Irish Examiner view: Paying the price for cheap cost

Fast fashion

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said 'we really just buy something, use it three times, and then throw it out'.

When it comes to the environment, taking personal responsibility for one’s actions is central to the fight for the planet’s survival. 

For many of us it seems difficult to embed that responsibility in our day-to-day behaviour, however.

In that context, the comments of Environment Minister Eamon Ryan this week are worth considering. He said future generations would look back at our habits when it came to disposable fashion, for instance, and be horrified.

“The way we really just buy something, use it three times, and then throw it out,” Mr Ryan told the Irish Examiner. 

“I think we will look back at that and think that it’s not as classy as buying something really good and wearing it a hundred times.” 

The ‘disposable’ attitude is not confined to clothes, of course — commodities from electronic goods to food are often viewed similarly — but fashion is particularly relevant.

This is not just because cheap clothing is seen as particularly disposable, but because of the questions often raised about the origins of such clothing.

There are regular revelations about the exploitation of those making those clothes, often employed at low rates of pay in terrible conditions, and big-name retail brands are frequently indicted for their complicity in such practices. 

This is without considering the environmental impact of shipping vast amounts of clothing across the world, from producer to consumer.

Yet the appetite for cheap clothing remains strong, even when those revelations are made. For instance, online fashion store Shein is opening a pop-up store in Cork soon which will likely be besieged by shoppers.

Not surprising for the world’s most popular fashion brand in 2022, but at what cost? 

Shein produces so much clothing that Time magazine has reported that its manufacturers churn out the same amount of CO2 as approximately 180 coal-fired power plants, which should give consumers of its cheap clothing some pause about their own future.

Paying more for sustainable fashion — and for food and electronic goods — is a step too many of us are not willing to take. 

If we ask whether the convenience of cheap clothing sits comfortably with the consequences of its manufacture, there can be only one answer.