​​Chelsea Lavelle​ 

​​Professor Shannon Giambanco​ 

English 170 

​​27 September 2023​ 

How does social media promote fast fashion by rapidly cycling through trends and how can social media then be used to promote less wasteful fashion trends? 

Bick, Rachel, et al. “The Global Environmental Injustice of Fast Fashion.” Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source, vol. 17, no. 1, 27 Dec. 2018. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7. Accessed 27 Sept. 2023. 

This article summarizes the environmental impact of both producing a garment and the waste that occurs once the garment is finished. Social media promotes the mindset that clothes are disposable, and they often end up in landfills or in thrift stores. If the clothes are not sold in thrift stores, they are exported to low and middle-income countries where they are likely to end up in another landfill. However, low and middle-income countries have less developed waste management facilities that are very damaging to the environment. Although this article does not extensively discuss the environmental impact of fast fashion, I believe that this information can serve as an introduction to how fast fashion contributes to landfills. The statistics that discuss the amount of clothes discarded by Americans could help to strengthen my argument that fast-fashion promotes a throwaway culture. 

Cayaban, Cristel Joy G, et al. “The Influence of Social Media and Sustainability Advocacy on the Purchase Intention of Filipino Consumers in Fast Fashion.” Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 11, 24 May 2023, p. 8502. proquest, https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118502. Accessed 27 Sept. 2023. 

This research questionnaire intended to find what factors have the largest influence on a consumer’s decision to buy fast-fashion and argues that social media could be used as a platform to promote sustainability. In this experiment, the researcher tested an array of influences; perceived product quality, product price, the emotional reward of shopping, the influence of social media, influence of family, friends and colleagues, and awareness of sustainability. It was found that social media had one of the largest impacts on the consumer’s shopping behavior. Social media was also shown to have an impact on all the other factors tested in this study. This validates the researcher’s claim that social media has a strong influence on a consumer, and therefore can be used as a platform to promote environmental literacy and reduce consumption of fast fashion. I intend to use this study to propose a potential solution to the problem I am discussing. Although the current state of social media promotes fast fashion, I believe that its power over the consumer can be used to promote a more sustainable mindset on fashion. The researcher’s argument that social media can be used to promote sustainability is in line with my claim, and I can use the results of this study to strengthen my argument. I believe that the information found from this study is reliable since the conductors chose a sample representative of the population and used questions that were neutral and did not add information that could sway a respondent’s answer.  

Iravanian, A., and Sh O. Ravari. “Types of Contamination in Landfills and Effects on the Environment: A Review Study.” IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 614, no. 1, Dec. 2020. ProQuest, https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/614/1/012083. Accessed 27 Sept. 2023. 

In this journal, the author discusses the harmful effects of landfills and dumpsites which include but are not limited to air, water, soil, and environmental pollution. The pollution caused by landfills inflicts severe and long-lasting damage to the surrounding ecosystems. These effects are exacerbated when the method of waste disposal is a dumpsite, meaning that there are no protections in place that prevent the harmful effects of landfills. I intend to use this information to connect fast fashion to an environmental issue. The current state of fashion encourages overconsumption and quick disposal of clothes, many of which end up in low-income countries. These countries tend to have less developed waste disposal methods which, as demonstrated in this journal, have a worse environmental impact. I will use this information to expand on the environmental impact of fast-fashion and how social media acts as a contributor. This article does not appear to have any significant weaknesses since it presents information that is unbiased and backed by research.  

Reilly, Andrew, and Jana Hawley. “Attention Deficit Fashion.” Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, vol. 6, no. 1, 1 Jan. 2019, pp. 85-98. Gale Academic OneFile, https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc.6.1.85_1. Accessed 27 Sept. 2023. 

This journal discusses the ways in which social media encourages overconsumption by rapidly cycling through trends. Younger generations constantly feel the need to buy new clothes, and oftentimes, they end up supporting fast fashion companies since they provide a cheap way to buy trendy clothing. With clothes being so readily available at a low price, and the pressure to constantly have the latest pieces, many people view their clothes as disposable, and end up discarding them after little use, which is harmful to the environment. This article also conducts a case study on two young consumers who give their perspective on fast fashion and discuss how and why they are contributors to the industry. I plan to use this source to discuss how social media encourages overconsumption and defend the argument that socials media’s influence is causing harm to the environment. There are a lot of useful statistics that will help to strengthen my argument, and I like that it includes interviews with people who have been incentivized by social media to take part in unsustainable fashion trends. I see no potential weaknesses in this article since it presents information in an unbiased manner, and the content of the article is relevant to my claim. 

Tenodi, Slaven, et al. “Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Sanitary and Unsanitary Parts of a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill.” Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 258, 15 Mar. 2020, p. 110019. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.110019. Accessed 27 Sept. 2023. 

This experiment intended to compare the environmental effects of unsanitary landfills and sanitary landfills. Landfills can cause damage to the environment by releasing landfill gas and, if left untreated, leachate pollutants will soak into soil and water. This study found that ground water that had the longest exposure to unsanitary landfills had worst quality when compared to ground water exposed to the sanitary landfills. Despite the fact that the sanitary landfill was more sufficient at preventing pollution, the sanitary landfill’s performance degraded over time and still caused damage to the environment. I can use this data to refute the argument that clothes can be properly disposed of by being donated to low-income countries or by being put into sanitary landfills. It has been shown, through this study, that low-income countries often have unsanitary landfills, which have an adverse environmental impact. Even when a landfill is considered sanitary, it can still cause environmental damage. There is currently no viable and sustainable method of disposing textiles; however, I believe that social media could be used to reduce the amount of clothes that end up in landfills by encouraging sustainability. I think that the information found through this experiment is reliable since there are sound methods and data analysis. They also address both the advantages and disadvantages of landfills, which adds nuance to their argument.