Until this year, I bought my Halloween costumes like anyone else — I often sourced the items from SHEIN, Cider or Amazon, or relied on a pre-packed look from Spirit Halloween.

Yes — under capitalism, within the U.S.’s car-reliant infrastructure, with laughable minimum wages and flagrant union-busting left and right, there are plenty of exploitative industries and environmentally toxic byproducts that normal people simply cannot opt out of. We should always emphasize a class perspective when the idealistic wealthy criticize others for not being perfect environmentalists or assume everyone has time to be a choosy shopper. 

Recently, a Shein truck was parked on Fifth Avenue for their “College Tour.” The brand offers unparalleled low prices to their consumer base that targets tweens, teenagers and young adults on a conscious budget. However, there is nothing conscious about their business model.

Misleading packaging that depicts environmentally friendly products but are not actually environmentally friendly is extremely dangerous for our planet.

Before we go on to buy the next hot item, we should start asking ourselves, “Do I even really like this? Or do I just want to fit in and be part of the trend?” When consumers are more conscious about where they’re buying their clothes from, they play a big part in reducing the environmental harm caused by fast fashion.