FAST FASHON AND SECOND HAND CLOTHES BETWEEN ECOLOGICAL CONCERNS AND GLOBAL BUSINESS

Abstract

The paper presents the concept of the fast fashion and how these lead to an excessive consumption of clothes and as result a growth of the worn products market. The paper also aims to establish how fast fashion is influencing not only the economy also the environment. The fast fashion model can also damage developing economies with a low household income, which are not the necessary most important markets of these companies. Our study has identified the influences in increased purchase behavior and focused especially of the positive relationship between income and clothing expenses. We found out that it is a large gap between the European countries regarding clothing expenses in year and Romania is for far the lowest consumer. It is presented the second hand clothes import-export trade during 2007-2012 and we found out that there is an inverse relation between the balances sheet of import-export of textile products between the developed and developing countries. The authors conclude that the Romania is the largest European importer of second hand clothes but has no large scale recycling. Since collection is done on a voluntary basis it can be confusing for population to know how and where to discard used clothing therefore it is recommended a focus on collection systems of second hand clothes. The methodology used for this paper has mainly been a literature study where both scientific literature, such as scientific articles and reports, and popular science articles have been studied. We also use official information provided from National and International statistical Offices. Academic research on the effects of redirecting used clothing from the waste stream is still in its infancy; however this paper provides some insights into the phenomenon which may add to the emerging literature. .

Keywords

• fashion
• environment
• consumption expenditure
• worn clothing trade
• textile recycling