New Year New Trends

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A fast fashion warehouse in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of: flenguyen via Unsplash

Olivia Clarke, Journalist

With the new year comes a variety of new trends to keep up with. Consumers race to buy the latest thing off of social media platforms such as Tiktok, Instagram, and YouTube. Fashion is the main form of such trends, and is leading to a dangerous amount of fast-fashion brands being supported, including their unethical ways.

According to Oxford Languages, fast fashion is ‘inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends’. The biggest issue with cheaply produced clothing is that it is very harmful to the environment. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of all carbon emissions and is polluting waters which in turn is killing off vital ecosystems and oceanic creatures. In order to make clothing as cheap as possible for the consumer, some companies will use fabrics that contain large amounts of microplastics, which end up in the ocean through production or washing the clothes after purchasing. These microplastics end up being ingested by sea creatures and can block the gastrointestinal tracts of organisms, which can lead to a large number of issues, one of them being the animal dying of starvation. Not only are microplastics harmful to animals, but also to humans. Ingestion of plastics can lead to immune and brain problems, damage cells, and interfere with the body’s natural hormones.

Fashion trends are also not always inclusive, according to Oliver Freire, a freshman. “I think it’s really bad because of the lack of diversity, and the popular fashion trends aren’t usually good anyway, because they tend to be repetitive.” Not only can fashion trends be bad, but other trends may be harmful in a different way as well. Non-materialistic trends also take up people’s time, says freshman Ashley Jones. She believes that “people should not waste their time with trends. With that time they should be doing something productive, for example doing something for school.” With that said, there are trends that are light-hearted and good fun, but sometimes they aren’t so positive for everyone.