by Jhenene Louis

Every September thousands of New Yorkers and tourists flood the streets of Manhattan for what is notoriously known as Fashion Week.High-end designers such as Gucci, Tom Ford, and Valentino have been working year-round for this 9-day event that generates more than 800 million dollars for the city.In theory, this is great for New York, but fashion week isn’t usually considered a popular venue for sustainable fashion.

As media consumers, we splurge on the latest styles that mirror what we have seen on the runway, and in ads. Fashion brands feed us what we desire at a rate more harmful than not. We can’t imagine how this impacts our communities and environment, so we normally dismiss the after-thought.

Luxury brands such as Stella McCartney, Vienne Westwood, and Versace are moving towards sustainability but chances are the person making an average salary of $56,000 a year is not going on shopping sprees in Versace, which is why fast fashion brands need to be held accountable as well.

Sustainability should not just be for the rich.

One of the leading brands in fast fashion is making a conscious effort to be sustainable by the year 2025. According to Forbes starting in the year 2020 Zara customers can bring their used clothes in stores and drop them into containers. The used clothing will then be recycled, sent to various charities or be reused.

Currently, Zara stores do not use plastic bags. Inditex, the third largest apparel company in the world that operates in stores such as Mossimo, Bershka and Zara’s flagship store, says by the year 2020 they will eliminate the use of plastic bags in all stores. According to the Guardian 80% of energy consumed in Zara’s headquarters, factories and stores will be from renewable sources so its facilities will produce zero landfill waste, and by 2023 the viscose used will also be 100% sustainable.

This will be quite a feat for Zara if successful.

Fast fashion is exactly that...it’s fast, which means larger quantities are being produced and sold at a more affordable price. Now we live in a “Thrifty Culture” where millennials like to brag about how many items they have purchased and how little they paid for them. According to BBC news there are just too many fast brands making large amounts of clothing and so the average shopper feels pressured to stay up to date each season.

So how do fast fashion brands become more eco-friendly and keep up with their growing market? According to Vogue Zara needs to align itself with where we are going as a culture: to slow down, to buy less, to make what we have last longer.

Clothing designer Bea Padin weighed in on Zara’s sustainable future in Vogue and said their approach to fashion has always been customer focused and that their consumers share the same sentiment towards sustainability because they are the ones who decide and Zara’s obligation is to meet their expectations.

 The truth is there is no one step solution to a more sustainable future. The fashion industry is slowly trying to tackle this issue, but ethically it is our responsibility as consumers to keep ourselves educated on the topic of sustainability and since social media directly impacts the fashion industry we can continue to use our platforms to promote affordable sustainable clothing.

As a society we need to talk specifics to spark creativity and promote change both on the runway and off.

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