Sunday, May 5, 2019

Entry #2 | Go Green Challenge

Rida Riaz
Entry #2: Going Strong
ASA 141


It's week 2 of the Go Green Challenge and I'm still going strong. Not gonna lie, I've been eyeing things online and almost decided to buy something, but I shut off my phone and started to do work. Then, after a while that piece of item I wanted didn't appeal to me as it had before. Moreover, I'm trying not to allow the Sephora VIB sale get to me and as I put items in my cart, I realized as how I don't need them right now and they are not necessities. Just because some huge sale is going on, it doesn't mean I need to participate in it. It feels amazing to not contribute to fast fashion or even just spend due to a sale going on as it allows me to focus on other things as well as save for future expenses. 

One aspect of this challenge which is making me feel great is the fact that I'm not getting lured into the web of consumerism. As a student, I barely make money and whenever I get lured in by sales, I stop to think if the reason I like something is only because it's on sale? Annamma Joy states in her article "Fast Fashion, Sustainability and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands" how "Young consumers desire for fast fashion is coupled with significant disposable income (or, alternatively, the availability of credit)" simply put means how the younger generation is pulled into this black hole of fast fashion merely due to the low prices it offers, yet even though we don't make a lot of money, we still save up to purchase clothing pieces time and time again (Joy. pp. 276). 

Teen Vogue explains the evolution of fast fashion and how the fashion industry itself has changed within the era. This video talks about it all: sweatshops, fast fashion history, sustainability and the environment. We continue to spend and spend even though we don't need something, yet we're blind towards the consequences followed by it. For instance, the amount of cheap clothing we buy that results to twice as many clothes being piled up in landfills harming the environment as "2.5 billion, the number of pounds of fabric waste removed from the waste stream according to the Council of Textile recycling" (Teen Vogue. 2018). 



Works Cited:

Joy, Annamma, et al. “Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands.” Fashion Theory, vol. 16, no. 3, 2012, pp. 273–295. doi:10.2752/175174112x13340749707123.


Vogue, Teen. “The Problem With Fast Fashion | Teen Vogue.” YouTube, YouTube, 21 Sept. 2018.


No comments: