75: That $7 Shirt Is Making You Sick: Fast Fashion vs. the World

2023/2/22

Chapters

The episode introduces the concept of fast fashion, discussing how it began and its initial appeal due to affordability and accessibility.

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Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Hi! This is a chance to pretty much tell you everything I learned about something and it's usually stuff you'd probably never think about. So all I need you to do is sit back, relax, and just let me tell you about that hot, juicy history gossip. It's so juicy!

Okay, so let's jump back in the dark history time machine. We're here at this magical place called, you get it? The mall, like the club. That's what I'm trying to do. Okay, look, I worked at the mall for a lot of my teenage years. I'm working at the mall, minimum wage, right? Which...

It was another episode we did. So I'm working a minimum wage job. I'm taking pictures of kids. I worked at the picture people. Girl, I took pictures of people's kids and family portraits and stuff. Yeah, I did that. Anyways, so then I tried to get another job within the mall, but it was a nicer store and I needed to wear something that was...

you know, interview appropriate. Now, at this time, I was scraping by. I had no extra money and no savings. And I went to Forever 21. And this was like the first time I had seen a Forever 21 because it had just come to the mall I was at. And I had never seen this store before. And I was like, oh, my God, everything in here is pretty inexpensive. And I could get like a nice blazer and

and get interview appropriate clothing for this job interview, you know? And I did, and I left the tags on. They have a terrible return palsy. But hey, we know. You see me, I see you. We know. It's okay. Sometimes it's... Anyways. Okay, so I was able to get a blazer and nice pants and a nice shirt, just a regular... I didn't have any of this stuff, okay? I dressed like a trash rabbit.

I still do. But I get this, I'm feeling good, I'm feeling confident and I didn't even spend that much. Well, that much, it was still a lot, but like it was inexpensive and I felt good. And I went into that interview the next day like, wow, I feel great. Like I could get hired. And if it wasn't for fast fashion, I wouldn't have been able to get new clothes.

I depended on fast fashion. Forever 21, H&M. I mean, it's reasonably priced, right? And I could constantly get new pieces. But then...

You hear about fast fashion and how bad it is. And it gets you thinking, well, what's so bad about it? What's so bad? It's turning into garbage. That's what you always hear. But I wanted to know more, right? So got to digging, doing some Googling out there, trying to learn, okay, Bailey, you need to get fully educated on fast fashion.

And here's what I learned. I'm gonna tell you all about it. Now, if you don't know, fast fashion is defined as the practice of companies that mass produce and sell extremely inexpensive on-trend clothing. The whole goal is for styles to go from the runways

to the rack as fast as possible. So I'm talking about stores like Zara, Forever 21, H&M, and even online retailers like Revolve, Nasty Gal, and Shein. Yeah, Shein. We all thought it was Shein. Wait, Shane. I don't know. I just didn't know it was Shein. And that's what I learned today. I

Honestly, the list goes on and on and on. And yeah, it's just taken over the planet. And because these clothes are so inexpensive, a lot of us are not asking a lot of questions, right? We're just stoked that we can buy two pairs

cool shirts in two different colors that fit well, look good, whatever. But here's the thing. I get it. Like it's, it's this topic always makes me uncomfortable because if it wasn't for fast fashion, I personally, like I wouldn't be able to get new clothes. I couldn't afford $200 jeans. So I get it. Like fast fashion is really a lot of the time is the only option for a lot of

And like, I don't want to like make anyone feel bad about that, if that makes sense. Anyways, but at the end of the day, fast fashion sees us as an opportunity to exploit that situation, right?

And that's kind of the whole problem with this industry. Fast fashion can be seen as a great thing and a horrible thing at the exact same time, but it's not going away anytime soon. Fashion didn't used to be all about getting that cute, perfect, curve-hugging outfit from Forever 21 at, you know, a bargain at the price. Clothing honestly used to just be about surviving, and people didn't really sit around

wondering if their outfit looked good on them. I mean, as far as back as the 13th century, people were wearing clothes that were essentially just one size. It was kind of like one giant Snuggie. Do you wear one? I do, shut up. Hi, Snuggie. You can sponsor me and Joan, we'll wear one. Not you, Paul. Poor Paul. He's just been shoved to the back like he's a nobody. Oh, Paul, you seem so bored.

Anyways, I'll get you a shirt. Snuggies, amazing. Oh, so back though, in the olden times that I was talking about, there was no such thing as polyester because back then the clothing was made just for survival. It was made of durable fabrics like wool that would keep you warm and last a lifetime. And you buy it once and you have this item until you die, no matter how it fits. So if it looked ugly on you, you were going to look horrible.

I'm sorry, but it was going to look ugly on you until the day you die. And it wasn't until the Renaissance period in 16th century Europe that clothes weren't just about survival anymore. It was about fashion.

I don't know why I'm doing that. I just, because my hand, it just looked inappropriate. I mean, those Renaissance people, they really went for it. They aimed high, especially when it came to accessories. I'm talking those long gloves, puffy collars. Ooh, big hats. That's a big hat. It's funny. If you know where that's from.

You can come over. No, no, no, no, you can't. Because someone will actually do that. Just kidding. This is when the concept of ready-to-wear clothing was starting to show up, meaning you can go and grab a dress at the store and not have to wait for it to be custom made. But this wasn't as common for the everyday person. This kind of mass-produced fashion doesn't really start to pick up speed until the Industrial Revolution.

This is the Industrial Revolution musical with me. In America, the Industrial Revolution was changed. Everything changed for factory production and scene.

Thank you. The Industrial Revolution. Hey guys, history can be really fun. Don't get confused when I say Industrial Revolution. Just know this, in America, it changed everything for factory production. So we had factories here in America. I know, wild. Where are they?

We don't know. They all disappeared. We'll save that for another episode. But this is when making clothes pretty much only depended on people and not machines. So if you wanted to dress, a merchant from a store would get in their carriage and drop off fabric to a tailor's workshop or a factory.

And then a bunch of the workers would get to putting together that dress, sewing it, making sure it was just right, really having a Cinderella moment. And even though the products were good quality, it all depended on how fast a few people could work.

Also, the skill of the worker was really hit or miss. Like some people were born for it and others were not, you know? But that's just the way it was and it worked. When the Industrial Revolution came in, machines started to...

to happen. And they could now do a lot of the work. So it made manufacturing clothes quicker and it lowered the cost of the clothes that they were actually making. A pack of three white button-down shirts during this time cost about $2.50, which in today's money would be around $60. So people wanted to

To buy more, which especially for American companies, that equaled profit. They were like, oh, people want more? I'll give you more. I will give you more. America loves to give more. Once clothing production picked up, it honestly never really stopped.

Especially when department stores came onto the scene in the late 19th and early 20th century. I know you're like, what does that mean? Like the 18 and 1900s. I learned. I'm fucking learning.

Ah, season two, I've learned so much. Now, department stores. So you know a department store. It's the big store that essentially is the long entrance to the mall. It's like the original escape room. You go into like the Macy's or whatever, and you're like, I'm just gonna run through here really quick so I can get to the mall. And then you always wanna go to the bathroom, and you're like, where's the bathroom? And then they're like, it's up to the left, and then you're gonna turn right by the plates, and it's...

And then you got to walk through the perfume section without getting attacked. And then somehow you end up buying something you don't want. The escalator's always broken. That is a department store in general.

Yeah, that's a department store. We've all had that experience. I always end up buying a dish towel I never wanted, but I always end up getting one. Anyways, department stores were popping off in America. For many decades, everyone pretty much only shopped at department stores. I mean, this was the place with everything. So they would have your clothes, shoes, makeup, accessories, um,

house stuff, you know, anything you want, you name it, it had it. And people loved it. And then the 60s happened. And it was a decade that was all about nonconformity. Like, you can't tell me what to wear, man. Burn your bras, bro. Because guys are wearing bras, I'm sure. Free the terror!

There was a ton of social movements that changed the way people got to express themselves. I mean, before this cultural revolution, kids and teenagers literally had to dress like their parents, which wasn't a bad thing. It was just, you know, people were

And with things like the women's liberation movement on the rise, everyday fashion became more and more about self-expression. And an outfit could now be considered a piece of art, really. It was a window into who you were. And the hippies of the counterculture movement wanted to be seen as unique.

And we love that. Not everybody, obviously, but you know, yay. Ironically, clothing companies start to catch on to this and they start catering to more and more fads. Now, just like today, these fads probably started with one original person rocking, I don't know, like big platform boots. A couple of people copy them and pretty soon everyone in the big city is trying to find their own big platform.

Patrick Star platform boots so they could rock their look. But now that clothing companies were working faster and faster with the help of machines, they could pop out a whole line of platform boots in a matter of weeks, giving it to the people faster. It's what you want here, boots. This would go on to become known in the fashion industry as a micro trend. Oh yeah, everything has a name.

We like that. Before micro trends, there were really just two seasons when companies would put out new clothes. So like fall slash winter and spring. But now the seasons did not matter. The brand started creating clothes for specific kinds of people. Like here's something for the cool office girl who wears...

floral prints to work, or even that hippie who grows his own grass. Man, fashion started being based on people's personalities or the personalities that these people maybe wanted. Hmm.

This sounds great, right? Well, this shift actually changed the fashion industry and the world forever. And everyone loved to be shopping. The U.S. Department of Commerce found that people spent around 500% more money on clothes and accessories in the 60s than they did in the 50s. Did you know that?

I didn't know that and I was like, "What? 500% more money in just one year? Now that's wild." But all of this excess clothing, it came at a price. People shopping for fun equaled profit, which meant that there was even more demand to pump out those garments as fast as possible, baby. And the majority of the people doing that work were, sadly, immigrant women and children.

If you remember our episode on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the factory working conditions were just straight up terrible. So even back then, making clothes quickly and in bulk already came at a very high cost. And on top of that, there were lots of work

place accidents happening. Things started to change for the better when labor laws were finally put into place in the 1930s, which was making labor more expensive, which made clothing costs also more expensive.

But the 1960s was a time when the economy was booming and the middle class was on the rise. I mean, people were treating themselves and they expected clothing to last a long time. So in their minds, it was ultimately worth the cost.

The manufacturers would even make clothes in a way that would allow you to hem them, like take them in or let them out, whatever you needed to do, because clothes were meant to be part of your life for the long term. They were considered investment pieces. But right around this time, fashion was about to undergo a complete transformation. Like, did you guys ever watch The Swan?

It was a TV show on, I think it was on ABC. I love that. Don't, it's a real, it's real. Anyways, it's this kind of level transformation. And if you don't know what I mean, it's just a real intense before and after, you know? Anyway, so department stores paved the way for malls, which were booming from the 70s through the 90s. The golden era of malls, baby. The land of neon signs, penny fountains, and Santa once a year.

Ooh, and Cinnabons. And this golden era was all possible because of something that started under our good friend, Dark History Hall of Famer, President Ronald Reagan. I'm just kidding. Did you watch last, was it last season we did Ronald Reagan? Damn, wow. I can't believe that was last season. We've come quite some ways, huh? We've been learning so much together. I'm so proud of us. Look at us learning. And like, we didn't even know we were learning. We're just, we just been learning.

Anyways, yes, Ronald Reagan. Um, can't quit you. Anyway, one of the big things that happened because of Reagan's presidency was something called NAFTA. It stood for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

And what this essentially did was turn Mexico, the United States and Canada into one giant department store. Now things like clothing and other stuff these countries were trading could be bought and sold easily over their borders. With NAFTA, America could move their factories to say like Canada and save a lot of money.

So because of this, things in America started to cost less. And when this happened, America realized, hey, we don't have to pay as much to make clothes anymore. And from this moment in the 90s, we never looked back. The company saved money and the consumer got their product for less. I mean, it seemed like a win-win for everyone. And then this kicked the damn door wide open for something called

Globalization. What? I know. The fashion world saw how profitable that NAFTA thing was and was like, well, shit, like we should do that too. That's a good idea. And so a bunch of countries opened their borders and became open for business. They're like, hey, close.

Clothing factories come over here. Clothing factories move from America and Europe, and they go to places like China, India, and Pakistan. And everyone did their part. For example, fabric would be woven in one country, dyes in another, and then the finishing touches like embroidery, zippers, or buttons would be done in another. Teamwork!

Yay, you know? So you might be thinking low prices? Hell yeah. Well, you can't really get too, well, you can get jazzed about it, but not too much because this is when fast fashion changes the way clothes are forever and really changes the way we buy our clothes too. Now, everything was all about cheap and fast.

Ew, stop being a pervert. I wasn't saying anything like that. I was talking about a Costco hot dog. But this is the turning point when some major companies really see their opportunity to expand their brand.

Like Zara, for example. Zara? Yeah, girl, she's been around. She's been around since 1963. I know, a lot of people think it's newer, but it's not. Zara, H&M, Topshop, Primark. It's like so big in Europe, so big. So all of these companies have technically been on the map for over 50 years, which is crazy because all of the brands I just mentioned are actually considered fast fashion.

What? Yeah, yeah. They grew to be the giants they are today by cutting some major corners. So up until the 60s, 95% of clothing was still made in America, actually in New York City specifically. And plenty of clothes were still made out of natural fibers like wool and cotton, which made for nicer feeling and longer lasting clothes.

But the downside was they were a little bit more expensive. So after the 90s, these up and coming brands decide to pivot to more and more synthetic fibers like rayon and viscose to help keep the cost cheaper. These fibers weren't built to last like wool or cotton was. But, you know, that's a future you problem.

you'll deal with it when it happens. And another downside, these fibers are so full of chemicals. If you go to a thrift store nowadays, the racks are filled with stuff from fast fashion stores, and it seems like they're always coming apart or they're so see-through, and they never look like they're in good shape. Yeah, that's because they're made like that to just fall apart.

Because they're cheaper. This is also when big brands really start outsourcing labor to sweatshops and factories over to countries like China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh. Because globalization, again, it was kind of continuing on. And these places where labor laws were not really a thing anymore.

were beneficial to keep costs low. So they can go back to the good old days of treating the workers terribly, barely paying them, and having a shitty workplace. The new way of doing business meant that companies were now making crazy profits because they weren't spending so much money on labor and manufacturing. Hello, cha-ching! So all these little penny-pinching hacks are designed to keep the price of the clothes low

And I mean, hey, that's great for the customers. We love that. I mean, the timing couldn't have been better. Suddenly it wasn't only teenager shopping at these fast fashion retailers. It was literally everyone. And these brands started to realize that they had a golden opportunity. If they could keep their prices ultra low and continue to cater to all of those micro trends, they would have the American consumer in a chokehold.

And just in time, because something very unfortunate was just... This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year. So you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. America's number one meal kit. In 2008, there was a huge financial crisis. It doesn't even feel that long ago, huh? The economy collapsed. It was crazy.

People were losing their jobs, their savings, houses were being foreclosed left and right, and people were looking to save money where they could. So where everyone seemed to be down, fast fashion saw this as an opportunity to lift the

the people right up. This goes to my job interview thing I had mentioned earlier. So if you're out shopping for something to wear for like a job interview and you have no idea where your next paycheck is coming from, you're going to choose the lesser expensive option

from Forever 21 and not splurge on some fricking hundred dollar version of that thing. You know, you're looking for fast solutions. This is the era in the 2010s when companies like Forever 21, they were thriving. Okay? In 2015, Forever 21 made $4.4 billion in sales. In 2015,

One year. That's a lot of money. That's a lot, dude. And between the year 2000 to 2015, worldwide clothing production doubled. It doubled, which is wild because it's not like the population doubled, but companies were just making more cheap clothes.

single use garments than ever before. I mean, companies are happy, the consumer is happy, and the children that were working overseas, 20 hour shifts for pennies a day in a sweatshop, it's just so glad things are working out for you, huh? I'm sure they're really rooting you us on. I'm gonna say us 'cause I'm... This is fast fashion.

I'm a fraud. I'm a liar. I'm sending myself home. You take over the show, Joan. And scene. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, but it all comes to an end when the economy recovers, right?

No, of course not. Because we keep buying fast fashion. Well, look, if you get used to paying $20 for a new blazer or $15 for a brand new t-shirt, who in the hell is going to go back to paying 30, 40, or over $50 for an article of clothing that you can get somewhere probably a little cheaper, you know? Plus, with the fast fashion prices, buying new clothes didn't have to be such a serious investment anymore. It could be more fun and interesting

which isn't good, but it's, you know, what we were doing. And this era is where clothing really shifts from quality to now quantity. Two Q words. What are the odds of that, huh? And they both are spelled Q-U-A. Are they related? I'm sure the Greeks had some kind of connection there. Watch me get into some deep rabbit hole over this one. Do-do-do!

I will. So yeah, by 2015, for better or worse, fast fashion was successful and here to fricking stay. And it's kind of insane how it rewired the way our brains think about clothing. There's this writer from the Atlantic. Her name is Rachel Monroe. She said it perfectly. She said, quote,

It's hard to overstate how much and how quickly fast fashion altered our relationship with clothing, conditioning us to believe that our clothes should be cheap, abundant, and new."

I mean, it's been reported that Americans buy a new piece of clothing every five days. What that says to a lot of people is that we think of our clothes as disposable, where they weren't before. For every five new t-shirts made a year, three are tossed in the trash.

So in 2016, that's when social media started to really take off. Obviously, it had existed before that, but this is a time of the year everyone got on Instagram and the influencer culture really started to take off.

I mean, shopping online, again, existed, but social media gave it a huge boost. And once again, fast fashion read the room and was like, hey, we're on this social media train too. And they saw this as their opportunity to further cut corners. Now, companies didn't really need much marketing. They just needed a legit Instagram so people would visit their online shop. And this was an A.

Fast fashion begins. And yes, the tech norm is ultra fast fashion. It sounds like a bad sequel.

Yes, a whole new world. An era of fast fashion begins. And yes, the technical term is ultra fast fashion. It's like the big gulp of fast fashion. I love a big gulp. So these are brands like Shein, Boohoo, Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing,

ASOS. ASOS. That's where this is from. I'm so sorry, planet, world, everyone. Don't vote for me for president. You get it. Now, it seems pretty normal to us now, especially after the pandemic where everything started to be online, but these companies completely changed the game because of their business model.

This was to operate almost entirely online. I mean, think about how much money these companies can save. They're not having to pay rent to be in a mall. They don't have to worry about shoplifters or window displays, marketing, bleep, blop, bloop, hiring. It's now just a warehouse with a ton of cheap clothes piled inside of it. So instead of wasting all that money on a storefront,

When they knew that their customers preferred online shopping, they dumped all of their cash into influencer marketing and celeb partnerships. Brands like Pretty Little Thing knew that their target demographic was young people who were influenced by celebrity culture. And they realized if they spent their marketing budget getting people like Kourtney Kardashian to be in their advertisements, the clothes would sell like hotcakes.

regardless of the quality. Pretty soon, Fashion Nova does a line with Cardi B, Boohoo teams up with Zendaya, and boof, the money is rolling in. Sometimes there's no official partnership at all, like a brand will just straight up copy a celebrity's outfit or a piece of designer clothing,

And they usually get away with it because inventory is constantly changing to keep up with trends and these freaking micro trends. And before something can get flagged for being a knockoff,

It's already gone. It's like a frigging spiral. And not only that, it's kind of the wild, wild west when it comes to clothing designs. Actually, our expert for this episode, Dana Thomas, writes about this in her book, Fashionopolis. So don't forget to check that out for a more detailed explanation. But in summary, people's designs are straight up getting ripped off left and right because there's no real laws protecting them. Like if you see someone's design, you can swap clothes

maybe a small pattern on it, add a little pop of blue, and then kabam, you have a totally different design. It's completely legal. Like there's just loopholes everywhere. So a lot of the times you'll see knockoff dresses and whatnot, but they...

can't do anything about it, you know? Unfortunately, you can't trademark or copyright or even patent most designs because according to the government, clothing is a quote, useful article, like a necessity, and not an artistic creation. So big companies with a lot of resources take advantage of this and screw over whatever designer they want

all of the time. They steal, especially from younger or independently owned people, companies. It sucks. These companies know if someone sues them, there's usually not much they can do unless someone has a, say, a status that helps amplify the problem if it's happening to them. Soon it wasn't just celebrities trying to sell clothes. It was now mainly influencers.

So really fast fashion and social media are these two BFFs just...

Keeping this circle jerk alive. Studies actually show that time spent on social media correlates to online shopping and following more influencers is directly tied to more time spent shopping, probably for the things that they're being paid to wear and recommend. I don't get sponsored by fast fashion. Oh, but this is fast fashion. Yeah. Don't buy this. I told you.

At the end of the day, the problem with fast fashion isn't simply influencers though, so let's not blame them. And it's not even social media, it's something so much darker. I'm talking about the situation that went down. I'm talking about this rumor that was going around that the word help

started showing up on clothing tags and order forms from a fast fashion company named Shein. Now I should say these cries for help haven't been 100% confirmed as real, but investigators tried to confirm if this was true or not, but they essentially kept getting doors slammed in their face.

Yeah. Shein exploded into the fast fashion industry real quick. I mean, it's the number one shopping app in 56 countries. I bet you didn't even know there was 56 countries, including the United States of America. And it's easy to see why. I mean, everything is very, very affordable. The clothing ranges from $8 to $30.

but makes you think, well, how are they doing it then? Well, that's the thing. No one really knows. The company she in is extremely secretive.

That's suspicious, okay? Especially about how they treat their employees. Shein's headquarters is located in Guangzhou, China, and what happens there is one big, again, mystery. Only a handful of outsiders have ever been allowed to see the inside of their factories. Yes, it was giving me Willy Wonka, for sure. In 2021, a journalist named Wu Peiyu, who works for an online magazine named Sixth

Tone was able to tour their facilities. I'm not sure how she got in, but she got in. And what Wu reported was pretty alarming. There wasn't one big Sheehan factory. Sheehan was a web of small rundown workshops spread across the city, and each of them were filled with exploited and uncontracted workers. If the workers are not part of something called

a social welfare system, they essentially have no rights, no guarantees, and can be massively underpaid or honestly just not paid at all. There was actually an investigation done into Xi and staff in Guangzhou and they found that employees usually worked 75 hour weeks

and only got one day off per month. That's more than working 10 hours a day, including weekends. But because all of this is happening thousands of miles away for so many of us, and because Sheehan has lied about their labor practices, the problem is often overlooked. As one journalist said, quote, there is no magic. The only way you get such a cheap product is by not paying workers, end quote.

You might be thinking, "Bailey, why would anyone work there if things are so bad? I would just quit." Well, first of all, yes, it's a huge bummer. Your feelings are valid. But when countries don't have strong labor laws, this is the best and maybe only option for so many people. But there is one giant toxic issue no company in this industry can run from, and that issue comes in the form of waste.

First of all, we have to talk about H2O, simple everyday water. You know, the stuff that we drink in our mouths, maybe? Well, the fashion industry also needs water to run their factories and clean their clothing. And let me tell you, it's not like a little bit of water they're using. Dude, they're using a shit ton of water. It's been reported that the fashion industry gulps up about 21 trillion gallons of water

Every year. What? Huh? Who? Where? Yeah, that's what I said. I was like, what? How? Now I was like, well, what the hell does like a trillion look like? So to help you visualize it, that's enough water to supply New York City, all of New York City for 57 years. Pause for dramatics.

Now, that is an ungodly amount of water. Now, I don't know about you, but it seems a little bit more important to make sure our cities have water instead of making sure we have, I don't know, a cheap Led Zeppelin t-shirt that ends up as a cleaning rag in our house. But what do I know, you know? I don't know. I'm just a silly girl on your digital device.

Silly me. And sadly, that's not the end of it when it comes to water. To dye their clothing for those oh-so-chic colors, fast fashion companies use toxic chemicals known as azo dyes. Azo for yayo, all up in my nasal. Kinda works.

These dyes give us colors like neon yellow and deep blues. And these dyes are well known by the scientific community to have the very real potential to cause cancer. I'm laughing because like every episode is ending this way, isn't it? This season is just the we are dying season.

We are killing ourselves, Susan, with everything. Now, after they mix these dyes into water and use it on the clothes, to you and I, it would make sense that the company would clean the water when they're done and dispose of it correctly, which I'm not sure how, but you would think these big companies would do that, right? Well, of course not. Because even if they wanted to, allegedly, they can't.

We don't know how. The water is so contaminated that some experts say that it cannot ever be considered safe again. So what do they do? They take a page out of the classic big corporation playbook and they make it someone else's problem. Yeah. Many fast fashion companies flush this toxic water out of their factories and they dump it into rivers and oceans. Yeah.

And one of the crazier things I learned, indigo dye that is used to give blue genes their iconic color. It used to come from like natural plants. Now the color is made by combining a ton of chemicals. One of those chemicals is formaldehyde. Round of applause for formaldehyde. Yeah. Oh, you don't know what formaldehyde is? Well, let me tell you. It's used to preserve dead bodies.

And it's really toxic and it can kill you. So, and it used to be a nail polish, but it's not anymore. And I think eyelash glue, like we were kind of wild. Next up in the fast fashion waste department is the problem of microplastics. Now microplastics are exactly what they sound like. Many pieces of plastic about the size of a sesame seed. Unfortunately, these plastic pieces

sesame seed looking things are actually extremely bad for the ocean, all for the life in the ocean, and even for us humans. Okay, so where do they even come from? Oy vey. You see, as we humans got better with technology, we invented synthetic materials we can use to make clothing out of. And when you hear synthetic,

Just think unnatural, fake. Okay, got it? Good. And not only this, but manufacturers also started making clothes with lower quality material so they could charge less for all that chic, sexy, fast fashion, realness.

or whatever. Now a ton of that clothing is made of polyester, which did you know is also a type of plastic? And some other really popular fabrics, nylon and spandex, they are plastic too. And you should be looking at those $5 t-shirts a little differently now. There are tons of microplastics

all up in your garments, and they're also floating around in the ocean. Some of it comes from chemical companies, some of it comes from littering, but at least 35% of it comes from making fast fashion clothing. So how does all this get in the water in the first place? Well, it's actually, this is a wild answer that threw me off.

My pony. The washing machine. Yeah, the washing machine. These plastic fibers make their way into the water when you do a load of laundry. It exits your house, travels through all those pipes, and then ends up in the ocean. And then it ends up in the fish and shrimp and whatever else is swimming around the ocean. And then we eat it.

Another problem with fast fashion is pretty obvious. Not all of it is sold. There are around 20 billion pieces of clothing every year that need to be moved out of their warehouses to make room for new inventory and they need somewhere for it to go. So I was thinking, okay, maybe they're donated, right? No.

I have no good news here. In late 2021, EcoWatch, a leading source of science-based environmental news, published a bombshell report that detailed how fast fashion companies like Old Navy, Hollister, and Zara get rid of all their clothes that they can't sell. So it found that shirts, jeans, leggings, you name it, all of it

was shipped to Chile every year with the goal that it will be resold in Latin America, but most of it isn't sold. And investigators found out that every year, on average, almost 40,000 tons of unsold fast fashion items get trucked out

to the desert and are dumped there to rot. But then in June of 2022, just six months after the report came out, one of these clothing mountains in Chile, kablam, went up in flames.

Randomly, allegedly. It just burned. And these clothes are the perfect fuel because, hello, they're made of flammable materials like polyester and the synthetic chemicals and dyes. So, hot fire. And many experts believe that this fire didn't just happen. I mean, someone...

started it because they probably wanted to burn the evidence left behind by these fast fashion companies. But you may be thinking, "Great, I mean, they burned it. They got rid of the clothes. Problem solved."

No, unfortunately, no. These items were, they were never meant to be burned. So the smoke from this clothing fire was horrible, not just for the environment, but also for the people who lived nearby. Because when they lit those clothes on fire, toxic gases from the melting plastics in the clothes

filled the air around them, so people were ordered to stay indoors. Firefighters in crazy hazmat suits tried to contain the raging, poisonous inferno. It was bad, real bad, like a scene from one of those end-of-the-world type movies. And these fast-fashioned trash mountains aren't just in Latin America. Investigators found dozens of clothing mountains in Africa as well.

Shitty man. But hey, it's not like fast fashion companies are turning a blind eye to all of this. In recent years, they've begun recognizing that they, I don't know, may be part of the problem. It's me.

I'm the problem, it's me. I've never even listened to that song before, but I know that's how it goes. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

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You can't avoid her, huh? Take for instance H&M. They have a whole line of clothing that they market as conscious choice products. These pieces are created with, in their words, quote, "...a little extra consideration for the planet."

End quote. Oh, so cute. But what does that even mean? They say these conscious choice items feature sustainable material. And to find them, people just need to look for the green hang tag. Well, it's kind of funny because H&M is currently being sued in the U.S. federal court for greenwashing.

Greenwashing is just a slimy form of advertising used to convince the public that a company's products are environmentally friendly when, in fact, they are actually not. The lawsuit alleges that the green hang tags are misleading, deceptive, and potentially dangerous.

illegal. The lawsuit says they shouldn't even be suggesting these pieces of clothing are more sustainable than their other products. At the end of the day, many of those conscious choice items are still polyester and plastic. So what is it doing for the planet, H&M? We wanna know. Okay, so then there's another option. You can recycle, right?

Recycle, reuse, reduce. I don't know how it went, but I just remember that part. Recycling can't be bad. I mean, it's better than throwing away stuff, right? Well, actually, no, Bailey. The clothing is still made from plastic crap, which is harming your body. And the whole conscious choice thing makes consumers think, oh, I can throw it away and feel good about myself because it will be recycled.

Not necessarily. The lawsuit alleges that programs like this actually encourage consumers to buy more clothes and then toss away the other ones more sooner because it tricks us into thinking, hey, they could be recycled in some magic machine and turned into a bicycle.

And this is on brand for H&M. Some experts believe they are the biggest green washer in the fast fashion industry because they reportedly invest in a bunch of environmental startups

while at the same time overproducing tons of clothes, which most likely just ends up in landfills and those trash mountains I talked about earlier. But to be fair, H&M is just playing the game that the fast fashion industry created. And they're not the only ones accused of doing this. But then again, two wrongs don't make a right. I don't even know what that means, but okay, Bailey. We

We move forward. It might fit there. Is fast fashion a company problem, a consumer problem, a social media problem? At the end of the day, it seems maybe it's just all of it. It's like the perfect storm. It's a circle jerk of never ending nonsense. And what are we supposed to do? The companies are still putting the clothes out and it's like, well, how are we supposed to change this huge ass problem? Don't look at me. I mean, I don't have the answer.

That's why I just kind of gather my information and maybe we can brainstorm. I mean, where do you think this is going to end for us? Eventually we're going to run out of land to put this trash on and we can't burn it. So what's the end goal here? Fast fashion giants, I'm asking you. Hello? Are you there? Bring, bring, bring. Fast fashion. Is that you? Hello?

I don't know. Well, look, maybe long-term we can start with banning synthetic materials and toxic dyes.

Just a thought. I don't know. No one asked, but like, you know, I just want to throw that out there. But for us consumers, I think it's as simple as being thoughtful whenever we can. OK, sometimes fast fashion is all we can afford. OK, I totally get that. But like there are times when maybe you don't have to be so impulsive and you can save and not shop. I don't fucking know what I'm getting at.

Brainstorm, brainstorm everybody. And I do need to say that there are a lot of activists, journalists, and upcoming designers who have eco-friendly options. Oh, remember that commercial for cotton? The freak of our lives.

Yeah. So I randomly looked them up because I was like, is that still around, that slogan and all that? And they actually have a website called The Fabric of Our Lives. I'm not sponsoring anything. Well, you can shop on their website and they pull products from different stores on the internet that are 100% cotton. Yeah.

Yeah, it's actually really cool. You do have to still, I would still double check because I went on there and some of them were not 100% cotton, but a lot of them were. But then also it was really pricey too. So I don't fucking know you guys. I don't know where it, they've got us stuck. This is exactly where they want us because we can't get better clothing unless we demand better pay and, or bring factory, you know, it's just, it's so complicated and it just doesn't have to be really, huh?

I don't know. There are so many different apps and websites where you can buy secondhand clothing. That's an option. Also, maybe you can raid your grandma's closet, but make sure to leave her with stuff. And when all else fails, nudist colonies are a thing.

I mean, I've been to one. Sometimes they have free alcohol. I mean, you don't even need clothes. We could just put on some suntan lotion, play some volleyball, eat a potato. I don't know. Or we can go back to the super olden times and just wear a potato sack. That's where I'm at right now. I'm like so over it, right? I can't wear my lotions, nothing. I'm dry. I just need my potato sack. It's over for me. What about you, Joan? Okay.

Well everyone, thank you for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because you deserve that. Now I'd love to hear your reactions to this story so make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along and don't forget to join me over on my YouTube

where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, also catch my murder, mystery, and makeup. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices. Try your best out there. That's all you can do. And I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye.

Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junya McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Maiden Network.

writers Katie Burris, Alison Filobos, Joey Scaluzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot and edited by Tafadzwa Namarundwe and Hannah Bakker. Research provided by Xander Elmore and the Dark History Researcher team. A special thanks to our expert, Dana Thomas. And I'm your host with the most, Bailey Sarian. Goodbye! ♪♪

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75: That $7 Shirt Is Making You Sick: Fast Fashion vs. the World