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When I think of fast fashion brands, I can't help but think of 'The Big Five' of wild animals in Africa. In case you're not familiar with the big five, it is a term coined to reference the difficulty in hunting the lion, leopard, black rhino, African bush elephant, and the African buffalo. Of course, we (meaning I) don't support the hunting/poaching or anything of that sort of any animals, however it is now widely used by safari tour operators (which I have done once before and it was utterly amazing), so I don't mind using the analogy.
Why do I think of this when I think of fast fashion brands? Well, the first brands that come to mind happen to be the big top fast fashion businesses, which are; Forever21, H&M, Zara, SHEIN, and URBN. Of course, there are far far more than just these, namely Fashion Nova, Boohoo, Topshop, Primark, Missguided, New Look, and Uniqlo, but for the sake of this analogy, I'm going to limit it to these five major fashion brands.
Disclaimer: These are in no way in order of worst to best or best to worst!
FOREVER 21
Oh goodness me. If I am going to be completely honest here, which I always am, Forever 21 is a lost cause for me. I honestly thought the business shut down years ago, as I've seen less and less store fronts open, but apparently it still exists. Forever 21 was THEE place to shop during my high school days. I remember glamorizing the brand because of friends of mine who would often shop there and get the cutest pieces and I wanted to be apart of that. I can still envision the design of the stores and how massive they were at different locations in the Greater Toronto Area. I remember how thrilling and fancy it all appeared to me, and I also remembered many of the clothing and jewellery not lasting long enough. I soon phased out of the F21 era when I was introduced to the much higher class of the other fast fashion brands--or so they appeared to me--, and realized how horrible the brand truly was.
Environmental Impacts
Unfortunately, there is not much information out there regarding the environmental impacts of Forever 21. They have not made any public statements of the sort about their stance on sustainability, and they also continue to use extractive resources, such as polyester (Good On You).
The brand operate on a linear business model, which is also no surprise there.
Human Impacts
The brands supply chain is not certified by labour standards, which ensure worker health and safety, living wages, among other labour rights (Good On You).
They have not endorsed the Garment Worker Protection Act, also known as SB62, which is a Californian legislation that was passed earlier this year ensuring garment workers are paid fairly, as well as protected with labour rights (Remake).
They have also refused to sign the Bangladesh Accord On Fire and Safety, which is a legally binding agreement which requires brands to ensure safe working conditions in supplier factories (Good On You).
Essentially, there is no hope for Forever21...
H&M GROUP
H&M has been a store I have always idolized as being a step up from the likes of Forever21. It always appeared much older and mature and made you feel like you can afford to look classy and trendy without having to break the bank. As I grew older and became wiser (at least I like to believe), I soon realized these items weren't actually affordable and was rather pricey for cheaply made clothing. The same goes for Forever21, which in my opinion, is much worse in quality.
Environmental Impacts
H&M has made some changes in the recent years, by offering a recycling program where you can return clothes from any brand (Good On You). The catch is that they make their clothing by blending sustainable materials with other fabrics that are typically much lower in quality, so that they can lower the price. Unfortunately, what this means is that the clothing are unrecyclable due to its blended fabrics (which most likely include plastic products) (The Pretty Planeteer).
They have introduced a sustainable collection called 'Conscious', which is a great start, however, the brand still operates on a linear business model, which is unsustainable and contradicts the intent of a sustainable fashion line (Good On You).
As their take back recycling program is apparently the largest program, it fails to be transparent in revealing where the clothing ends up. As many of us know, majority of the clothes that are received at textile recycling programs or donation programs, do end up in landfills in the Global South (Remake). Therefore, this is something that needs to be addressed and accounted for.
Human Impacts
H&M are pretty transparent about their wages and factory supply chain conditions, and are pushing for legally binding corporate responsibility, however, the downside of this is that transparency only goes so far with its impact (Remake). The business fails to hold themselves accountable and make drastic changes to their supply chains, which is why H&M is still a problematic brand to support. They need to create living wages for garment worker and support its unionized workers (Remake).
ZARA
Similar to H&M, Zara to me was a higher class brand of fast fashion. They're known for dressy and business-like styles and their prices back that up. I have personally only shopped their once, as I could not afford their pieces. As I have always thought their clothing were high quality pieces, I never once questioned whether or not the brand was unsustainable in nature, however, you truly cannot judge a store (or its store front) by its look. There is far more that goes on behind the scenes...
Environmental Impacts
As you will see, many of these big fast fashion brands are hopping on the green wagon by introducing and implementing initiatives, such as take program recycling programs. Zara introduced a repair and reuse program called Closing the Loop, which offers customers the chance to drop of used clothing in store through the post (Good On You). Although this is a great initiative that prioritizes extending the lifespan of a garment, it does not in fact have any traceability nor transparency in where these textiles go and if there is any evidence in minimizing its waste (Good On You).
Inditex, who owns Zara, operate on a linear business model, which, once again, defeats the purpose of these sustainability initiatives.
Human Impacts
Zara is a work in progress when it comes to the treatment of its workers, however it is just the bare minimum. They are transparent about their supplier policies and audits and share a bit about gender equality and forced labour, however, the brand does not share a Tier 1 supplier list, which are the companies or factories the brand directly do business with (ex: the factory that assembles or distributes the a product) (Sustain Life). Being transparent about tier 1, 2 or 3 suppliers is important, as it creates traceability, reliability, and trustworthiness, especially for the connection and relationship with customers (Sustain Life).
In addition, there is no proof or evidence of the brand paying garment workers or retail workers a livable wage.
SHEIN
This is a big one. Shein has become one of the biggest, if not biggest, fast fashion brand out there, topping the likes of the brands mentioned here, among many others. They have surpassed the top fashion brands in regard to overproduction, coming out with new styles and trends every month or so. I myself have never shopped at Shein nor knew about the brand, until I learnt of the absurd reality of the unsustainable practices from Remake.
As Good On You's rating on the brand says, Shein is the worst of the worst..... (let's unpack why)
Environmental Impacts
The brand released its first Sustainability and Social Impact Report in 2021, which is apparently full of unsubstantiated claims and goals, and does not report on any carbon emissions and waste being produced by their constant output of clothing (Remake).
Shein is known for their mass production of cheaply made clothing (as is evident on the many clothing hauls shown on Tik Tok), which evidently leads to extreme waste due to its throwaway culture it perpetuates (Good On You).
The Global Head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Shein recently announced 'evoluSHEIN', a purpose-driven collection with inclusive sizing and fabric made from recycled polyester. There is so many things that are problematic about this collection, one being how incredibly greenwashing this is to introduce something that is supposedly sustainable within an unsustainable and linear business model that operates on mass production of clothing, which also uses unsustainable materials for majority of their clothing. Another issue is the fact that they consider recycled polyester to be sustainable, which is it in fact not true as recycled polyester is just plastic that is being used again for it to be unusable after a few wears.
There is just no sense in coming out with any purpose driven initiative if it is not actionable and does not reflect the entirety of the brand, that including the garment workers who make their clothing.
Human Impacts
Shein does not support nor protect their workers. A recent investigation reveals that Shein's Chinese garment workers work a 75+ hour work week with one day off a month and work on a piece-rate pay, which goes against international labour laws (Remake). There is no prove that they pay their workers a living wage nor are protected in any way from a toxic work environment (Good On You).
URBN
This is another big-ish one. If you didn't know (I sure didn't), is a multinational retail corporation consisting of many other global consumer brands under the umbrella. These include the popular brands Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People (amongst many more). All of these brands have similar styles and vibes and also all operate on a linear business model.
Environmental Impacts
Majority of URBN brands have shown little to no evidence in sustainability efforts. There is no transparency in its supply chain and in specific, does not show evidence in minimizing waste, reducing hazardous chemicals or any sort of climate impact (Good On You).
Human Impacts
URBN is notorious for continuously violating ethical practices and sustainability regulations (Remake). Urban Outfitters have outlined their labour policies and auditioning processes, however, they have not been transparent nor shown any evidence in any part of the process of auditing, who their suppliers are and where they are located (Good On You).
There is no evidence on Urban Outfitters paying their garment workers a living wage either, nor any policies set in place to protect their workers (Good On You).
URBN was named one of the top violators of wage theft in California's garment factories, as well as failed to endorse the Garment Worker Protection Act (SB62) (Remake).
The brand also never agreed to pay up to its garment workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, the brand Anthropologie has been under scrutiny for toxic work culture, cultural appropriation, and a complete disregard for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and initiatives within the work place (Remake).
CONCLUSION
This is just the icing on top of a massive large overflowing cake of unsustainable and unethical messes and damages a few of these fast fashion brands have committed. There is a lot we turn a blind eye to and it can be easy to ignore the deep rooted issues within these brands, industry and system in general, but once we take the time to learn and understand the on going issues that jeopardize our planet and the people who are behind the clothing we wear, we must use this newfound knowledge to fight and advocate for a better fashion industry and system for each and everyone of us.
I do acknowledge it may be difficult or challenging to completely avoid these brands at all cost. If there is anything to take away from this for those who struggle with navigating these situations, just remember it's less of where you buy, consume and support, and more of how you choose to buy, consume and support. Use your best judgements!
SOURCES USED
(All resources/links are clickable)
Forever 21
H&M
Zara
Shein
URBN
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