Crochet: Another Victim of Fast Fashion

ARTS & CULTURE

Written by C Fonseca (they/them) | @c.fonseca06703 | Contributing Writer

Despite previously being thought of as your grandma’s favourite hobby, crochet has now been rebranded into something cool through its popularity and growth on social media apps. Crochet has taken over TikTok, with over 15.5 billion views, overshadowing the consistently popular hobby of knitting. Through this popularity, crochet has been transformed into a fun and trendy activity marketed for all ages. With this growth in popularity, TikTok includes various crochet step-by-step tutorials, finished patterns, showcases of finished pieces and videos tracking people’s progress. The app also became a platform for individuals to promote their small businesses, enabling them to sell handmade crochet clothing, toys or decorations. However, with this new popularity, crochet soon became the newest victim of fast fashion.

The biggest problem is that crochet cannot be created in a machine in a factory, as it requires hand stitching, which takes a lot of time and patience. Every time a crocheted item appears in stores like H&M, shoppers tend to forget that behind that crocheted garment is someone who worked seven days a week for 14 hours (or more). Unfortunately, these are often women or children who are extremely underpaid for producing multiple items by hand. 

This is further reflected in the pricing of garments. For example, on the popular clothing website Shein, a simple crochet summer top costs between $10-20. If you compare that to small businesses on Etsy, most crochet patterns cost between $5-10, whilst crocheted summer tops can cost between $40-60. Pricing crochet items at a low cost devalues the time and effort put into designing and crocheting. People are unwilling to pay the price for small business items when they could get it for a cheaper price at places like Shein.

Whilst you may think the price of crochet items made by small businesses are unreasonably high, think of the time required to complete a top, as well as the price for materials plus the possibility of profiting from selling these garments. For summer tops, it can take around 5 hours, but this is dependent on yarn and hook size, as well as the tension of stitches, the number of different colours used, the decided stitch and the size top you’re making. Maybe 5 hours doesn’t seem like a long time for you, but let’s think bigger.

Another important thing to consider is that materials used by the fast fashion industry are not made to last, which leads to massive waste which ends up in landfill and creates more microplastics in the world. Additionally, popular fast fashion stores have stolen ideas and designs from small businesses and sold them for a cheaper price with no acknowledgement to the original designer. Consumers then buy these garments without being aware of it being stolen designs. This can be demotivating for small business owners because consumers resort to cheaper options of the exact same design.

Whilst this isn’t something that can be easily fixed, there are alternatives of what you can do to keep crochet alive and not let it become a complete victim of fast fashion. Small businesses tend to sell their items on Instagram, Depop or Etsy, whilst promoting them on other social media platforms like Instagram. Instead of opting for the cheap option, try to buy from small businesses or try to crochet some items yourself. To a fast fashion company, you are just another statistic, but to small businesses, every order is meaningful. When you purchase something from a small or local business, you know you are buying it from someone who has made it with love. 

Whilst this is a cheesy comment, you’re giving people a chance to follow their dreams. It’s true! Instead of people staying in a job that doesn’t make them happy, you are giving small businesses a chance to make money from doing something that they love, which is not something that a lot of people get the privilege to do. 

Next time you’re out buying clothes, think about the time and effort gone into those garments and consider how it is a better option to shop from small businesses.