I am ashamed to say, but being in quarantine I can say I spend majority of my day scrolling through tiktok. TikTok has played a major role in the entertainment of Gen Z and actually has good impact such as educating in politics and raising awareness of topics that don't get much coverage. On the other hand, TikTok is harming the earth without even knowing. Fashion is a major niche of the platform and many creators promote their favorite affordable clothing stores such as Aliexpress, Shein, and Zara.
The issue with these affordable brands are the ethics and sustainability. Many of these brands have been exposed for using child labor, unethical work conditions, and toxic chemicals contributing to climate change, yet is being largely promoted on this extremely influential platform. Instead of promoting these unethical fast fashion brands, more should be raising awareness of climate change and the role we have in improving the quality of the Earth.
Shopping from sustainable brands would be ideal for preserving the earth and reversing climate change but isn't realistic for everyone because of the usual high price tag. There are many other ways though of being sustainable with fashion such as thrifting, shopping from second hand brands, or if all else fails just reducing the amount of fast fashion consumption.
I am in no way saying everyone should live completely sustainable because it realistically isn't achievable for everybody but advocating to stop the promotion of unethical and un sustainable brands. How do you feel about the popularity of fast fashion?
