In Belgrade, there are a dozen shopping centers where mostly fast fashion stores are located, and new shopping centers with such an offer are constantly being opened.
Fast fashion is a concept they started street brands, and today almost the entire fashion industry operates according to that system. It is a question of cheap and mass production that causes large amounts of pollution, the use of low-quality materials that are chemically derivatives of oil, as well as the final chemical treatment in terms of coloring or perforations.
The term first appeared in 1996, when the Zara brand opened a store in New York. It was coined by journalists The New York Times- and to describe the previously unheard of thing, which is that the collection of this brand was produced in just two weeks.
Dunja Jovanović, the founder of the F.fm platform, which deals with the communication of environmental protection topics, tells "Vreme" that this phenomenon is recognized when we notice that the collections in stores change quickly.
"Fast fashion brands today produce around 52 'micro-seasons', i.e. micro collections per year. That means at least one new collection every week. In this way, hasty purchases are stimulated, because the tension is created among consumers that if they do not buy a certain piece immediately - in just a few days it will no longer be available".
Data and statistics show that today people buy more than they need, and that is precisely in branded stores, eagerly awaiting "Black Friday" - a marketing trick in which brands "reward" us with big discounts after raising real prices in the months that have preceded.
At the global level, according to the data of the British agency Eco Age, the consumption of fast fashion has increased by 20 percent in the last 400 years.
"Although at first it may seem that it is different in our area due to lower purchasing power, the data shows that 2019 million tons of textiles were imported into Serbia in 19 alone, of which 90 percent are clothes from fast fashion chains," says Jovanović.
In addition to hyperproduction, fast fashion can also be recognized by the low quality of clothing. In order to reduce costs, brands use lower quality materials.
"Today, 60 percent of clothing is made from polyester, a material obtained from oil that takes over 300 years to decompose when it ends up in a landfill," explains Jovanović.
The third reason is pollution. Unsold clothes are sent to textile landfills in Asia, Africa or Eastern Europe.
"Due to global transport, carbon dioxide emissions are high, and the fashion industry is responsible for as much as 20 percent of industrial pollution of global waters," he adds.
The problem of textile waste
The textile industry is among the top five biggest polluters of the environment. A whole 10 percent of climate change was caused by fashion, that is, our need to always have new clothes.
Designer and founder of the first sustainable fashion concept store Biro354c, which does redesign second-hand things Ana Trošić Trajković says that 2.700 liters of water are used to produce one T-shirt, while 10.000 liters are needed for jeans.
"Here we are not talking about water that is used up or polluted later, during the lifetime of the textile product, but only for its creation," emphasizes Trošić Trajković.
Serbia, he says, annually imports 80.000 tons of clothing, and of that amount, 60 percent ends up at the landfill.
"Unfortunately, we still do not have a sufficiently developed awareness of this. Textile as a raw material can be used indefinitely in circular production and design, as long as it does not come into contact with other municipal waste.
Serbia: Third World country in the fashion industry
Working conditions in the textile industry are worrisome, the interviewees of "Vremena" explain. Wages are minimal, workers work in three shifts and overtime, they are exposed to psychological harassment every day, the workplace is inhumane.
This mostly happens in Third World countries, where there are no political conditions for the development of trade unions that would take care of workers and their rights. There are no age limits to work either, so mostly women and children sew our clothes for fees of around $40 a month with one day off a week.
Jovanović says that during the research of foreign-owned textile factories, which have their own plants in Serbia, she and her team came to know that in one of the foreign-owned textile factories, Geox, employees were suggested to wear diapers to avoid going to the bathroom.
"Based on research by an international organization." Clean Clothes Campaign, we saw that this is not an exception, but that the situation is similar in numerous foreign factories in Serbia. This practice is becoming more and more prevalent, bearing in mind that large fast fashion chains have begun to increasingly transfer production to Eastern European countries, primarily due to lower transport costs and low labor costs."
He adds, there have also been cases where there is no air conditioning in the halls where production is organized in the summer, and no heating in the winter.
To be trendy is to be manipulated
"Hyper-consumerism did not arise overnight. This is a consequence of what we are, as a species, and we are - ignorant of nature, exclusive in our needs, intolerant of other living beings and extremely selfish towards future generations in what kind of 'house' we leave behind," explains Trošić Trajković.
Social networks, as an advertising channel, greatly support this phenomenon, Jovanović points out.
"Advertisements on the networks are not marked transparently, even though it is mandatory by law, so people do not even know that they have seen an advertisement, but think that it is a sincere recommendation of an influencer, which is misleading." Trends change quickly, and we are all told that if we are not in trend, we are not socially relevant either - so we have to buy that relevance, constantly".
In addition, he adds, the wardrobe is no longer looked at emotionally, but shopping has become an incidental, fun activity, so clothes are discarded after only one wear - sometimes they are not worn at all.
"If, for example, we were to wear a piece globally for 30 days, we would reduce the carbon dioxide emissions produced by the fashion industry by 10 percent," emphasizes Jovanović.
Slow fashion movement
As a movement opposed to fast fashion, a few years later, slow or sustainable fashion appeared. This answer includes all activities aimed at returning the textile industry to an ecological and ethical path.
"The movement of slow fashion, in addition to slower production, tells us to slow down and shop in our own way, because that's the only way we will gradually get to know ourselves and understand what we like, and not what brands, advertising magazines and influencers tell us we should like." , explains Jovanović.
This way of life and business, he explains, is based on solidarity and continuous education.
"In practice, this means that the designer or brand must think from the very beginning, what is the origin of the materials, how are they procured, what are the economic and working conditions faced by workers who sew clothes, how is waste managed, how are products transported to customers, how they are packaged and whether they are intended for short or long-term use, whether the material is recyclable and whether the brand itself offers a recycling option".
Buyers, he says, should think about how they buy clothes, how they store them, how and where they throw them away?
"When we buy new clothes, we should choose natural materials - cotton, linen, silk, wool... which decompose quickly, and do not pose such a threat to the natural environment as artificial materials, in addition - they are also better for our skin because they allow to 'breathe'".
Trošić Trajković concludes that the responsibility lies not so much with manufacturers and fast fashion brands as with the customers themselves.
"We need to buy when we need, what we need, from organic materials and from local producers because their products do not fly halfway across the planet to customers, emitting enormous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, to store, maintain, repair and repair what we bought, to we choose vintage i second-hand, to exchange clothes with friends, give away or donate worn ones".
