Is Temu Too Much Fast Fashion?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know there’s a new player in town that’s making Shein look staid and pricey by promising it can make you shop like a billionaire - and by selling earrings for 19c and sneakers for $2.86, Temu isn’t lying!

But how do you value a pair of shoes for which you paid $1.33? Do you care if a dress that only cost $1.99 falls apart after one wear? It’s estimated 33% of our clothes are discarded within the first year of purchase, which is why it's no surprise that Aussies are dumping a massive 6,000 kilos of clothing and fabric waste into landfill every 10 minutes!

 

According to the Australian Fashion Council, more than 1.4 billion clothing items already arrive here in Australia each year - in fact we are the second largest consumer of textiles per person in the world, after the US. But more than two-thirds of these clothes are made up of synthetic fibres, which are not only often derived from petroleum, but can then take up to hundreds of years to break down in landfills, while releasing methane, which we know contributes to global warming.

 

Our obsession with fast fashion means textiles have become one of the largest contributors to our waste problem. Temu’s popularity has has skyrocketed since launching in Australia in 2022 and with its huge catalogue of supercheap items, the platform has become the most downloaded free shopping app on the Apple Store and Google Play, but has sparked concerns around environmental impact, employee welfare and long-term sustainability.

According to sustainable fashion educator, Nina Gbor, we’ve gone from fast fashion to "ultra fast fashion". Trends used to be four seasons a year, but brands are now releasing new products at an explosive rate. Nina says that from January to April in 2022, in a four month period, H&M released about 4,400 new styles on their website. But in the same period Shein introduced 315,000 new styles.


The low cost of these garments encourages customers to purchase more clothing and discard it in a shorter period; the average person is buying 60% more clothing and keeping them for about half as long as we did 5 years ago. Nina says "it’s time to step off the fashion trend-mill".


This means switching our mindsets and starting to value what we own; and giving greater consideration to the kind of clothes we buy and how we look after them. It’s good to remember the 5 Rs of Fashion:


REDUCE how much we buy: we’re buying more clothes, & we’re wearing them less: this needs to change.


REWEAR what we already own – the most sustainable item of clothing is the one we already own! It's been estimated that most people regularly wear just 20% of their wardrobe, so mix up what you wear and normalise rewearing outfits.


REPAIR our clothes so they last longer. This means follow the care instructions on the labels and find a good tailor to fix zippers or adjust lengths - and track down a cobbler to resole your shoes.


So often, whenever we get invited to a special event, we go out and buy a new outfit - but what if we instead, we opted to RENT something?


RESALE - we need to normalise second-hand & start prioritising preloved. Nina suggests visiting pre-loved fashion hot spots such as Smith Family, Vinnies, Salvos , Anglicare and Australian Red Cross. "Donate your good quality clothes and pick up a whole new wardrobe."



By Nicki Martin

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