Fast fashion: It’s like taking one bite out of an apple and then throwing the rest away. In the world of seemingly instant services like online food delivery and shopping at the click of a button, it seems as if everybody’s patience has become pitifully short. Perhaps the most prominent result of this phenomenon is the fast fashion industry. “Quantity over quality” has become the new norm, with cheap, quick manufacturing methods made to satisfy people’s thirst for clothes that keep up with the bi-weekly changing fashion trends of the 21st century. A metaphor that represents this digital vogue sensation is found, out of all places, in the brightly-colored pages of a decades-old picture book. Eric Carle’s 1969 children’s literature juggernaut, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, holds surprisingly similar parallels between a tiny caterpillar’s journey and the imprudent world of fast fashion. Whether it be the amount of food that the caterpillar wastes, his seemingly impossible-to-be-satisfied hunger, or the painful stomach ache he receives, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is just another victim of the waste and consumption shown in fast fashion.
The hungry caterpillar is a surprisingly wasteful individual. In the book, the protagonist takes a single bite of each snack that he crawls through, not even bothering to finish the rest of the food. In similar fashion (pun intended), when it comes to fast fashion, clothing items are worn for short cycles of time, usually lasting “no more than 10 wearings”, as stated in an article by The Washington Post[1]. In the two instances, both individuals; the caterpillar and the fast-fashion user, had consumed only a tiny amount of the resources they were given, compared to the full amount of they could have used. The caterpillar’s decision to nibble a miniscule bite in his snacks had resulted in the waste of perfectly-good food. Although the caterpillar’s wasteful behavior is only part of a children’s book, when compared to the real-world waste of fast-fashion items, the concept becomes problematic. For one, an average resident of the US throws away 70 pounds of textiles yearly, with 85% going to the landfills, according to an article by the University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center[2]. And even worse, all the leachate from the landfills can become toxic and damage wildlife habitats via water contamination. By looking at these statistics, there is a clear connection between the caterpillar’s wasting of food and the short-term use of clothing, as the individuals in both scenarios could have been more responsible and cautious about their resources, but chose to waste a majority of it instead. Comparing the caterpillar to the evidence, the hungry caterpillar begins to look more similar to a wasteful fast fashion consumer. In a way, the character serves as an unnerving example to show how anyone can be wasteful; whether it be a shopper or a colorful insect. But what ignites and reinforces the concept of waste in an individual is none other than the consumption of a material itself.
Like a person’s rapid consumption of clothes to keep up with the ever changing fast fashion trends, the hungry caterpillar constantly feels the need to satisfy his hunger with the recurring words, “I’m so hungry!” by eating. But every time he takes a bite of whichever snack he is trying, it only feeds his desire for more food like a positive feedback loop– even when he consumes larger quantities of fruits or more extravagant meals, he’s always hungry. Similarly, many fast fashion consumers find themselves gripped by the desire to buy more clothes– with the feeling of having to keep up with trends playing being a major reason. But no matter how much clothes they buy, they always end up buying more, due to clothes falling “out” of style because of the ever changing fashion trends. This vicious cycle of consumption has latched onto the hungry caterpillar and fashion consumers alike; taking advantage of personal feelings like hunger or the desire to be “trendy” and pushing them into the loop. No matter how much the caterpillar eats, his body changes, his hunger comes back, and he feels the need to eat again. The fall of the caterpillar into the consumption cycle warns how easy it is to consume and not stop– to feel the constant urge of satisfaction, yet never be fully satisfied. And unsurprisingly, that cycle is extremely unhealthy for any individual to experience.
Nearing the end of the book, the caterpillar’s health has severely diminished. He suffers a painful stomach ache, and as Carle writes, he’s now a “big, fat caterpillar”[3]. Just as how the caterpillar’s poor health is the result of excessive consumption, the consumers of fast fashion fall victim too; studies from the National Library of Medicine show that fast fashion consumers can end up suffering from adverse health effects due to the excessive consumption of fast fashion including: eating and sleep disorders, insecurity, anxiety, and stress[4]. The sad story of the caterpillar shows that he, just like any consumer, is another victim of consumption. Eric Carle’s book holds a stark parallel between the hungry caterpillar’s descent into the grip of waste and desire and the consumption cycle of fast fashion. But indeed, the most alarming connection between The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the consumers of fast fashion is that Carle’s story is a sugarcoated warning about the harms of waste and consumerism. It shows how easily an innocent being can be betrayed by their feelings and needs, and get trapped in the cycle of consumerism and become a wasteful individual. The story tells the reader to be cautious and rational when it comes to using a resource.
But the tale of The Very Hungry Caterpillar leaves a message of hope. After he becomes a fat caterpillar, he forms a cocoon around himself and breaks free in his new form: a big, beautiful butterfly. It’s a sign that shows how not all hope is lost, and that with rehabilitation, one stuck in the fast fashion consumer loop can break free and become a new, more responsible improved individual. The first step can be as simple as using fast fashion clothes more often rather than tossing it out with a few wearings; it’s like eating the full apple instead of throwing it away after one bite.
Works Cited
[1] Coren, Michael. “Why You Should Buy Clothes to Last (almost) Forever.” The
Washington Post, November 7, 2023. Accessed January 19, 2024.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/11/07/
long-lasting-clothes-fast-fashion/.
[2] Zabors, Ryan, and Kate Hunn. “How fast fashion impacts sustainability.”
colorado.edu. Last modified October 2, 2023. Accessed January 19, 2024.
https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2023/10/02/
how-fast-fashion-impacts-sustainability.
[3] Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Cleveland, US: World Publishing
Company, 1969.
[4] Bick, Rachel, Erika Halsey, and Christine C. Ekenga. “The Global Environmental
Injustice of Fast Fashion.” Environmental Health 17, no. 1 (2018). Accessed
January 19, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7.
Leave a Reply