Was 2021 the year we moved away from fast fashion?

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “We have definitely not moved away from fast fashion in 2021,” says Dana Thomas, author of Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes. We need to stop blaming individual consumers and instead focus on the retailers and brands responsible for the relentless over-production of cheap disposable clothes.” Meanwhile, misleading business strategies such as greenwashing – when brands promote environmentalism without actually employing the sustainable business practices their marketing materials would suggest – appears to have surged this year given the number of brands who are keen to capitalise on the demand for eco-friendly fashion without actually making any tangible change to production of manufacturing processes. “As long as handbags are coated with PVC, and clothes are sourced from the other side of the planet, where people are paid half a living wage – because poverty and climate change go hand-in-hand– and brands are still overproducing and pushing overconsumption, fashion is as big a polluter, if not more, as it was before the pandemic.” The problem is such that some campaigners are unsure as to whether fashion, an industry that is fundamentally predicated on consumption, can ever be environmentally friendly. There have been some interesting material innovations but it is yet to be scaled to a level to make a significant difference.” Evidently many brands need to take stock and really overhaul their businesses if we’re ever to see any real progress when it comes to moving away from fast fashion.