By Sophia Sullivan, Editorials Editor
It is almost that time again when we purge our closets in the wake of the holidays and the winter months. Spring is coming, and with that comes spring cleaning!
The question is, where do we put all that clothing that we no longer have any use for? Do we throw them in the trash, where they will inevitably sit in a landfill for years to come?
Hopefully, that is not the answer, because according to the Environmental Protection Agency, 11.3 million tons of textiles ended up in landfills in 2018.
This surprising data should be enough to shock anyone into action. However, it seems that fast fashion continues to grow at an alarming rate.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, fast fashion is “an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers.”
At first glance, fast fashion sounds like an efficient idea. It helps us as consumers get clothes faster without breaking the bank.
However, these cheap clothes are only cheap because the people making them are underpaid and severely overworked, often in atrocious conditions. These clothes are not made to last; they are made to sell in large quantities.
Saint Leo students weighed in on their opinions of fast fashion and the often-terrible labor practices that come with it.
“It’s all about looking past your own situation and the present moment,” says Amy Stasio, a sophomore majoring in English. “If you can have empathy for others, you must care about the underpaid workers that are likely producing your fast fashion clothes.”
A great opportunity for Saint Leo students to help save our environment and participate in sustainable practices would be to donate their old clothing items to thrift stores.
Solutions Thrift Store in Dade City is a store with a purpose. Not only that, but they are only about 5 minutes from Saint Leo’s University Campus.
They accept donated clothes, and all their proceeds go to Sunrise of Pasco County Inc.
Sunrise of Pasco County Inc. is a domestic and sexual violence center, which provides free and confidential crisis intervention, advocacy, and therapy for assault victims.
Thrift stores such as Solutions are not only great for the sustainability of fashion, but they also do so much for the community around them.
Cris Aguirre, the Solutions Thrift Store manager, noted that they “have seen a big raise in sales these past two years.”
The fact that more people are donating clothes to instead of throwing them away is an indicator that our generation may be succeeding at properly informing society of the dangers of fast fashion.
“If people know the concrete ways it harms the environment and exploits cheap labor, it might be harder to ignore,” said Stasio. “There’s a danger to plausible deniability when it comes to issues like this.”
As trends continue to rise and the cost of clothing continues to fall, it is important that we as college students use our voices and actions to raise awareness about fast fashion.
Adrianna Astudillo, a sophomore majoring in English, spoke on how these habits can affect the world around us. She states that what we buy is “a reflection of respecting this environment.”
When it is time for spring cleaning, Aguirre encourages Saint Leo students to donate their winter wardrobe pieces they no longer want to Solutions Thrift Store, which is open Mondays through Saturdays. To find more information about donations, be sure to like them on Facebook.
This way, the clothes will not sit in a landfill for years to come. They can be given a new life when someone comes to shop.
So, next time you reach for the trash while cleaning your closet, stop and think about the effect your unwanted clothing item could have on the environment, or the underpaid and overworked factory workers.
Let’s work together to stop feeding into short-lasting trends and rapid consumerism. The only thing that should be sitting in the landfill at the end of the day is the idea of fast fashion.
