The problem isn’t ignorance. It’s complicity.
There’s a huge shopping mall just around the corner from my apartment. I end up there more often than I’d like to admit, walking past the food court, into the row of discount stores. The tiles shine under the lights, the air smells like fried dough and body spray. Music from the early 2000’s leaks out of every doorway, the same songs on repeat.
Last weekend, I stepped into one of the chains. A giant sign over the entrance read “Everything Is 50% Off.” Racks pressed so close together, the sleeves tangled. I pulled out a T-shirt from the middle. The fabric was thin, almost see-through if I held it up to the light, with a loose thread running down the side seam.
I bought it anyway.
By the end of the week, it was on top of a pile in the corner of my room. Next to the sweatpants with the waistband twisted, the sneakers that left black streaks on the floor after one wear, the hoodie where the zipper jammed on the second try.
People call fast fashion wasteful and bad for the planet. I’ve used the same words myself. But the truth is more complicated. Strip the surface off this story, and it isn’t really about shopping. It’s about people like me, still wanting something new, even when we…