Fast fashion has been ringing between our ears as a society over the last few years. With rising awareness to toxic manufacturing processes and poisonous overseas working conditions, consumers have been trying to make fashion-forward and earth-friendly choices in recent years. But, is the true enemy far more closer to home then we thought?
Worrying about textile waste has turned out to be the new ‘plastic straws’ in a sense— as in, the thing we point our finger to blame, without knowing its far eviler stepsisters. Our cups, single use packaging, food containers and packing, kitchen utensils, car interiors, furniture, and immeasurably more items that we rely on every day are filled to the brim with plastic.
However, you shopping at Target, Arctic Fox, Missguided, H&M, or any other fast fashion depot won’t pin the nail in the coffin, environmentally speaking. Its’ the companies that ruin the environment by using grossly destructive shipping practices, and who throw thousands of pounds of textile away daily who are to blame. Since most people end up donating their clothes, or handing them down, your closet doesn't end up in a landfill. You know what will though? Your IKEA Dresser.
The EPA has released information stating that 9 million lbs of waste (5% of all dump waste) is calculated to be from furniture yearly. Over half of that is ‘furniture that was manufactured in the last 5–15 years.’ Consider how much space dumped furniture takes up, versus single use packaging or other materials! Compared to the EPA’s report of 1960, which tells us that America threw away 2 tons of furnishings that year. However, take into account that furniture of that time was made with wood, laminate, glass, or wood veneer.
According to Ashlee Piper, Sustainability Expert and Advisor, “It’s usually new furniture that’s being tossed…it’s things like a chair that’s missing a leg or things with cosmetic damage to them. That’s because it’s just not built to last and there aren’t repair programs for it. It was intended to have a short lifespan.” These 50% plastic Target dressers are not made to be repaired once scratched, or refinished once worn down with the wear and tears of life. Meanwhile, furniture from yesteryear was handmade from fine woods and fastened with bronze hardware- able to be stripped, refinished, painted, fastened with new hardware, and repaired if need be.
The rise of fast furniture comes BOGO with ethical dilemmas — not only environmental, but humanitarian. Since most manufacturing is done overseas to combat high labor and production costs for corporations, the other end is met with critically low wages and unsafe conditions for factory workers. In America, the worth of a skilled job like such is paid around $35 an hour. In China, workers are paid around $5 for the same work. We, as consumers, have a responsibility to think about the cost of materials, production, and around-the-globe shipping, and understand that there’s no ethical way for something as complex as furniture to arrive at your door for under $1,000, let alone $500, or even $150. There’s a traditional economic principle that with higher cost, the item will be higher quality. However, with all major furniture manufacturers using the same baseline materials, this is a lie that the American republic has fallen victim to. While the ratio of chemical treated wood, plywood, and real wood might be different depending on the amount of 0’s after the first number, you’re buying the same quality stuff across the board- I mean the sales floor.
Heres some fast facts about fast fashion before we get on with our point -
- “Americans buy $18,000 of furniture every second, which equates to 27,000,000 hectares of forests cut down or burned, 52,000,000 tons of PVC plastics produced, and 26,000,000 tons of cotton produced globally just this year alone.”
- “Particle board often contains formaldehyde is a key component of mass-produced items, which requires more energy to manufacture and uses chemical adhesives. In fact, one mass-produced manufacturer uses 600 tons of wood particle board each day.”
- “Materials and chemicals that make up fast furniture products are nearly impossible to process in a recycling facility.”
The plastics used in Fast Furniture takes around 400 years to decompose — and its not as if the plastic just disappears either. It seeps into our streams and soil, our food and water. We can never escape the consequences of the damage previously done. We can, however, educate ourselves and others to make more conscious purchases, and worry about plastic where it matters.
The best thing to combat this is, of course, look for well-made second-hand furnishings from thrift stores, antique shops, or specialty furniture stores. Every home has the budget to be sustainable. Facebook Marketplace or ‘Buy Nothing” groups are a godsend for anyone looking to furnish an apartment or a home on a precious penny. The author of this article has been so lucky to find such things in near perfect condition, such as; a free Mid Century Modern desk worth $2,000, a $20 Hollywood Regency era Glass and Brass table worth $700, a free mini-fridge, a free.99 cast-iron vintage patio set, and plenty of vintage home goods and decor from marketplace, thrift stores, or estate sales. In fact, I’ve never bought new furniture, and try my hardest to never buy new home-goods. (Although at first it was due to what I could afford, finding bargain treasures has become a great fun for me.)
You can also fix what is already broken — if not prohibitively expensive or illogical to do so — lots of hardware for specific furniture is sold on Ebay.
If you’re ready to take it to the next level, there’s an uprising around refinishing and restoring furniture that has, for lack of better words, seen better days. Refinishing can be as easy as painting and swapping out the hardware, all the way to sandpapering, stripping, and applying wood stain and finisher. There’s plenty of ways to do so affordably and safely.
While youre at it, give your local secondhand furniture store some love! Shopping locally and sustainably is our best bet to combat the rising epidemic of Fast Furniture.