Combatting Fast Fashion Consumerism
Written by Laila Musleh
Photos provided courtesy of Goodfair
Standing face to face with the cash register as we trade in our money for a desired garment from a fast fashion retailer, we are basically the trigger for what I would describe to be a butterfly effect; our purchase increases demand, higher demand leads to more manufacturing, this increasing production results in further pollution, and pollution is the leading factor of climate change today.
As consumers in the fashion world, we’ve become so utterly blind to the damaging impacts of fast fashion consumerism. In popular stores like Zara, UNIQLO, H&M, Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and numerous others, their more “affordable” garments and products are adopted, inspired, or even replicated by-products found in couture fashion; what a designer spends 5 months designing, producing, and introducing to the public, takes these retailers and companies approximately a day to release in stores, it’s as if they have developed a copy and paste feature. These fast-paced changes of collections, trends, and supply are continuously influencing our purchasing behaviors; we redefine our style based on new trends and pop culture. Reflect to yourself, how many “trendy” articles of clothing from last year are you still wearing today? It’s bizarre and frankly heartbreaking that so many of the unpurchased, or “last season” pieces are thrown out, and named “useless” “unwearable” and “space-taking” in our wardrobes. To truly convey how absurd this fast fashion phenomenon has become, according to The Economist, fast fashion consumerism is tied to approximately 11 billion tons of manufactured clothing items dumped into landfills each year. The fabrics making up each garment carry chemicals and pesticides that cannot break down easily once released into the air. Thus, every purchase we make, progressively drives the decline in our earth’s environmental health.
Across Zoom screens, I was privileged to have the chance to converse with and learn from Topper who's the head and leading influence of Goodfair. Goodfair is an online second hand clothing company which attempts to decrease the demand for newly manufactured clothing by reselling the items we unconsciously throw away. Ultimately, their goal is to cut down on the “need for low wage factories'' that play a significant role in today’s pollution “across the globe”. They're just a “small company that doesn't want to sell more stuff” and provide a sustainable way to buy existing stuff.
Topper’s journey within the clothing industry started long before Goodfair came to life. As a college student, he carried on a business selling polo shirts and t-shirts; the business grew into success pretty quickly, and in no time, his shirts were being sold in stores like Neiman Marcus. Eventually, he realized this wasn’t his memo “I realized manufacturing wasn’t for me from an environmental standpoint, but it was also not my skill set”. Following his realization, Topper closed his business and began selling used neckties on eBay. Impressively, Topper became Ebay’s number one Necktie seller. Through buying and selling neckties, Topper witnessed the clearly damaging impacts of fast fashion consumerism; “I started to see the enormous supply of used clothing in America and it became evident to me the enormous consumption problem that we have”.
I was honored to be one of a few to learn that following his realization, Topper underwent a religious-like experience in a textile recycler in 2010 that was his ultimate call to start Goodfair “it was like the voice of god told me I had to put this stuff online and it was such a powerful feeling that I devoted my life to it in the past ten or eleven years.” Of course, Topper’s inspiration to start Goodfair and become an active advocate for sustainable fashion wasn’t an overnight battle and success, “I've encountered every hardship known to man, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other in order to create this dream.” he shared.
As our conversation evolved, I asked Topper what is something he yearns for people to acknowledge about fast-fashion consumerism. His response broke down exactly how fast fashion is a participant in the declining health of the environment; the number one problem facing humanity is climate change, the number two polluter in the world is the clothing industry, therefore, shopping second hand/thrift is the easiest cost-effective way to combat the pollution effects of the industry. This is exactly what Goodfair seeks to change “Our ultimate mission is to change the consumption consciousness...If someone could buy one thing at goodfair as opposed to from Zara, in the grand scheme of all of their consumption behavior, we’ll be able to make a massive impact environmentally and that’s what goodfair is all about.”. It’s important to acknowledge and ultimately accept that being 100% sustainable is not an easy mission and goal to achieve, however, every second-hand purchase, whether it’s one, two, or five hundred, an environmentally positive impact is certainly in action.
It’s also important to note that Topper’s founding of Goodfair is not a yearning to achieve perfection in sustainability or be the “perfect” citizen, he emphasized that Goodfair is all about being “better on a bigger scale”, he emphasized “I’m not trying to be some fashion icon, I just want to be able to offer a very easy breezy lemon squeezy solution to buying second hand.”
From its founding in 2018 until today, Goodfair has successfully rescued over 1 million pieces of clothing (you can find an environmental counter on their site to follow their journey). Among this large population of garments, Topper’s favorite pieces include the solid t-shirts, daily drip, and particularly a t-shirt that spells Wawa across.
Of course, just like I did, you might be wondering how the Goodfair team takes on rescuing these items. Topper shared “What We do is, there are textile recyclers that are exporting these clothes, we buy those clothes from them” before they're dropped off in the landfills. Once these garments land in Goodfair’s warehouse, many are placed in bundles; on their site, you can find a diverse collection of bundles including The Mega Chiller Bundle, The green heart bundle, The ClickBait Bundle, or even The Yeet Bundle, “We try to tie our themes to pop culture and our sustainability mission. So, the names mother earth and green heart are tied to sustainability, and sometimes we’ll find a word that kids are using on TikTok like the ‘Yeet’ bundle” he explained.
My personal favorite bundle is the Rebecca Bundle of the Girls of Goodfair bundles collection. Purchasing from goodfair is simple, fast, and definitely personalized to your style and interests; you just select your preferred and most favorite bundle, indicate your size and desired quantity, and boom, just like that, you’ve already become an active member in their sustainability mission, and are definitely more environmentally conscious.
If you’ve finally made it your mission to redefine sustainability in your wardrobe and ultimately, you’re lifestyle,Topper’s advice is to simply “educate yourself and then everything will fall into line”. Goodfair is an easy and perfect place to begin your journey of purchasing second hand, and gain further knowledge on what sustainability truly means; “We’re trying really hard at Goodfair to educate the public with language that is easily understood and diegestbale AKA memes''
Goodfair’s mission to educate and Topper’s emphasis on the importance of educating ourselves is evident in the changes of perception and consciousness of our society today; the world of thrifting and sustainable fashion has definitely become increasingly prominent across the globe,“Ten years ago sustainability was certainly spoken about, but it was not in the forefront of consumer consciousness… Even two years ago, people were still buying for price rather than sustainability and now it's shifting the other way.”, and I will confidently say that Goodfair is one of a few truly leading this societal shift.
Goodfair is growing, improving, learning, and succeeding in making an impact. Along with Goodfair, we should all seek to become more knowledgeable about the damaging impacts of our fast fashion consumption and the numerous easy and effective ways we can combat those actions and help save our earth. If you want to follow Topper and the Goodfair team’s journey, you can find their instagram @goodfair and their TikTok @goodfair (I highly recommend it!).