Young fast fashion lovers are not to blame for unethical apparel manufacturing, the unregulated industry needs to be held accountable instead.

Young fast fashion lovers are not to blame for unethical apparel manufacturing, the unregulated industry needs to be held accountable instead. Fashion’s biggest sustainability issue doesn’t derive from young consumers’ need for Instagrammability or “haul-level consumption and throwaway culture.” According to a celebrity sustainable stylist, it “comes down to a deeply unregulated industry that isn’t held accountable globally for the amount of waste and exploitation of people and resources it commits every day.” Prior to the industry being under a sustainable spotlight, governments did not have fashion on their radar, but now bills are being introduced across the U.S. and Europe proposing the end of “greenwashing.” Advocates have deemed fast fashion brands’ marketing as “quite useful in appealing to concerned shoppers, but less so in addressing climate change, water quality or other environmental problems.” Gen Z’s love for brands like Shein seems to clash with their passion for sustainability and climate change, but YPulse’s research shows the reality is their budgets are the bigger influences over their purchasing decisions. (Retail Dive)