- Do you think I could pull off dark academia?

- Mm, no.

(wrong buzzer beeps) - What about cottagecore?

- We are not doing this again.

- Fine.

Maybe you like me, haven't found your perfect aesthetic yet.

- Or maybe you got a new job or you've hit that summer in your twenties or you have eight different weddings to go to.

- For whatever reason, you want a whole new wardrobe and you want it right now, no problem.

You can open up a new Shein tab or hit your local H&M and walk out with 10 different outfits for under 200 bucks.

- That seems better than spending thousands of dollars you don't have on designer clothes.

But what happens to that closet full of new outfits a year from now?

What about in a month?

(upbeat music) - Critics of fast fashion have long detailed the industry's environmental costs and unsavory labor practices, but Americans still spend an average of $1,700 per year on cheap new clothes.

So how did fashion start cycling through our wardrobes and our wallets so fast?

- As recently as the 1980s, most fashion brands brought out new collections two to four times a year, giving consumers new pieces to buy with the changing of the seasons.

The average American bought about 12 new pieces of clothing annually.

- But in order to increase their profits clothing companies wanted to figure out how to get shoppers to buy more.

They figured out two reliable ways to do that, lower prices and more options.

By the early two thousands fashion brands like Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 figured out that they could increase the demand for new clothing items by making more of them.

Instead of coming out with clothes twice a year they were putting new items on their retail floors every two weeks.

- And the cheaper the items the more comfortable shoppers would be with making another fashion haul.

In order to keep prices low and profits high fast fashion retailers started skimping out on everything from the wages of the people who sew your garments to the quality of the fabric and construction.

Everything from the way they cut pattern pieces to the zippers and buttons they use is designed to keep production costs as low as possible.

- These frequent collections also warp our perspective on how much clothing is enough.

Yes, everyone wears something to work every day.

- [Julia] At least we hope.

- But fast fashion retailers want us to feel like we need to go all in on the latest TikTok aesthetic even if the trend will already be passe by the time our order arrives.

The pace of fast fashion has escalated so much that online retailers like Shein now put thousands of new items on their site every day and the average American buys 68 new items a year.

- We also throw away way more clothes.

Because brands cut so many corners to keep prices low, your clothes are literally built to fall apart and all the better for fast fashion's bottom line.

If consumers buy into the idea that their clothes are disposable they'll keep coming back to buy more.

Who cares if it's so affordable, right?

- Well, it's not affordable to the people making your clothes.

As Aja Barber writes in her book "Consumed" about the impacts of fast fashion, the average garment worker can't afford to buy the clothes she makes.

Retailers like Shein regularly come under fire for violating labor laws in their factories where garment workers put in 16 hour days, generally making about 4 cents per finished item of clothing.

- And it's not affordable for the planet either!

According to the EPA, Americans throw out over 11 million tons of textiles every year.

That's five times what we tossed out in the eighties!

Now, fast fashion makes up 8% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions in the cycle from production to landfill.

- Because the trend cycles are moving so fast and the clothing is made poorly, your fast fashion likely can't be donated or even worn for more than a few wears.

It's just trash.

The low prices of fast fashion obscure the true cost to workers, consumers, and the environment.

- But even if fast fashion wasn't bad for the people or the planet it can still be pretty disastrous for your wallet.

In our episode about how it's expensive to be poor we talked about how buying the cheapest option can cost more in the long run.

And that's true here too.

- If you buy the average number of fast fashion pieces a year, about 68 and spend $20 per item, over five years you will have spent $6,800 on clothes, maybe more if you put all those clothes on a credit card you can't pay off or bought them using a buy now pay later service.

- If you return to the average number of garments someone bought in the 1980s you could even spend four times as much money per piece on higher quality items.

And over five years you'll have spent $2,000 less on clothes overall.

And because you bought clothes that last by now you've got just as many items as the average fast fashion shopper.

- How can more expensive clothing turn out to be cheaper?

Consider cost per wear by dividing the price of a clothing item by the number of times you'll use it.

A $15 dress you wear twice works out to $7 each time you wear it.

Meanwhile, a $100 dress that lasts you three dozen wears comes out to less than $3 per wear.

Fast fashion seems more affordable in the short term, but even though it feels like you're getting way more clothes, you're getting a lot less value out of them.

- So, what can you do instead?

First, buy less and buy better.

Building a wardrobe you love is a marathon, not a sprint.

So take your time when you shop and learn to check seams, hems, linings, and other details that help you know if a garment is built to last.

Higher prices don't always mean the garment is better made, but if you wanna splurge on some higher quality items you get more out of your clothing budget if you buy fewer pieces per year.

- Buying less might mean you feel left out when everyone else is having their disco pants era.

But the whole reason trends exist in the first place is because clothing manufacturers are churning out new items and running ads and pushing sponsored content into your feeds to get you to spend more of your money.

Remember, you don't have to buy into every trend in order to have personal style.

- My personal favorite solution is buying secondhand.

It lets you divert someone else's waste from the landfill in the process of getting you your new favorite fit.

And for special events or costume parties consider borrowing or renting rather than buying a fancy outfit you only plan to wear once.

- And finally, treat the clothes that you have with care.

Even if you already own fast fashion, taking good care of your clothes gives them a longer lifespan.

Read those annoying little labels so you know when to hand wash delicate items or hang things to air dry.

- Watch YouTube tutorials and learn how to do basic mending like fixing a loose hem, sewing on a button or patching a hole.

Visible mending techniques that use colorful thread or fun patches are also a great way to update an old item for a new look.

- Lots of shoppers say they buy fast fashion because they want to have fun with their clothes without spending too much money.

- And we get it.

No matter what your budget, you deserve to love the clothes you wear.

But to get there, we all need to treat our wardrobes like treasures, not like trash.