The fashion world is full of creatives including fashion designers, illustrators, writers. Everyone in the field create content/material that show personality and skill. They are tasked with creating content that accommodates to their audience's needs and wants. But can these same creatives make positive environmental and economic changes for society? Consumers of fashion do not consider the current problems in the fashion industry. Problems are often swept under the rug and do not get much attention in the media. Normally in fashion there are two fashion seasons, which are fall/winter and spring/summer. In 2014, designers began to have 52 mini seasons per year, which means new clothing every week. Fashion is often times easily disposable but people's lives should not be treated as they are easily disposable as well. By increasing consumer greed, the production of fast fashion creates textile wastes and dehumanizes sweatshop workers.

Greedy buyers are a result of fast fashion and consumers are buying more pieces of clothing because the price continues to decrease. Websites like Forever 21 or Zara often say new styles are uploaded every week, which is a result of fast-fashion. With the production of more clothing people are "overwhelmed with endless opportunities to be chic" (Donato 3). The market is full of choices and consumers have an innate problem with trying to fit in or to stay on trend. Fast-fashion retailers are profiting from a consumer's feelings of being "left out or feeling uncool" (Donato 4).

Fashion is often times easily disposable but people's lives should not be treated as they are easily disposable as well. Often times fast fashion is produced so that retailers can never run out of high demand products and can always make sales. But at times this excessive amount of clothing is sometimes not purchased. This leaves a large quantity of clothing that has to be thrown out because new styles and trends are coming out on a weekly basis.

The emergence of fast fashion has contributed to negative environmental impacts especially pertaining to the textile industry. The production of fast fashion in theory is a great model. There is plenty of supply to meet and capture any demand by the consumers. But how many clothes with the industry produce before ending in a landfill? The path the fashion industry is on as of today is not bright. "We purchase 400 percent more clothing than we did 20 years ago, largely because of the dropping cost of fashion"(Bryant 2). There are multiple consequences pertaining to the state of the environment because chemicals continue to sit in landfills and no one is making any changes. Now countries all of over the world are reaping the effects. This issue does not discriminate, it is global phenomenon.

Textile wastes are released into the climate on a daily basis, which is damaging the water and land around us. In the documentary "The True Cost" it is noted that the average American dumps 82 pounds of textile waste each year, which adds up to 11 million tons a year. Most of these clothing items are not biodegradable, therefore they will sit in a landfill for up to 200 years if not more. Consumers love to participate in the fast fashion trend but as the clothes pile up in the landfill the environment continues to deteriorate. Behind the glamourous light of clothing are the dark environmental dangers.

Consumers are under the impression that one can easily recycle textiles because they are produced from natural materials but it has to be noted that clothing goes through many processes. "They have been bleached, dyed, printed on, and scoured in chemical bath"(Wicker 6). It should be noted that resources are wasted to create a textile. Even companies like "Adidas, Nike, and H&M want to give up on fast-fashion"(Wicker 9).

In addition to environmental problems, there are problems which pertain to the working conditions of labor workers in and outside of the United States. In theory, the trend of fast fashion seems beneficial when thinking of employment. One initially thinks that producing more clothing will also produce more jobs for citizens in the U.S. The same conclusion was applied for smaller developing countries. But once again the problem with sustainability occurs. Is the production of fast-fashion sustainable for workers? Are worker rights being violated to achieve this trend?

A sweatshop is a factory that regularly violates two or more labor laws. When one hears the term sweatshop the image of "a hot, stuffy room where hapless workers literally sweat as they toil"(Soyer 35), comes to mind. A few well-known conditions of a sweatshop are poor working conditions, low wages, and long hours. These workers work day in and day out and their reward are little to no benefits. In the U.S. workers are still working in sweatshops despite poor conditions. One reason why workers are content with these conditions are because some are illegal immigrants and they are happy to work so they can provide for their families. Also factories are hiring these workers because they are well aware of their status and they will use as many resources as they can to produce products. Other sources argue that "sweatshop workers' choice to accept the conditions of their employment is sufficiently autonomous that taking the option away from them would be a violation of their autonomy" (Zwolinski 695). Although this is accurate logic and reasoning it is still unethically wrong to meet workers with lower than the bare minimum conditions. It is unethical to not provide better conditions and wages to the people that are manufacturing a valuable product for consumers.

Many people associate sweatshops with underdeveloped countries but the reality is these problems are occurring right under America's noses. In Los Angeles, "a woman reported earning about six dollars an hour at a stifling factory" (Kim and Kitroff 2). This woman was not the only one to make this claim; nearly 300 demanded back pay for producing clothing for Forever 21. Soon after the U.S. department of labor inspected approximately 77 Los Angeles garment factories. Studies found that workers were getting paid "as little as $4 and an average of $7 an hour for 10-hour days..."(Kim and Kitroff 3). If one considers the math involved in production, an average dress at Forever 21 costs about $24 and to make it costs $30. Now imagine a worker being paid $7.25 an hour, which is below the minimum wage of $12. Sweatshop wages is the topic that no one in the fashion world wants to discuss. Sweatshop wages are the hidden cost of the bargains that make stores irresistible to consumers. The people paying the real price are mistreated workers. In order to create this excessive amount of clothing there is a need for more supplies and the pay for workers decreases tremendously.

In conclusion, there are complex problems in the fashion industry that many people are not attentive to. The first step to solving the problem is realizing the effects of producing clothing at a vast rate. Environmental specialists need to begin research on how to decrease the problem. The job of the consumer is to become aware of how much they consume and try to consume less. The more people consume the worse the problem becomes. Consumers and economic analyzers also need to understand that as the demand for clothing goes up the worker conditions go down, which generates more sweatshops and unfair conditions for workers. Employers are being paid below minimum wage and some companies are okay with that or feel as if it is not their problem. It is the time for all citizens to take accountability of their actions. Changes need to be made for the common good. This pertains to the environment as well as the people living in it. If society does not begin to progress now we will eventually dig ourselves in a hole that we cannot recover from.