FAST FASHION
What is Fast Fashion and why is it destroying the world?
We’re Shopping Too Fast.
For most Americans, studies have shown we only wear 20% of what we own. So why do we continue to shop when 80% of what we own is unused? Before 1980, it took around 21 months for traditional retailers to develop clothes. Then, some retailers created a new way of quick response manufacturing called “Fast Fashion.”
Fast Fashion is a new process that only takes about 4 months to create clothes. This changed how we shopped. We went from having 2 fashion seasons a year to now having 52 seasons a year (1 every week).
Somewhere throughout the years we completely lost our way. We got confused with all the sales and cheap clothes, we abandoned our sense of personal style and collected more items leaving us feeling ill-equipped to deal with our closets. In continuous hopes of finding clothes that would last or weren’t just “meh,” we shopped.
The result? A closet full of clothes, with nothing to wear.
It’s estimated only 2% of fashion workers around the world are paid a livable wage.
In the 1980s
The average American bought just 12 clothing items per year.
Today
That number has increased to 68 clothing items per year
Today, the
average American
throws away
80lbs
of clothes
per year
yet 87% of our
donated clothes
end up in landfills or incinerated
and 1/2 of which are worn
less than 3 times
At Cladwell
WE WANT GREAT STYLE TO NOT COME AT A GREAT COST. THAT’S WHY WE’RE DIFFERENT. WE DON’T BUY WHAT WE DON’T NEED. INSTEAD, WE HELP SIMPLIFY YOUR WARDROBE. AND SHARE THE STORY OF WHY OUR CLOTHES MATTER — FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT TO WOMEN IN POVERTY. THERE’S A NEW WAY OF RELATING TO OUR CLOTHES. WE CALL IT A CAPSULE. WE BELIEVE IT CAN CHANGE LIVES AND SAVE THE WORLD.
The Capsule Wardrobe.
A lot of times when we become aware of a problem, we feel paralyzed. We don’t know how to help or what to do. But that’s not the case with clothing. There is something each of us can do that makes a big impact on solving the problem. It’s called a capsule.
A capsule wardrobe is when you love and wear every single clothing item in your seasonal closet.
Creating a capsule simply means reducing our closets to only those “favorite items” we reach for every morning. It helps us understand our personal style and make far better choices.
The textile industry produces 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions which is more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Just by wearing your clothes 9 months longer, you can reduce your carbon footprint for that item by 30%. How we’re shopping is not sustainable.
By choosing a path of less but better you are choosing to take part of the solution. You are helping slow down, fast fashion.
What We Wear
We don’t wear our clothes as much. We’ve had a 36% decrease in how many times we wear an item in the last 15 years.
WE BELIEVE HOW MUCH WE WEAR MATTERS. OUR CLOTHES MATTER.
We track how much we wear—from the least worn to the most worn —then we show them to you, so you can see how much of your closet you’re wearing. Are you above the average 20%?