Why are garments made so poorly nowadays and don’t last? What is sustainability and how to tell when brands achieve this and when they do not

Sustainable clothing and ethical garments have been a buzzword for many brands that claim they are doing this, however, in hindsight, this could be untrue…

Overconsumption and Environmental/ Ethical Importance in Fashion

I have noticed that in the fashion industry, to make something sustainable and ethical such as leather being replaced by faux leather. It makes you think if this is sustainable.

Generally, fake leather is made out of either polyester or thermoplastics. Thus when creating the garment the process still creates a lot of pollution and is bad for the climate. Also, it’s not sustainable by not being long-lasting and, therefore going into a landfill. In order for a company to be ethical by not making garments out of leather or fur, why replace them at all if the result is still unsustainable. Generally, for most independent brands, there is a bigger sense of attention and care when it comes to sustainability and ethical practices. An example of this is handmade garments such as knitted sweaters that are made from wool and will last a long time but are a bit more expensive, instead of a synthetic sweater that goes into the landfill from a big brand after 2 years of wear.

Romantizing Nostaligia and Micro Trends

Why do clothes not last and why is this the case, this can be evident through the romanticization of nostalgia, chasing the past and how you can see the differences in the present quality of garments versus back then. The parallels of micro-trends and nostalgia play a big part in fashion today, as these trends are surrounded by particular aesthetics that feed off many nostalgic aspects into one outfit—watching many videos through social media such as TikTok and or YouTube shorts, Micro-trends through fashion influence being at an all-time high. Recreating outfits through multiple influences, are garments pieces that are constructed in noticeably poorer quality than their past influential counterparts. Through the lenses of a fashion consumer myself, purchasing secondhand clothing is not only more sustainable in a lot of cases, but the quality of said clothing is as well. Nowadays, purchasing brand new clothing through fast fashion brands specifically, it is evidence of the quality that you receive versus how clothing was constructed a generation ago.

The Life cycle of garments in the 21st Century

This issue is because of many reasons. One example of this is inflation being at an all-time high in 2024. Good quality fibres and fabrics that would have been affordable a few decades ago are now becoming almost unattainable to purchase nowadays. “The price of high-end women’s dresses climbed an average of 250% between 1998 and 2010” (Lee 14:56). For this reason fast fashion and the use of polyester which is very cheap to use is still huge and prevalent, even with the resurgence of buying second-hand and being more mindful of sustainability. Big companies and corporations such as Zara, H&M, and Urban Outfitters are fast fashion brands that not only cut costs on good quality fabrics instead, use mostly synthetic materials such as polyester, and also cut corners when it comes to the finishes of garments.

This causes garments to not last long and deteriorate quickly, thus creating tons of waste to go into landfills. In general, many people cannot afford luxury items, unlike the higher class, on average many consumers do not sew their own clothing as decades before would. In order to have good quality clothing, sewing your own garments was the solution to not being able to afford expensive garments. Now consumers turn to fast fashion as that solution. However, this is not sustainable and creates pollution when being made and being thrown away.