Eco-Friendly and Fair

5Knowing better, but behaving emotionally

Strong emotional undertone in the fast fashion consumption

Kirsi Niinimäki

1. Post-modern society and identity-building through an ever-changing appearance

There currently exists a disconnect between production and consumption, which leads to the situation where consumers buy over and above their actual need (Kaiser, 2008). Williams (1980 cited by Kaiser, 2008) has described how fashion, through various cultural processes and affected by strong advertising, has become a system where consumers’ emotional needs are central. It becomes “a magical system through which clothing consumption becomes a process of human desires” (Kaiser, 2008, p. 143). As Kaiser states (2008, p. 143), such a system effects ...