What Is Fast Fashion? What the price tag doesn’t show

You see a cute dress online for $12. It’s trendy, it’s fast, and it’s delivered in two days. But have you ever wondered who paid the real price?

Fast fashion is the mass production of cheap clothing, designed to mimic the latest runway trends and push them into your feed, cart, and closet at lightning speed. In recent years, “ultra-fast fashion” has taken this model to extremes, with companies, such as Shein, “releasing over 2,000 new styles daily” according to Market Research Biz, fashion is no longer seasonal, it’s constant.

But behind the ever-refreshing catalog is a trail of environmental damage, worker exploitation, and deep disconnection.

How to tell something is Fast Fashion

Here are 6 red flags to look for:

• Thousands of styles, updated daily
  Ultra-fast fashion giants like Shein, Temu, Boohoo, and Fashion Nova upload hundreds to thousands of new styles every day.
• No transparency about where or how it was made
  If you can’t find information about the factory, location, or ethical certifications, it’s likely the brand doesn’t want you to know.
• The care label tells a story, just not a good one
  A quick check of the tag can say a lot about the priorities behind the piece. If the garment is made primarily from polyester, nylon, acrylic, or other synthetics, it’s a sign that low-cost, high-emission materials were used.
• Too cheap to be ethical
  A $4 crop top or $8 jeans might seem like a deal, but it’s virtually impossible to make clothing that cheap without cutting corners on wages, materials, and environmental safeguards.
• It's vague about its sustainability claims
  Phrases like “conscious,” “eco,” or “green” are often used without proof. If the brand doesn’t back up claims with third-party certifications or clear policies, it’s likely greenwashing.
• It was probably made in “Shein Village”
  Shein produces much of its clothing in a dense manufacturing hub in Panyu District, Guangzhou, China now nicknamed “Shein Village.” According to a recent BBC investigation “This is the sound of Panyu, … a warren of factories that power the world’s largest fast fashion retailer. ‘If there are 31 days in a month, I will work 31 days,’ one worker told the BBC.’”

The Earth Can’t Keep Up

The fashion industry is responsible for around 10% of global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Producing one cotton t-shirt takes about 2,700 liters of water, the equivalent of what one person drinks in 2.5 years.

Each year, over 92 million tons of textile waste is generated, most of which ends up in landfills or burned, releasing harmful chemicals into the air and soil. Synthetic fabrics like polyester (used in over half of all clothing) shed microplastics into our waterways with every wash, polluting oceans and entering our food chain.

Fast fashion feeds this crisis. Clothes are made to be worn a handful of times, if at all, and then discarded. The faster the cycle, the greater the waste.

The Human Cost

Did you know that those $5 tops and $20 jeans you see at the stores and online are sewn by underpaid garment workers in unsafe conditions? Many laborers are mostly women and even children. The following statements confirm the human cost, World Vision says, “Today, nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide are engaged in labor that denies them their basic human rights and jeopardizes their well-being.” Also, EARTHDAY.ORG states that “women make up approximately 80% of garment workers” and EARTH.ORG shares that “In Bangladesh, workers are paid about 33 cents per hour”.

In the rush to keep prices low and output high, corners are cut, both environmentally and ethically.

What the Price Tag Doesn’t Show

When we shop fast fashion, the cost we see is just the tip of the iceberg. The true price is paid by the planet, the people who make our clothes, and our own sense of connection to what we wear.

Fast fashion encourages overconsumption and a disposable mindset. But clothing is not disposable, it’s woven from resources, labor, and stories. It deserves care, not convenience.

A Slower, More Conscious Way

Choosing slow fashion is a way of choosing integrity over impulse. It’s a quiet rebellion against waste, exploitation, and harm. It’s asking: Who made my clothes? What is it made of? How long will it last?

At Good Karma, we believe in honoring the hands that create, the earth that sustains, and the beauty of wearing something that feels like it means something.

Slowing down and choosing better-made clothes isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about accountability. It’s about recognizing that what we wear has a footprint, and that footprint can be lighter.

The next time a $5 shirt shows up in your feed, it’s worth asking: who made this, what is it made of, and how long will it last?

Fast fashion thrives on speed and silence. But when we ask questions, we disrupt the cycle.