HOST INTRO: As the trend of environmentally conscious apparel sweeps the nation, one industry model has come under fire in recent years. Fast fashion, a hot button topic for corporations and consumers alike, isn’t exactly what we think it is. Baruch journalist, Mira Ciganek, sat down to speak with designer Peggy Chiang on what it’s like to work in the fashion industry and the misconceptions behind fast fashion.
ABMI: Nat sounds of apartment fade out.
TRACK: I’m sitting here with fashion designer Peggy Chiang in her New York City apartment. Chiang was recently selected to design a collection for the fashion e-commerce giant SHEIN, a company often tied to fast fashion.
ACT: PEGGY: The SHEIN X program was created very recently, I’m not actually sure when. But it’s meant to give, to use their power as a big ecommerce site to help young designers get exposure and to sell products. They’re really good at manufacturing and so to invite other designers to come and create a collection it’s a win-win for both the designer and the site.
TRACK: Chiang has noticed immense differences working with SHEIN compared to working for companies with a more traditional production model.
ACT: PEGGY: It’s been this kind of structure where a designer creates a collection and it goes back and forth between designers, merchandisers, buyers, all the people on the front end. And then it will go into production and take six months to be shipped to a store.
TRACK: For companies like SHEIN, however, things move a lot faster. From the initial design to the time a product is on the shelves takes about two to three months.
ACT: PEGGY: This newer fashion, fast fashion, has popped up and basically one of the things it does is eliminate the middleman. It goes straight from a designer or a brand and goes straight to the consumer.
TRACK: Despite the misconception behind the term itself, there is validity behind the concerns many have of fast fashion and industry as a whole. SHEIN and many others aren’t exempt from criticism based on the pure mass of products they create.
ACT: PEGGY: Say SHEIN makes 100 million different products, whereas a slow fashion company makes only 15. That’s the only way to be truly sustainable is to make a handful of different things. The numbers just have to be really really small to truly have a clean system.
TRACK: The fashion industry as a whole struggles immensely with environmental issues. As one of the leading contributors to emissions and waste, even slow fashion isn’t always the answer.
ACT: PEGGY: You buying one shirt from a fast fashion place and wearing it over and over again is still going to be more sustainable than you buying 10 shirts from a really reputable brand. Taking care of your own goods and not creating your own waste is more of an impact than only shopping sustainable brands.
TRACK: Integrating sustainable practices into ones like and understanding what really goes on behind the scenes of certain industry practices like fast fashion are the first steps in making a difference, as Chiang concludes. For Baruch College, I’m Mira Ciganek.