How does “Haute Couture” affect global pollution
- Stela
- Dec 18, 2022
- 6 min read
“Haute” and “Couture” are two French words, that are as meaningless as two separate words can be. But when standing together, side by side, they have the most expensive meaning in fashion. “High-end sewing” is the most valuable piece of garment one can own. It takes up to one year to make one single piece by hand, and it costs as much as a house. The average American woman would never buy Haute-Couture. Most men and women prefer to spend their hard-earned money on low-cost clothes that fast fashion boutiques sell. In the meantime, Haute-Couture inspires fast fashion brands like Zara, H&M, Primark, etc. to produce similar outfits for a lesser cost. But what is the actual cost of a $50 knockoff dress? Is it all worth it? In this essay we will see how the positives of the fashion industry are outweighed by its many negative effects on the environment: it facilitates fast fashion brands to produce more low-cost clothes, the rivers in India are reaching the highest level of eutrophication from fabric dyeing, and all of this high mass production is increasing the need for child labor.
There are two sides to a story. The French and British believe that fashion has changed our world, from sad and meaningless to a happier and purposeful place. And the point is, they might be right. Fashion Studies states, “Following your own fashion statement gives you a sense of free-thinking and you tend to become more of an independent thinker. Whatever you wear, if you think that you are looking best; it gives you a great sense of confidence”. In today's world, everything evolves around confidence, being true to yourself, finding your niche, placing focus on your strengths, nurturing your chi, and so on. In other words, the clothes you wear, define who you are. But not just that, in the right clothes you feel more like yourself, they boost your self-esteem. According to Very Well Mind, Self-esteem impacts your decision-making process, your relationships, your emotional health, and your overall well-being. Some studies say that teenagers with low self-esteem are prone to bullying, low performance in school, and verbal abuse.
Wearing the right clothes at a job interview might help you make the right impression. From a detailed questionnaire made to 100 employers, 68% of them agreed that wearing the right clothes at a job interview would probably help your overall performance. On the other hand, wearing the right suit, shirt, and trousers at a job interview will increase your self-esteem. Clothes are made to make an impression, and usually a good one. According to the dress code rules, your clothes define what you do in life. A lot of esthetics professors mentioned that even the colors you choose help you make a statement. For instance, cold tones (blue, green, purple), make you seem more cold, distant, hard to please, keen to succeed, money-driven, etc. On the other hand, warm tones make one seem more approachable, easy, friendly, and kind. This is not an exact science, but it helps make the right impression. That’s why engineers wear helmets, green vests, and work boots on the job. In the office, their attire is more formal, like a suit and tie. The more expensive the suit seems, the more money you make, and the more successful you seem to be.
The other side of the story, and the other head of the Greek Goddess, Jannus is the impact of clothes on our environment. To be frank, people were not as interested in sustainability back in the ‘60s,’70s, and ‘80s as much as we are today. They had no idea what carbon footprint was, or where does that fur come from. Most of the fashion houses would brag about how the new collection was full of real leather and bison fur. Brands like Gucci made their name from selling leather goods like belts, loafers, bags, pouches, jackets, coats, trench coats, etc. The thoughts of vegan leather were taboo.
Nowadays people buy 60% more clothes than in the 1960s and 1970s. It is not that they need more, but it is because they can. The average American shops most of the time online in 2022. That is because Covid had an impact on our society, changing it radically. During Covid, very few people bought dress clothes, because they were spending more time in their homes than offices. Lounge attire became the thing of 2020. One year later the sales at Savage Fenty shop increased by 60% in daywear. It was not because people had nothing to wear, but because they were celebrating their freedom. More clothes in the carts mean a higher demand in the stores. Brands started reopening physical shops all over the world, and for obvious reasons, they needed more staff. More staff in producing, selling, marketing, design, selling, headquarters, etc. Fashion week experienced a bloom in 2021 and 2022, especially ready-to-wear. People were not ready yet to buy a $10.000 Haute-Couture dress. Forty-nine to 90 designs in only one collection, for one designer only. In the world today work approximately 40.000 fashion designers, half of whom reside in the United States. Each and every one of them produces at least 20-90 pieces for their showroom, and then depending on the need, they produce 7-8 sizes for each and every design. That is equal to 320 pieces of clothing for only one designer. Let’s assume that 20.000 designers have a well-established business, and make 320 items in one season, 20 thousand designers would produce 6,4 million clothes every six months. If only half of this actually ends up in the consumer's wardrobe, what happens to the other half? Louis Vuitton, Dior, and a few other well-established fashion design houses do not sell their collections at a discount. They incinerate the remaining unsold garments.
Designer clothing starts at $100 a piece and goes as high as it can, depending on the fabric, time of sewing, who made it, and so on. Most people cannot afford a custom-made design, so they rush to fast fashion boutiques to buy the same product, at a lower cost. The most famous fast fashion boutiques are Zara, Massimo Dutti, H&M, Bershka, Stradivarius, Primark, Asos., etc. How they manage to cover these expenses is no secret. By cutting down on the quality of the sewing, thread, fabrics, and labor, fast fashion brands provide customers with the dress they want at a lower price.
Fabrics are made out of natural fibers, such as cotton, silk, wool, cashmere, etc. Synthetics are made out of fossil fuels and some inexpensive alternatives. The less synthetic a fabric has, the highest the price of the fabric, and vice versa. This means the cheaper the dress, the more plastic it has. According to Ecco Energy, companies outsource the production line to third-world countries, where labor conditions are pitiful, they lack basic safety measures, and where violence is present. Not to mention low wages and addiction to child labor have created much conversation but little change. Most of these workplaces operate without any security measures, no heating or cooling systems, no aspiration from toxic fumes, etc. And a lot of luxury brands do the same for the max production line, they do not produce all the collections in the house.
Buying fast fashion is definitely cheap. With the same amount of money one would spend on an Haute-Couture dress, consumers today can buy a whole rack full of clothes at Zara. That can be convenient for some since a lot of us need different clothes every day to make us feel good about ourselves. To boost our creativity, self-esteem, motivation, purpose, and mood. We buy as much as we can afford, and then after six months, we buy again. If we are lucky and creative, we can think about recycling, reusing, and most importantly reducing our consumer urge to shop. With the money spent at a fast fashion boutique, the one getting richer is the owner, who will hire more manufacturers in third-world countries eventually. The manufacturer will hire more under-aged kids to work for scraps, in dangerous environments.
There will be a high demand for low-cost garments in the years to come, and a higher demand for low-cost labor. The average wage for a worker in a third-world country is $220 a month for 8 hours of work. With the higher demand for clothes, the work hours will increase, but not the salary. In Albania, mothers are taking their children along with them to the workplace, because most cannot afford a babysitter.
The vicious cycle of the fashion industry is very hard to break but consumers can play a big role in it. The need for clothes that make us feel good about ourselves is great. But so is the need for a clean environment. Specialists suggest recycling and reusing clothes in our wardrobes would fulfill our need for new clothes. Investing money we want to spend on new clothes, on hiring a stylist, or specialist would be a step towards sustainability. “Less is more” is a famous quote randomly used in media today. It couldn’t be more relevant than now. Less plastic, less child labor, less cheap and underpaid workforce, and less fast fashion would lead to more high-end life, or as the French say, “Haute Couture”!
References
Boggon, C. (2019, March 18). How polluting is the fashion industry? Eco energy.
Cherry, K. (2022, November 7). What Is Self-Esteem? Very Well Mind.
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