Fast fashion has become a global crisis exacerbated by the rise of social media and influencer marketing.
A thrift shopper's video went viral on TikTok after highlighting the amount of discarded trendy pieces in secondhand shops.
"The fact that these were trending last week and already gone out of people's closet," read the video's caption.
@juliaa.vids Fast fashion sucks #fastfashion #shein #romwe #fashion #thrift #thrifted #thrifting ♬ sonido original - MUNTA*
In her TikTok, thrifter Julia (@juliaa.vids) pulls out a series of clothing items, including cocktail dresses, blouses, bathing suit tops, and high heels. According to the thrifter, these items had been trending just a few days ago on the Internet.
Gaining over 90,000 views, the video sparked a debate among TikTokers who discussed the problem of fast fashion.
"I hate how people treat clothing and microtrends," responded one user.
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"This is…so sad," wrote another TikToker. "Some of these are so cute."
Other users considered that perhaps the person who donated the items no longer fit into them. While this is certainly a possibility, the viral TikTok continued to highlight the underlying problem of fast fashion.
Fast fashion is an industry term describing companies that rapidly produce cheap clothing to keep up with changing trends. Shopping for trends instead of personal style has led to consumers overbuying and then discarding clothing items.
The fast-fashion business model has detrimental impacts on the environment, as the race to produce large volumes of items at once emits harmful pollutants that contribute to the globe's rising temperatures.
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In fact, fast fashion has a major carbon footprint, accounting for 10% of the world's total carbon emissions.
While donating unwanted clothes to thrift stores prevents items from ending up in a landfill, it does not eliminate the pollutants initially used to create those items in the first place. Instead of overshopping in an effort to keep up with trends, try to buy less and select quality items that you need.
"I mean good thing that they're at least not just throwing them away," wrote one TikToker.
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