, trendy names in retail. She goes on to explain that these affordable clothes help college students specifically be successful as they enter the job force. She explains that now, anyone can wear a pant suit and look professional to an interview. This author focuses on the benefits of the individual consumer, failing to consider the workers behind the threads as equal parties in the equation.
https://studybreaks.com/2017/04/01/fast-fashion/
The Geopolitics of Beauty 5 
April 4, 2017 at 8:59 pm
I used to think that fast fashion sweatshops were exclusively super cheap stores such as Forever 21 where you could get sweaters, jeans, dresses, among others for as cheap as under $15. But now, I am aware that even more expensive places such as Urban Outfitters use the same practices, despite their higher prices. In the Tuesday recitation we discussed the ethical dilemma many of us face between wanting to do what’s right by not supporting stores with such unethical practices and not being able to afford ethically made clothing. It is easy to say that you don’t support these companies, but when you need to actually buy clothing the high prices of ethical stores brings you back to places such as Urban Outfitters. Their cute styles and comfortable clothing is a big temptation. If ethical clothing companies refuse to lower prices, then where are we supposed to buy our clothing without feeling guilty? I don’t think I have an answer to this but it’s definitely something i grapple with when I shop.
I also think that the idea that there is so much pressure put on the consumer to change is also very interesting. Change where you shop, change your habits, etc. Not only in the world of fast fashion, but with the environment (you need to recycle) or charity (you need to donate money). Why is it so normal to put all the pressure on the consumer? Yes, I do believe that people can make a change but I think that the responsibility should not be all on the consumer. Large companies and corporations should also be faced with this pressure and responsibility to change.
LikeLike
April 5, 2017 at 5:30 am
I think a good point came up in recitation today regarding the feeling of “needing” to go to these fast fashion retailers and buy those clothes, even though we are educated and aware of the fact that the clothes we’re wearing are made under poor working conditions and are all-around simply not ethically made. The example you gave about college students becoming more successful because they are “dressing for success” and how that wardrobe is more easily accessible and cheaper now than ever before thanks to fast fashion is a perfect example of a specific and personal need that compels us to shop at these fast fashion retailers. Another example is needing clothes that fit what and where you need it to, and that isn’t always available to everyone as we have seen at most other retail stores, especially higher end ones, so fast fashion becomes the perfect place to shop if we are solely looking at it from a perspective of convenience for ourselves. This entire concept of fast fashion conveniently fitting our personal needs while also being sourced unethically seems to complicate the idea that the solutions is to simply boycott shopping at fast fashion stores altogether. I believe the solution will stem more from the actions of non-fast fashion retailers than from the consumers themselves. Designers are progressively trying tactics such as “see now buy now” so that their clothes are straight off the runway and retailers like Zara can’t beat them with their quick turnaround. This will detract the consumers willing to pay more for the authentic product rather than the Zara or Forever 21 knockoff, but this will only reduce fast fashion retailers’ total revenue by so much. The problem of fast fashion’s much lower prices will still exist, especially when many of their consumers are college students with college budgets, and that is something we will need to brainstorm solutions for.
LikeLike
April 5, 2017 at 12:32 pm
The theme of “The Blind Eye” is very interesting because before these readings, I subconsciously was aware that my fast fashion clothes are made unethically most of the time, but it was never a conscious thought that I had when I would buy a shirt from Forever 21 or H&M. Because of this I became a consumer and part of this unfair, stressful, and chance based business that so many people are a part of. It made me realize that no only are there so many people involved in making a item of clothing, but that it is ridiculously hard to try and avoid the consumerism of this world. There is only so much one can do to avoid buying from these fast fashion stores, but as a college students, it is really hard to buy affordable clothing that pays their workers and creators well. I want to make the choice of not buying from these fast fashion stores, but at the same time I cannot afford buying from places that pay their workers well and have better quality clothes. I find that everything not only fashion, changes to much and so fast nowadays. It reminds me of technology and how fast things are changing with in that aspect too. Even online shopping makes a big difference, because you don’t even have to go to a store to buy something, which makes it easier and more drawing to buy from fast fashion.
LikeLike
April 12, 2017 at 12:44 am
I find the concept of what the fashion industry considers “cheap” and what the average consumer considers “cheap” fascinating, mainly because there is such a disparity. For example, these stores like Forever 21 and Zara have each garment manufactured for fractions of pennies while selling them for $9.99, meanwhile an Urban Outfitters will have their garments made in the same factory for the same fraction of a penny and sell a faux corduroy button-front skirt for $79. For some consumers, Forever 21 is unattainably expensive, for others, the retailer is exactly in their price range and an Urban Outfitters is more “expensive.” In line with aforementioned issues with Moon’s text, the problem in terms of fast fashion is that the consumer is not conscious of where they are giving their money and only focus on how “cheap” things are to them, instead of considering how “cheap” the labor being used is for these multi-trillion dollar corporations. What needs to happen is that consumers need to become aware of how these retailer corporations are literally getting away with murder and it needs to become a personal issue for said consumers as individuals so they will care. Realistically, I think a solution to this problem is out of reach either until we overthrow every major capitalist society in favor of democratic socialism or until the human race evolves to not be self-centric.
LikeLike