Can College Students Change the Culture of Fast Fashion?

By Annabel Gorman and Ethan Bruemmer, November 11, 2021

If you actually imagine what your clothes go through before it gets into your hands, you might want to think twice before you buy it. 

If consumers consider the ethical, environmental and behavioral issues, they will realize that they should not purchase fast-fashion. Fast fashion is cheaply produced clothing that you wear only a few times before you throw it out or it breaks. 

Humanitarian Issues

One of the issues that we are confronted with when it comes to fast fashion is the ethically questionable practices that these fast fashion companies undergo. Innocent people are working in dangerous conditions that can be life threatening, and are also being taken advantage of, as they are paid close to nothing.

In 2013, the Guardian newspaper reported that a fast fashion factory collapsed killing 1,130 fast fashion workers. “Right now you could be wearing something made by one of them” (Burke 2013). This event brought to light the terrible conditions that fast fashion workers have to endure. They might not all be this horrific, but workers are still being put through major human rights violations and at the same time they are indirectly, and more importantly, unknowingly destroying the environment that they live in and creating worse living conditions for themselves. 

Marketing and Consumer Behavior 

In college fast fashion is so popular due to the many external factors that put pressure on students to buy more and more clothes. Tara Cushing, the Secretary of GECO, an organization in Gettysburg College, states the thought process that goes through so many people’s minds before they buy fast fashion: “I need something for this mixer theme or I want to get party clothes that I normally would not buy.” She goes further to state that, “Nobody ever thinks of throwing out your clothes as having huge environmental impacts.” This lack of awareness about the effects of fast fashion leads to a certain consumer behavior.

On the issue of individuality, fast fashion is only partly there due to the fact that so many people have a materialistic mindsight, where they think having more things is better, when in fact, everyone is buying the same unoriginal clothes (Yoon 2020). Some would argue that going to a fast fashion store and choosing the clothes you want to wear is still allowing you to make your own identity. However, these companies are marketing to people and attempting to entice and manipulate you into buying their product. In this way they choose your identity for you (Yoon 2020). Instead, buying original clothes that are not as popular can define who you are and can be a way of showing your originality (Yoon 2020). 

A relevant, peer reviewed article,“The Motivational Drivers of Fast-fashion Avoidance” (Kim 2013), focuses on the ethical issues that drive people to avoid fast fashion and one of the biggest issues was that people knew how these companies were taking advantage of other people. 

Fast-fashion specifically targets young people (Joy 2012). These companies are able to act in this way, since college students have less money to spend on clothes, and are at a point in their lives where fashion plays a role in social acceptance.

A peer reviewed study by Su explained the factors affecting brand loyalty to fast fashion. Young people perceive that fast fashion allows them to be more unique. They are able to buy more clothing and create more outfits for less money (Su, 2017). However, in buying fast fashion, college students are allowing companies like Shein or Zara to decide what they wear, and thousands of other people are also buying the same items.

Some of the factors that increase college student’s loyalty to fast fashion brands are excitement, attractiveness, up-to-dateness, and sophistication (Su, 2017). Specifically, fast fashion allows college students to keep up with trends without spending a lot of money. 

The main reasons college students are so loyal to fast fashion brands are updated fashion, a large variety of choices, and a quick turnover from ordering to receiving the clothing (Su, 2017). Fast fashion also presents a high value for college students who do not have the resources to spend on more expensive clothing (Su, 2017). 

Tara Stringer, an expert on consumer behavior from the Queensland University of Technology explains the marketing side of fast fashion.  

“The impact of fast fashion is distant to the consumer. “We need a t- shirt, we see a t- shirt, we buy it for $10, and we don’t think about the impacts.” 

Stringer stressed the need to close the gap between consumers and manufacturers. On the marketing side, this may make college students less likely to buy fast fashion.

When asked about initiatives from H&M and other similar fast fashion companies to be more sustainable, Stringer said,

“It is 100% greenwashing.” She went on to explain that labels claiming that fashion brands are sustainable are not always accurate or regulated, which can confuse consumers who want to shop ethically. 

After speaking with Stringer, we interviewed Hanna Schwarzer, a Gettysburg College student and fast fashion consumer. When asked about her primary motivator for buying fast fashion, she said 

“It’s cheap!” This reinforces our previous idea that fast fashion targets college students who do not have the resources to buy expensive clothing. 

When asked how often she purchases fast fashion, she said,

“About 4 times a year with about 10 items of clothing.” 

Based on this, Schwarzer buys about 40 articles of clothing from fast fashion companies yearly. 

“They typically last about 5 or 6 wears.” 

When asked if anything would prevent her from buying fast fashion, Hanna’s response was,

“If they raise the prices.” 

Schwarzer’s responses illustrate that fast fashion is prevalent on the Gettysburg College campus and that the main reason that college students buy it is economics and financial strain.

Environmental Issues

Most college students do not associate their fashion choices with the environment. However, according to Waste360, the fast fashion industry creates excessive amounts of waste and uses and pollutes 79 billion cubic meters of water annually. (Waste 360, 2020). This is around 30 billion swimming pools that these corporations use every year, that could have instead gone to other people that were in need.

The fast fashion industry also generates a lot of clothing waste because consumers typically get around 5 or 6 wears out of them. After this, the clothes make their way to a landfill. 

As Stringer says, “In its current form, fast fashion is unsustainable.”

Knowing the environmental and humanitarian effects of fast fashion, college students should buy longer lasting sustainably sourced clothing. Buying longer lasting clothes is also just as economical, if not more so, than buying new, unreliable clothing, every three weeks.

If you do not have the money to buy these sustainable clothes, then there are many other options for you. Buying clothes at a thrift store, like the Gettysburg Hospital Thrift Store, borrowing clothes from a friend, and restyling old clothes in a way that allows you to shape your identity are several strategies to be able to be sustainable and still shop affordable.

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Works Cited

Burke, J. (2013). The Shirt on Your Back. The Guardian. 

Joy, A., Sherry, J. F., Venkatash, J,. Chan, R. (2012). Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the 

Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands. Fashion Theory, 16(3): 273 – 296 

Kim, H., Choo H.J., Yoon N. 2013. The Motivational Drivers of Fast-fashion Avoidance. Journal 

of Fashion Management and Marketing. 

Can Fast Fashion Ever be Sustainable? Waste360. May 2020:N.PAG. Accessed September 

28,2021.

Su, J. (2017). Factors affecting college students’ brand loyalty towards fast fashion. International 

Journal of Retail and Distribution Management 46(1): 90-107. 

Yoon, N., Lee, H.K., Choo, H.J. 2020.​​ Fast Fashion Avoidance Beliefs and Anti-Consumption 

Behaviors: The Cases of Korea and Spain. Sustainability.

Stringer, Tara. Professor at the Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Nursing and a Master of Business. Published paper about fast fashion. 

 Cushing, Tara. Secretary of Gettysburg Environmental Concerns Organization. 

Schwarzer, Hanna. Gettysburg College student.