Hi friends,
My name is Aijia and I am currently a final year student in Nanyang Technological University. This blog was developed as part of a module assignment for the module HP3203 Conservation Psychology.
My deep interest in fast fashion came when I was on exchange in the United Kingdom. I developed a small shopping problem while I was there as clothes there were so cheap. For example, I bought a pair of joggers from Primark for only £1 (S$1.80)!! Granted, it was on discount so it was particularly cheap. The regular-priced clothes may not have been that cheap but were definitely still value-for-money as most were sold for £10 (S$18) or less. With so many pretty clothes selling for a fraction of what they’d go for in Singapore, I was hooked to shopping. That is, until my friend noticed that I had been indulging myself too much. She opened my eyes to the humanitarian and environmental cost behind fast fashion. For the first time, I was aware of the problem of fast fashion and was ashamed that I was a part of the problem.
Through this blog, I hope to shed some light on the shady, unsavoury parts of fashion consumption. It is extremely easy to overlook environmental issues when we can just focus on hedonism and looking good. With this knowledge, we can hopefully work on changing the habits of overconsumption and overproduction that fast fashion has induced. There are higher stakes at risk than just being unable to buy the right shirt.