Amazon has launched a new addition to its Premium Wardrobe service: a subscription box that will send you up to eight new garments per month based on your measurements and preferences. That's 96 new clothes every year.
It's easy to see why Amazon made this decision. Market research firm Mintel found that 39% of Britons used Amazon Prime (26% have their own subscription, others share the same subscription). It's a colossal audience.
The release date is not a coincidence either. A few weeks after the Amazon Prime Day dizziness, thousands of people have signed up for Prime (or at least a free trial) to make the most of 48 hours of special offers. As these trial periods are almost over, Amazon has created a tempting new feature to prevent subscribers from hitting the "Unsubscribe" button.
The price of the style
Premium Wardrobe subscribers in the United States will pay € 4.99 (about € 4, AU € 7) a month to prepare their gift boxes, but what about the environmental cost?
Fast fashion (and eight items a month is fast enough) is a major source of pollution. Textile dye pollutes waterways with a cocktail of chlorinated solvents and toxic dyes, and uses a colossal amount of water. Cotton cultivation is also a water intensive process that often involves pesticides. It damages marine ecosystems and depletes soils.
Synthetics aren't great either; They break down a bit with each wash, releasing microplastics that pass through water treatment plants and spread into soil, oceans, fish, animals, and even us.
When clothing is no longer desired, it is mostly found in landfills, where even natural fibers do not break down easily due to anaerobic conditions. A BBC documentary from last year, The Secret Life of Landfills, uncovered a cotton garment from the 1980s, still intact. Synthetic materials will take even longer: years, even decades.
A service that makes fashion a consumable, disposable product is a great deal, but the cost is too high for the environment.