Now that Thanksgiving is over it’s officially the holiday season. Everyone is scrambling to make sure they get their gifts in time and for a good price. Many people participate in buying fast fashion without knowing or caring about the consequences. Fast fashion is a business model that specializes in making clothes very quickly in large quantities for very low prices. It has an awful ethical and environmental footprint based on its production and disposal. Despite this, fast fashion has become one of the most popular business styles in today’s day. Here are the 5 most popular fast fashion brands that you should avoid buying from.
- Temu
Temu is a Chinese-owned digital marketplace that became popular almost immediately. While Temu has an average of only ⅖ stars there are still over 104.2 million users. They are most known for their cheap prices and random items, yet you can get almost anything.
The controversy started with Temu when they were accused of taking too much information from users. While people were aware they were giving Temu basic information like name and phone number, they were taking way more information than that. It can also see details about you from third-party sources including public records, social media, credit bureaus, data brokers, and marketing partners. On top of that Temu doesn’t support two-factor authentication. This makes it way easier for your account to get hacked.
- Shein
Shein is a fast fashion online store. Being most known for making cheap clothes and accessories, the company is worth almost 100 billion dollars.
The main reason Shein is still so popular is because of how cheap the clothes are and how fast it is made. But there’s a reason it’s so cheap to get these clothes. The materials used to make these clothes are harmful. Polyester, a popular fabric used by Shein, can take up to 200 years to decompose. Production of synthetic materials is already bad for the environment, but making the clothes at an alarming rate and selling them so quickly can be an issue.
There has also been a controversy with Shein not being good to their workers. They have been notorious for bad work conditions and underpaying their workers. In a report by Public Eye in November 2021, they found out some employees at Shein work 75 hours a week. According to the workers they don’t get paid overtime and they only get paid per item they make. Designs are changed a lot and it can take very long to get used to making clothes quickly so many are left without enough money.
- H&M
H&M is a very popular company that is aimed at younger customers. H&M has online and in-person stores with 25 billion articles of clothing sold last year. They are also known for collaborating with luxury brands to create affordable stylish clothes. While this sounds like a deal, H&M is one of the biggest polluters in the fashion industry. 3 billion garments are thrown out a year, and on top of this, there are 4.1 billion garments a year that are unsold. A Swedish company that works with H&M is the reason for this.
Because H&M is targeted toward younger girls, the clothes are all based on trends. They make millions of the same trendy top hoping to sell it all by the time the trend runs out. Thousands of clothes end up getting thrown out every new trend and it’s putting a strain on the environment.
- TJ Maxx
TJ Maxx is a known department store that is mostly popular with the millennial generation. TJ Maxx has everything from makeup to clothes. While TJ Maxx has never been questioned about the quality of its products, there have been health violation accusations made against the company.
Shane Dawson is a popular Youtuber that makes all types of conspiracy videos. He made a specific video exposing TJ Maxx for putting damaged/used makeup products back on the shelf. He bought makeup and messed it all up on purpose. He then marked it so he knew it was his and returned it the next day. Later in the day he went back and found the exact makeup on the shelf. It was still messed up and looked like it was just placed back on the shelf. This is extremely unsanitary and can risk dangerous contamination.
- Macy’s
Macy’s is a known chain department store that dabbles in the more expensive side of fast fashion. Today there are over 2.14 billion shoppers, and most wouldn’t know that Macy’s is fast fashion. Because of how popular they are they have a terrible environmental footprint. It has an unsustainable fast fashion model that can’t keep up with the amount of trends.
Another issue with Macy is they have been accused of fake gold. Someone stated they had gotten a 10k gold ankle bracelet for his wife and after a little of time it started to turn brown. Although he obviously didn’t get what he asked for, Macy’s wouldn’t allow him to exchange the item since it was after the 30 day policy. He even tried to get credit but he was denied. Most fast fashion places will trick you into spending more money on items than needed.
