With the spirit of the holiday season still lingering, it’s extremely tempting to stock up on the latest products for your loved ones. However, there is a hefty price that comes with overinvesting in such delicacies. Overconsumption of unethical fashion can have disastrous effects on the environment, the people around you and yourself.
Of course, some people may not have a choice when it comes to buying the cheaper, more harmful product. However, it is more important to invest in a product that you will appreciate and hold onto for a long time.Paying for the more expensive product also saves money in the long run, since it will last longer.
Before going for an easy deal, take a step back and reflect on how much an inexpensive product can actually benefit you.
Harmful effects on the environment
With fast fashion on the rise in recent years, the amount of garments purchased annually by the average person has quintupled since 1980. Fast-fashion companies like SHEIN and ROMWE are rising in popularity; more and more unethically-made garments are being cycled through clothing stores and end up in landfills.
Fast-fashion has also been a large contributing factor to global warming and air pollution, especially in urban areas. In large factories, there are a plethora of instances of emitting carbon dioxide and other hazardous greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
Irresponsible Spending
Fast fashion has also influenced many consumers to invest too much in certain products due to their “trendiness” or cheap prices. These products have been extremely popularized on social media, with influencers or content creators showcasing large hauls of products, promoting it as the best item they’ve ever bought. This encourages consumers to invest in products they don’t really need and influences them to scrounge for the next trendy product.
Impacts low income households
Many low income workers who work in large-scale production industries are often taken advantage of. They are usually cheated into unfair wages, unhealthy work hours and bad management by their corporations. A large number of these companies disregard the wellbeing of their workers in exchange for efficient production.
Negatively affects small businesses
With the popularity of trendy items and low prices, consumers are often drawn away from high-quality, lesser known businesses and brands, while corporations like SHEIN go as far as stealing item ideas and designs from creators and selling them as their own. It also heavily impacts the profit of ethical small businesses, which is overturned by SHEIN’S unethical practices. Because of this phenomenon, small businesses profit less and less.
Effects on Mental health
The influence of overinvesting or overspending has also been shown to have notable impacts on mental health by encouraging dangerous habits like impulse buying and hoarding. These often lead to harmful mental health side effects like anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.
Excessive buying also changes how people interact. They may become more apathetic or only drawn to material goods. They may seem less keen on fostering relationships or less connected to the real world.
In a materialistic society, overproduction and overconsumption is gravely impacting the environment and our way of life. But making smart choices can make a substantial impact on how we live. Unethical production doesn’t just impact the quality of a product, it also affects all parties involved. It impacts factory workers. It impacts animals that may be involved in harmful testing. It impacts the environment, which is suffering from the misuse of manmade gasses and products.
Value may be subjective, but your actions are not.
