Does PacSun support fast fashion? Is it sustainable? Is it an ethical clothing brand? Read on to learn all about the sustainability goals and ethics of PacSun and to decide if you should continue shopping with them.
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What is fast fashion?
Before I get into discussing PacSun, let me first discuss what fast fashion is and why it is considered bad for us.
Fast fashion can be defined as the manufacturing and wearing of cheap clothes that are copied hot off catwalks or celebrity cultures. Fast fashion chains produce clothes that are of the latest trends and designs. So, one may ask, why is it wrong to follow the latest trends? Why is it wrong to be fashionable? Social media constantly influences us on the latest fads in the market.
Fast fashion trends are usually characterized by the following traits. They usually have mass production lines that are high energy-consuming. They utilize cheap labor from third-world countries, exploiting the labor of workers without paying them adequate living wages. Some even utilize child labor. In addition, most fast fashion chains do not have proper animal welfare policies in place. So, if you support fast fashion, you are supporting a company without proper ethics and policies on human rights and animal welfare.
And that is not all. Fast fashion clothing is made of cheap synthetic materials that are worn only a few times before they are discarded. This is ideal for such manufacturers because they want consumers to constantly change clothing trends and keep shopping with them.
This leads to a toxic cycle of over-production, overconsumption and, worst of all, pollution. Resources like water are being exploited. Synthetic materials do not decompose easily and end up in landfills or oceans. Mass production leads to global warming and high energy consumption.
Consider this, “Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year.” This has been reported by the Global Health Observatory. This is such an alarming prediction. If we support fast fashion, we are well on the road to our own destruction!
Some Facts about PacSun
Pacsun is an American clothing chain in retail that was founded in 1980. They manufacture clothes for teens, adults, and children. They operate both in-store and online. Pacsun has about 325 stores across the USA and Puerto Rico. They sell their own clothing collections as well as clothes from other fashion brands, including Brandy Melville, Essential Fear of God, Kendal and Kylie, and LA Hearts.
Does PacSun Support fast fashion?
PacSun is fast fashion. They sell a range of clothing that is cheap and chic, made of the latest designs and trends. Their clothing is also heavily discounted in sales.
PacSun is everything you would classify as fast fashion. Their clothing is trendy but not very long-lasting. Most of it is made of them are a blend of synthetic fabric and other materials, which they are not very transparent about.
Just as their clothing is cheap, they are also of low quality. Most of them are fit for wear only a few times and get damaged easily. So, they end up in landfills, polluting the environment. If you would take a look at some of the reviews, there are hundreds of complaints about the bad quality of their clothing.
One of the key factors of a fast fashion company is the lack of transparency with regard to their materials, production processes, supply chains and sustainability ethics.
Pacsun is not very transparent about many things. They do not have any concrete cruelty-free policies in place; they are vague about their labor laws and disclose very little about the type of materials they use and their sustainability goals.
Is PacSun Sustainable?
What is commendable about Pacsun in terms of sustainability is that they have a section for pre-loved Pacsun clothes, which paves the way for recycling trends.
They also have Pacsun eco-collections that are supposed to be manufactured from 50% earth-friendly fabrics. I just see this as a greenwashing tactic to appeal to eco-conscious consumers. And this is only a small selection out of their whole clothing range.
In addition, Pacsun does not give adequate information about the type of material they use in their clothing. They are also very vague and unconcerned about their carbon emissions and their sustainability goals.
Is Pacsun ethical?
Like everything else about fast fashion, Pacsun discloses very little information about the resources for their clothing, the workers, their labor laws and work ethics.
However, they do have a code of conduct in line with international labor standards stating that its factories must have no forced labor, child labor, or overworked and must be given legal minimum wages. They also say that they conduct regular audits to ensure that its code of conduct complies with the above.
For public information, there are no audit data reports or anything else to help us decide whether Pacsun is ethical or not. I think the lack of transparency itself should tell us that everything is not right with a fast-fashion clothing line.
In terms of animal welfare, it is commendable that they do not use leather, down, exotic animal fur, angora, fur or animal skin. But they do use wool and have no specification as to how they obtain it.
Does Pacsun support fast fashion? The bottom line
Yes, Pacsun is a fast fashion brand that produces and sells cheap and low-quality clothing. They are not transparent about their sustainability goals, their labor ethics, their supply chains or anything else. Pacsun is not the best alternative to a responsible and eco-conscious consumer.
Also read: is Nordstrom fast fashion?
*All pics are courtesy of Unsplash.com
