Unfortunately yes, Urban Planet is a fast fashion brand! The store offers affordable clothing for men, women, girls, and boys.
It is pretty understandable that you may want to keep up with new styles and try out new trends. However, have you ever really thought about what happens to your clothing once you discard it?
85% of textiles are thrown away every year. This includes tons of unused as well as unsold clothes. Take a look at the bigger picture of how 6000 pounds of clothing is burned every second.
Imagine how detrimental the global textile waste is. Fast fashion industry is completely destroying our environment.
As more shoppers realize this problem, they’re consciously shifting towards more sustainable brands. However, it isn’t that easy to find out which brands are worth your money.
For that reason, I’m here to help! In this article, I’ll be discussing whether the brand Urban Planet is a fast fashion one or not.
So let’s get right to it!
Is Urban Planet really fast fashion?
The whole concept of the fashion store, Urban Planet, is fast fashion. It’s one of the fastest growing brands in Canada. It has more than hundred stores across the country.
The brand caters to a broad demographic of young men and women. It admits that the customers are a part of the generation which are constantly in search of the next best trend. Urban Planet is proud to provide them with the next best thing.
Therefore, it is clear that this brand is a fast fashion one and they don’t see any problem with it.
They’re actually proud of the fact that they’re able to provide affordable pieces to their customers. Urban Planet’s main philosophy is that “shopping should be fun and great fashion should be accessible to everyone”.
However, the brand doesn’t realize how big of an environmental impact it’s making. It’s responsible for contributing towards the destruction of the ecosystem.
The biggest problem with fast fashion brands is that their products aren’t sustainable. These brands come up with new trends every other week and discard the older stock. The stock end up in piles in landfills.
Such brands are also known for using cheap raw materials, which means that it would take several decades before these product even begins to decompose.
Then when they’re burned, they emit greenhouse gasses. These are leaders in pollution and are destroying the planet.
It is high time that this environmental cost related to the fashion industry is addressed!
Moreover, Urban Planet is owned by YM Inc. This parent company’s actual philosophy is to become the leader in fast fashion and also to provide exceptional customer experience.
Therefore, companies like Urban Planet have no remorse or regret over the practices that they’re following.
Although, Urban Planet has now recently come out with a shop eco-friendly collection. This shows that they’re trying to do something for the planet.
The brand would also like to establish a robust sustainability initiative which addresses materials selection, manufacturing, and post-consumer waste.
They’re also trying to pay attention to the packaging and figuring out ways to make it more sustainable.
However, many people believe that what Urban Planet is doing for sustainability is “green washing”.
It’s a marketing spin very commonly used by fast fashion brands in order to deceptively persuade the public that the brand’s products, practices, and policies are environmentally friendly.
So don’t be fooled! It’s time that these brands should be held accountable for their actions.
Is it ethical?
It’s hard to judge whether the brand Urban Planet is ethical or not! This is because they haven’t provided sufficient information.
An ethical brand is responsible for making morally correct decisions for the betterment of the planet. Ethical brands also don’t harm humans, animals, or the environment.
As Urban Planet is a fast-fashion brand, it can be concluded that it may not be a very ethical one either. The sheer amount of waste they’re producing every year simply cannot qualify them as an ethical brand.
They’re knowingly harming the environment and by using cheap materials, they’re harming us as well.
Moreover, another reason why this brand isn’t ethical is that it doesn’t provide sufficient information on its practices.
If you go onto their webpage, you won’t be able to find a single piece of information on how this brand operates.
Due to this lack of transparency, they aren’t able to build a trustworthy rapport with their customers. It is also highly unethical of the brand to not disclose such important information to the public.
Not only that, but they also don’t entertain any questions on email. It is clearly stated in their FAQs that any information about business strategies and corporate areas is confidential.
So by gatekeeping such relevant information, the brand is considered as extremely unethical!
Where does it get their clothes?
If you need to know whether a brand is ethical or not, it’s extremely important for you to know where their clothes are manufactured.
This is because many fast fashion brands manufacture clothing in poor Asian countries, such as Vietnam, China, and Bangladesh.
Such countries are known for having poor labor conditions and loose environmental regulations.
This means that fast fashion brands are able to get away with manufacturing clothes here without having to deal with any legal complications.
These brands don’t even provide living wages to employees in these countries. This way they keep their costs low and profits higher!
Unfortunately, Urban Planet refuses to provide any information on it manufacturing countries. This makes the brand extremely shady!
While its head office is located in Canada, it’s unclear if the products are manufactured here as well or not.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, you know by now that Urban Planet is a fast-fashion company. Its practices aren’t ethical either and it avoids disclosing relevant information to the public.
Now it is up to you to decide whether you want to purchase from this brand or not!
It’s our responsibility as shoppers to research on our own and ensure that brands align with our values. So if you’re looking to make better decisions while shopping then here are a few things to note:
- Try to look for natural fibers
- Buy better quality even if you have to buy less
- Support local sustainable brands
