AliExpress is one of the largest ecommerce websites in the world and highly popular for its affordable deals. You can buy pretty much anything on AliExpress, and at insanely cheap prices.
You may have heard, however, that AliExpress is “fast fashion.” There’s been a lot of talk lately about why fast fashion is bad and unethical, but is AliExpress really part of all that?
In this article, I will discuss what fast fashion is, the pros and cons of fast fashion, the ethics of fast fashion, and whether AliExpress is fast fashion and why.
The short version: Yes, AliExpress is fast fashion. However, it’s a lot more than that, and there are plenty of other products on the platform that have nothing to do with fast fashion.
Let’s get into it!
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What Is Fast Fashion?
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Fast fashion is a trend in the fashion industry in which manufacturers quickly produce trendy clothes, with a focus on design, trendiness, and speed of manufacturing over quality.
For example, after Fashion Week, fast fashion companies quickly produce clothing with designs based on those displayed in the catwalks. Due to the efficient manufacturing methods at our disposal today, these products may be out on the shelves in as little as a week or two.
However, these designs don’t rely solely on Fashion Week. Other factors may set trends.
For example, if a popular singer or celebrity appears at an event wearing a certain design, clothing manufacturers may ramp up production and quickly manufacture similarly designed clothing.
Typically, the target audience of fast fashion companies is the young, hip, 20-something year old in major urban areas such as New York or Los Angeles.
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There are many appeals of fast fashion. Millennials and other young people enjoy being seen as trendy; the rise of social media and the resulting peer pressure are driving forces behind this.
Fast fashion clothing is usually affordable as well, especially since cheap materials are often used in the production process.
Fast fashion is a new meta in the fashion industry. In the past, people would slowly build up a wardrobe of different styles and designs.
With fast fashion, though, people buy cheap clothes that fit whatever is trending at the moment.
These clothes are then left in the closet, unused, once the trend or fad passes. Worse still, they are actively discarded, ending up in landfills.
That’s why there’s so much opposition to fast fashion. Let’s talk about the pros and cons of fast fashion to understand more.
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The Pros and Cons of Fast Fashion: Is It Unethical?
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Fast fashion has a lot of advantages. For manufacturing companies, it allows them to capitalize on trends and make a lot of money quickly.
For both manufacturers and retailers, it avoids the problem of leftover stock that doesn’t sell. Stores can stock a limited amount of these fast fashion clothes, and they will usually sell out quickly.
Consumers know that, so there is a bit of a rush to buy them.
Not only that, but it increases the rate of recurring purchases. Customers who follow fast fashion trends are constantly buying new clothes whenever new styles come out and become popular.
Fast fashion also has benefits to consumers, as it allows them to stay hip and trendy at an affordable price.
On the other hand, it has a lot of disadvantages, and that is where the criticism of fast fashion comes in.
I mentioned that these clothes are often abandoned and simply placed in the trash. The problem is that to lower the production costs, cheap, synthetic materials are typically used to manufacture these products.
These synthetic materials don’t disintegrate easily, which means that fast fashion greatly contributes to pollution and overflowing landfills.
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Polyester is one of the most common fabrics used in clothing. In fact, the textile sector accounts for a whopping 15% of total plastic use; that’s a fact you probably never knew!
In addition, they regularly use cheap textile dyes, which have a negative impact on the environment. Microfibers and microplastics are also shedded into the environment, with half a million tonnes of microfibers being released into the ocean from clothes alone.
That is the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles!
Of course, there are other issues. To meet the quick deadlines demanded by the market, manufacturing is usually done offshore, in countries such as China, where the cost of labor is cheaper.
The items are then quickly shipped to the US or other high cost of living countries.
That brings us to the topic of sweatshops and exploitative labor. To support fast fashion, employees are often overworked, with desperate people being taken advantage of and given extremely low pay for long hours in poor working conditions.
Workers may also be exposed to toxic chemicals, which end up harming the environment as well.
Even worse than that, child labor may be used to lower production costs.
All in all, there are a lot of reasons for the eco-conscious consumer to stay away from fast fashion. But should you stay away from AliExpress?
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Is AliExpress Fast Fashion?
AliExpress definitely partakes in fast fashion. Let’s examine why.
First of all, there is a fast fashion category on AliExpress. There, you can find incredibly cheap clothes that feature trendy designs.
In general, the clothing sold on AliExpress, even those not in the fast fashion section, face many of the same issues as fast fashion does. A lot of people purchase cheap products from AliExpress knowing that they won’t use them regularly.
After all, when you’re buying a clothes item for the same price as your daily cup of Starbucks coffee, you won’t value it. Therefore, you won’t hesitate to throw it in the trash if you decide to stop wearing it for whatever reason.
The reason AliExpress is so popular is that its prices are incredibly low. However, some of the factors allowing its prices to be so low include the low cost of labor in the countries these clothes are produced, usually China, Turkey, Vietnam, Pakistan, etc.
In addition, many of the cheap clothes on AliExpress are made of low-quality plastics.
All in all, these clothes may contribute to pollution, environmental harm, and the upholding of unfair and exploitative labor practices that take advantage of low-earning laborers or even children.
However, that’s not to say that AliExpress is all that bad. The thing about AliExpress is that it doesn’t really sell its own products.
Instead, it serves as a platform that allows third-party sellers to create stores and sell directly to other businesses or consumers.
That means that although some sellers focus on fast fashion, others do not. Some sellers may engage in unfair practices, while others may be entirely ethical.
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How to Buy From AliExpress But Avoid Fast Fashion?
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If you want to purchase cheap items from AliExpress but avoid fast fashions and the moral concerns that come with it, you need to be careful about which products you purchase.
The first thing you can do is avoid the fast fashion category on AliExpress. You should also avoid purchasing clothes that were designed after a trend shown in celebrity media or in a recent fashion show.
Instead, focus on purchasing products that you know you will use for a long time. One of the major issues with fast fashion is the disposability of the clothes being purchased, which is why the term “disposable fashion” has been coined for it as well.
The constant disposing of clothes that are only worn once or twice leads to excessive pollution and harm to the environment.
If you instead purchase clothes you will wear for many months or years from AliExpress, you will reduce your personal carbon footprint. That way, you will be doing your part to protect the environment.
Of course, one of the problems with buying cheap clothes in general (this is not limited to fast fashion) is that they degrade quickly. That’s not in the sense of being biodegradable; rather, they fade or get torn quickly.
That makes it hard to wear them for a long time. However, if you look around and find a good seller with good reviews, you can definitely find quality products on AliExpress that will last you several months or even a year or two under normal wear and tear.
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AliExpress Is More Than Just Fast Fashion
AliExpress is a massive site, and it sells pretty much anything you can imagine. You can purchase items in bulk or in single quantities.
My point here is that AliExpress, while selling fast fashion products, is more than fast fashion. In fact, it is more than fashion.
Even if you believe that fast fashion is unethical, there are plenty of other things you can purchase on AliExpress.
The difference between AliExpress and other fast fashion companies is that AliExpress doesn’t build itself on a fast fashion base. Unlike major companies such as Zara, it also doesn’t have a systematic strategy of targeting the fast fashion market.
It simply provides a platform for sellers to market their wares and sell their products. It won’t restrict anyone from selling fast fashion, but it’s also far from its main source of revenue.
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Is AliExpress Unethical?
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We can agree that AliExpress supports fast fashion, at least in part, by allowing sellers to sell fast fashion products. However, we also discussed the possibility of purchasing other products on AliExpress to avoid the ethical concerns of fast fashion.
But does that mean that AliExpress is entirely ethical otherwise? While you may avoid the ethical concerns of fast fashion, are there other ethics you might be violating?
AliExpress has faced criticism in the past. One investigation by Marketplace found that a fifth of clothes and accessories sold on AliExpress and other platforms contained elevated levels of PFAS, lead, and other harmful chemicals.
That included children’s clothes.
The good news is that following the investigation, AliExpress halted sales of such products. However, this shows that AliExpress lacks oversight over what sellers are listing on the platform.
You could also make the argument that buying from AliExpress supports exploitative labor, either directly or indirectly.
Even if the product you purchased was not made with exploitation of laborers, other products on AliExpress were. By buying from AliExpress, you are supporting the platform and ensuring exploitative manufacturers can continue using it as well.
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Wrapping It Up
Yes, AliExpress can be classified as a site that sells fast fashion products.
It even has a category dedicated to fast fashion. The entire premise of cheap clothes products means you can consider it a fast fashion site.
Instead of purchasing from AliExpress, consider buying from local thrift stores. You can still find plenty of cheap products, and you will help reduce global waste and support local business owners at the same time.