Fast fashion is cheap, trendy, and inexpensive clothing that explores ideas from the runway or celebrity culture and quickly turns them into clothing that is sold in high street stores; stores that are common or not overlooked at.

Fast fashion is rapid because of how quickly trends move, and the companies that sell fast fashion items have to produce at insane speeds, sometimes “multiple times in a single week to stay on-trend, and make it easily available to consumers,” according to The Good Trade, a resource for sustainable fashion.

Fast fashion has revolutionized the way people shop all around the world. But this trend has been building for centuries.

According to Sara Idacavage writing in Fashionista, the 1800s was a time when fashion took a vast turn and people started to pay closer attention to what they wore and what the trends were. Fashion started to be a way to show one’s social status and what social class one was from. The Industrial Revolution, which started in the late 1700s, established “new textile machines, factories, and ready-made clothing, or garments that [were] made in bulk in a range of sizes rather than being made to order.”

All of this new production and growth in the fashion industry brought “sweaters,” or low-wage workers working from home, which foreshadowed modern clothing production. These jobs eventually moved to factories.

During World War II, an increase in standardized clothing came about. Middle-class consumers were open-minded to the idea of purchasing mass-produced clothing after the war.

The beginning of fast-moving trends began in the 1960s when people took up the idea of inexpensive clothing to keep up with fashion trends without spending too much. Toward the end of the 20th century, fast fashion began to be looked at as tolerable and preferable as a way to achieve a put-together look through the mixing of high and low fashion.

Communicating one’s style has become much simpler over time regardless of socio-economic status. People are able to wear high street clothing and not be categorized into a specific social class, unlike in the past.  Models and other forms of influencers who affect the spreading of trends are wearing more and more fast fashion items, making it more accessible and common to anyone.

Trends come and go because people get tired of certain articles of clothing and want to change it up. No one wants to keep wearing the same outfits, so trends are a way to bring change to a wardrobe. Fast fashion makes these pieces of clothing easily affordable and accessible.

Through popular culture, people are influenced by the choice of footwear, jewelry, clothing, and even hairstyles. Advertising also comes into account of how trends come and go.

Fashion is always changing and is influenced by runways and high profile individuals, such as musicians, influencers, and celebrities. These influencers and celebrities are constantly changing up their styles and their appearances to create a new way to maintain their popularity. People who support and admire these influencers buy similar pieces to recreate those looks.  Because of this process, trends come and go and eventually return, creating a cycle.

Fashion trends tend to recur every 20 to 30 years, according to Grace Gordon in the online magazine Savoir Flare. Forgotten styles of clothing almost always come back in style decades later. Keeping old styles of clothing can be wise because they will most likely reoccur on the runway or be incorporated into an influencer’s look.

“Fashion is an ever-evolving organism that seeks to improve upon the past while keeping an eye on the future,” writes Gordon. The recycling of trends means items can be renewed and made into better pieces than ever before. The renewing of trends demonstrates the advancements in technology with new upgraded fabrics, flattering silhouettes, and more complex features.

As a matter of fact, fast fashion is a major technological advancement because of how quickly articles of clothing are made and also how quickly social media spreads the new looks.

Because of the speed at which trends spread, the brands that are considered fast fashion have to find ways to produce the clothes at lightning speed. Some brands can have an item ready to go onto shelves just two weeks after the original sketch of the item.  According to Seth Stevenson writing in Slate, new styles can arrive in stores up to twice a week.

Boris Hodakl, writing in Sewport, explains the steps companies take to get these pieces into stores as quickly as possible: Create a pattern and digitize it; sort out the patterns; create the “lay-plan,” which means getting patterns ready for production; cut the fabric; make sets for the seamstresses; select colors and trims; adjust the machinery; sew the garments; and finish the garments. Once all of these steps are done, the garments are shipped to stores and warehouses.

There are serious issues and consequences that come with fast fashion. It can help renew evolving designs and trends that people use to find their own style and buy clothing for cheaper. But it creates an awful amount of waste, not only in the amount of clothing being made and eventually thrown away, but also in money. Because of how quickly trends move, people will get rid of what is considered old or “over with” and keep consuming and buying new pieces that eventually will be thrown away.

Dana Thomas explains the problems in her book Fashionopolis, reviewed by Tatiana Schlossberg in The New York Times, “More than 60 percent of fabric fibers are now synthetics, derived from fossil fuels, so if and when our clothing ends up in a landfill (about 85 percent of textile waste in the United States goes to landfills or is incinerated), it will not decay.” he writes that fast fashion is at a point where it is getting unmanageable, limitless, and uncontrollable.

The textile industry “has always been one of the darkest corners of the world economy,” Schlossberg writes. The abuses that revolve around fast fashion date back to slave labor in the American South, which supplied demands for England. Today, several countries in Asia are known to have a major issue with children working in factories instead of getting a proper education, which contributes to the cycle of poverty. When these children and adults are put in factories for long dreadful hours, there are risks of injury, explosions, and fire. Many risk their lives working in such factories.

Many people are unaware of both the concept of fast fashion and its dangers and consequences. Several Santa Fe High students shared their views.

Ciara Ellis-Green said she defines it as “quick changes in fashion trends.”

Gabriela Armendariz thinks of fast fashion as “unsustainable and quick producing as opposed to reusable clothing.”

Miriam Bechtel thinks fast fashion is “clothing or style trends that are temporary.”

Ciara thinks fast fashion “causes a lot of waste because people are trying to keep up with the fashion trends by getting rid of all clothes that aren’t ‘in style’ to buy new ones that are ‘trendy’.”

Gabriela sees the concerns and the destructiveness of fast fashion and how “it will be nearly impossible to replace because of how many people rely on it and commerce and merchandise.”

Some say fast fashion has no direct impact on them while others say it causes them to want to follow all of the trends, to make them feel like they fit in rather than finding their own unique style.

Lincoln Byrd shares that he does not like clothes that are considered fast fashion because of how similar they look and how they try to resemble higher-end brands.

Gabriela doesn’t necessarily feel affected by fast fashion and tries to shop at thrift stores as often as she can. She expresses that if people shopped at local stores rather than large commercial stores, fast fashion could have a smaller impact on our world. But she does admit it can be difficult to find everything at smaller, more sustainable stores.

Manuel Cde Baca admits it affects him directly with him wanting to keep up with what is trending in the world.

Some view fast fashion as a way to express themselves and aren’t aware of all the destruction it causes.

Gabriela is aware of how it affects the world and has the possibility to destroy ecosystems if not properly regulated or if it gets out of hand. “We need fast fashion but with a limit to consumption and production. There needs to be an emphasis on what is already in circulation rather than more production.”

Miriam sees that fast fashion has some good to it but also realizes the extent of what it has caused to our world. “I think it creates a large influence on many people globally and gets people to try new styles and trends and find what they personally prefer.”

While fast fashion allows consumers to buy more for less and stay up to date with trends for a reduced price, it also causes people to consume and buy more because of the need to keep up with trends, which causes so many problems.

However, according to an article in Forbes Magazine, some companies are making new efforts to regulate the waste of fast fashion and use renewable or recyclable fabrics. New ideas are being explored to try to make the consequences of fast fashion a little less devastating.