The Hidden Costs of Fast Fashion Jewelry
We are looking today at the unseen effects of beloved Halloween costumes and inexpensive jewelry. Read on as we disclose the reasons for the increasingly loud urged to abandon fast fashion. Fast fashion jewelry makes a first impression of instant wow factor. It is cheap and trendy, and it seems to offer endless variety. But the production of fast fashion jewelry—and the production of its raw materials—comes with a hidden cost. It has what some experts are now calling a “fast fashion carbon footprint.” And you know what fast fashion means—a lot of resources for a little return. And those resources don’t just stretch along the assembly line; they stretch around the world.
The Complex Journey of Fast Fashion Jewelry
Certainly! The path taken by a popular piece of jewelry from its source to the consumer is quite complex. It begins with the extraction of raw materials and encompasses a multitude of processes, involving considerable quantities of energy and materials. This energy comes largely from fossil fuels. The kinds of processes that yield trendy metallic materials for making jewelry are hardly eco-friendly. They’re energy-intensive and use a lot of materials. In the end, the jewelry that’s been crudely fastened together with coils, clips, and hinges is not likely to last very long. And when it finally goes to its afterlife, the plastic components and other sundry bits of the fast-fashion jewelry are going to sit around in the landfill for a very long time indeed.
Water Pollution in the Jewelry Industry
Another major issue is water pollution. It’s a big worry because, when you think about it, making fast fashion jewelry often involves using many different chemicals. These chemicals inevitably find their way into our water sources, right? Well, not necessarily. Water pollution can be and is avoided in the jewelry-making process, which is a good thing because the miners who extract the metals will often release all sorts of harmful substances into the nearest river.
The Ethical Issues in Fast Fashion Jewelry Production
It’s also a good thing because a huge part of the designer’s vision is realized within the confines of a laboratory. When we discuss the problems associated with fast fashion jewelry, we have to mention the ethical side as well. Many of the factories from which a designer might choose to source the labor that will eventually go into the production of fast fashion jewelry do not offer safe working conditions.
The Hidden Exploitation Behind Fast Fashion Jewelry
There is an unfair side of this industry that consumers know nothing about. We get the fairly priced goods and laborers get the raw deal. The situation is even worse in some foreign countries where children as young as 5 work under the same deplorable conditions. In It’s a Heartbreaking Industry, journalist Kristina Olsson reports that:
Mina workers face the threat of cave-ins and the danger of toxic gases. And children who work in the forsaken places where the mines are located are likely to suffer from malnutrition, stunted growth, and the kinds of diseases that are so common in mining regions.
Worker Health Hazards in Jewelry Production
Worker health hazards are another important concern. The chemicals employed in the production of fast fashion jewelry can be harmful. Workers who come into contact with these substances and who are not afforded proper safety measures can develop serious health problems. Yet another problem with fast fashion jewelry is its short lifespan. This is, in part, because of poor craftsmanship. When the aim is to produce and sell jewelry quickly and inexpensively, little attention is given to the quality of the piece. Consequently, even if a person buys a fast fashion jewelry item that looks appealing, it may be more likely than not to fall apart after just a few wears.
The Short Lifespan of Fast Fashion Jewelry
It’s disheartening when a beloved necklace or bracelet disintegrates too quickly! The problem is compounded by the subpar materials used in fast fashion jewelry. Rather than the durable metals and stones you might expect in even mid-range jewelry, fast fashion offerings are mostly low-quality metal and cheap plastic. These “jewels” look bad. They change color, rust, and in some cases, use materials that are actually harmful to the skin. Even if all the other aspects of fast fashion were somehow okay, the design to make us buy more jewelry faster and give it less sentimental value isn’t good for people or the planet.
Fast Fashion Jewelry and Environmental Waste
This cycle impels us to purchase ever larger quantities, and in its wake, produce ever larger quantities of waste. Each trinket, bauble, or piece of shiny cheap jewelry adds to the won’t-don’t-can’t landfill crisis. And we can’t even eliminate that crisis by recycling because, typically, the jewelry made by fast fashion is non-recyclable. This kind of jewelry isn’t just bad for the environment, for all the reasons we have heard about fast fashion in general. It’s actually bad for the economy, too, because it devalues the art and craftsmanship that real jewelry demands.
The Economic Impact on Artisans and Local Economies
The livelihood of these artisans is on the line, and with it, our loss of a piece of cultural heritage. It’s not just that life could get a lot harder for these jewelry makers if we keep buying their low-priced competitors. It’s that it could also set back efforts to invest in and rejuvenate the jewelry-making local economies that are already struggling to do what they used to do: make jewelry.
Fast Fashion Jewelry’s Negative Impact on Local Economies
And if that’s not enough, here’s a final piece of bad news for the poor local economies where artisans making exporting fast-fashion jewelry live. The whole situation with fast fashion jewelry could be more reversible if, instead of local artisans, it was local silk road economies that fast-fashion retailers were hitting. The art of jewelry making is a path to an added tool to make as local a desert economy as we can.
Awareness and Responsibility of Consumers
When we purchase jewelry from the fast fashion segment, we often do not consider the far-reaching consequences of our purchases. We are so caught up in the moment and in following the latest styles that we don’t often see the connection between our buying decisions and global conditions. Yet, buying fast fashion jewelry has a direct and negative impact on our environmental sustainability, our labor market, and our global social justice efforts.
The Environmental Impact of Jewelry Mining
Much of our jewelry comes from overseas, where uncovering the Earth for its resources leads to habitat destruction, pollution, and excessive waste. Mining for precious metals and stones is normally labor-intensive and undertaken in unsafe conditions. Because labor is so cheap, the people doing it are lucky to get any job at all, but they deserve better working conditions and pay. Finally, after we have acquired our jewelry, what do we do with it when we no longer want it? Throwing it in the landfill is no better than what we’ve done with all the other fast fashion relics we’ve worn for a few weeks or months.
Sourcing Earth-Friendly Jewelry
Picking pieces of jewelry that are as friendly to the Earth as they are gorgeous is simpler than you might expect. Numerous alternatives exist that do no harm to the planet or to the people who inhabit it. For starters, many brands of hard-to-find artisans take pains to create jewelry that is responsibly sourced and made. The materials they use are better for the environment—often because they are upcycled or made from safer, cleaner, more sustainable materials. Their employees and those who create the jewelry with them are guaranteed safe working conditions and a fair wage. When we purchase from these brands, we’re supporting an industry in which the kind of jewelry that is actually Earth-friendly is the norm, rather than the exception. Then there’s minimally impactful jewelry, made by our local or small businesses. The pieces these artisans make tend to have a story because they’re made with safer, cleaner, upcycled materials. Plus, they barely make a dent in our coffers. And here’s the kicker: Each piece you buy from any of these sources acts as a conversation starter, because these Earth-friendly, sustainable jewelry alternatives are largely hidden in plain sight.
What Makes Fast Fashion Bad?
As you can see, the reason for fast fashion’s badness is complicated. There are lots of bad things happening for lots of reasons. And stopping the badness is going to take a bunch of different actions by a bunch of different people. Sustainable fashion is one alternative to fast fashion. And although sustainable fashion has its criticisms, mostly concerning buy-in from consumers, it is an acceptable alternative to fast fashion.