Edikted is the new Gen Z’s favorite fashion brand. With the popularity of e-commerce and the trend-focused nature of Gen Z consumers, the pressure to produce new clothing items quickly and cheaply has never been greater. As a result, fashion has adopted a business model that prioritizes cost and speed over sustainability and ethics. So is Edikted fast fashion?
Edikted is a fast fashion brand that creates trend-led fashion styles influenced by emerging TikTok and Instagram trends. To keep up with these trends, the brand rapidly releases new collections and styles of low quality and at an affordable price.
With most consumers believing that fashion brands are responsible for addressing environmental and social issues, it’s essential to understand whether Edikted is ethical and working toward a sustainable supply chain or if it’s joining the greenwashing club and misleading its consumers. Let’s get started.
What is Edikted?
Edikted, created by the co-founders of Adika, an online fast fashion brand, is a Gen Z-orientated online fashion brand heavily influenced by technology, pop culture, and style. The company was launched in 2021 and has since garnered over 180 million views on TikTok. This is almost double the average views of other apparel brands its size.
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This fashion brand excels at appealing to Gen Z, who are very trend-focused. It delivers the most coveted styles, from accessories to clothing, inspired by modern-day muses, runway trends, and top streetwear looks. Schwartzberg, the brand’s founder, explains that the company gets inspiration from the fashion scene in L.A. He states that they’re constantly monitoring social media, fashion shows, and celebrity and street style fashion to see what is new, exciting, and likely to trend in the fashion space, especially for Gen Z.
Like Fashion Nova, Shein, and Boohoo, Edikted churns out affordable and trendy clothing by dozens.
Is Edikted Fast Fashion?
Yes, Edikted is a fast fashion brand. The company produces hundreds of styles of low-quality clothing to follow rapidly changing fashion trends and retails its products for a low price.
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Also, the brand hosts regular flash sales to encourage its customers to buy more clothing. Selling garments for such low prices enables customers to buy more clothing, fueling clothing consumption and increasing landfills, polluting the environment.
Edikted brand states that instead of mass production like usual fast fashion retailers, it uses a try-and-repeat model, where it manufactures new styles and then scales the production based on customer demand. This ensures it doesn’t produce unwanted clothing that causes massive waste. However, even with this mode of production, Edikted is still a fast fashion brand as it needs to work on its ethical and sustainability practices.
How Sustainable is Edikted?
Edikted states that it has made its mission to focus on sustainability with the hopes of making the planet Earth a happier and cleaner place for future generations. However, they don’t prioritize using sustainable materials. Edikted uses cotton and polyester, two of the least environmental-friendly materials fashion brands use.
Polyester is non-biodegradable and heavily relies on fossil fuels to produce. Similarly, cotton has the highest pesticide usage compared to other fiber crops, which causes soil damage and environmental and waterways pollution.
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Edikted doesn’t share any information on using more sustainable alternatives such as recycled polyester, recycled cotton, organic cotton, or BCI cotton. Yet, for a fashion brand claiming it is trying to be more sustainable, it’s expected that the brand should prioritize using more sustainable materials.
Moreover, this fashion company lacks transparency and has an unsustainable fast fashion business model with rapidly changing trends and regular new styles. And in addition to using lower-impact materials, Edikted shows no evidence of meaningful actions it takes, including in its supply chain, to eliminate or reduce hazardous chemicals in manufacturing to lower its climate impacts. This also disqualifies Edikted from being a carbon-neutral fashion brand, as it publishes no information about its carbon emissions.
Furthermore, Edikted doesn’t state whether it’s vegan or cruelty-free. However, despite the absence of an animal welfare policy on its website, the brand doesn’t appear to use animal-derived products like leather, wool, or animal fibers in its pieces.
On the brighter side, Edikted uses recyclable cardboard and recyclable polybags for its shipments. The brand also states that it has launched a made-to-order manufacturing model, allowing consumers to purchase clothing they love without hurting the environment. It also claims that the clothes from this line are made from recycled polyester and organic cotton.
So generally, Edikted has a long way to go to improve its sustainability.
How Ethical is Edikted?
On its sustainability page, Edikted states that it guarantees a healthy and safe work environment for its employees, including workers within its supply chain. The brand also states that it doesn’t use forced or child labor nor tolerate such from its direct suppliers. Moreover, the company claims workers are paid fair wages that are disbursed in a timely manner.
However, Good on You still rates Edikted as Very Poor because the brand provides no evidence to support its claims, like a Code of Conduct, audit scores, or certifications. The brand doesn’t share any evidence that it supports diversity and inclusion in its supply chain.
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While Edikted partly traces its final production stage, the entire supply chain is left out, and even worse, it does not ensure workers are paid living wages in its supply chain. This is vital for a more ethical fashion industry, as it ensures employees earn enough money to support themselves to a decent standard of living, something everybody deserves.
Moreover, Edikted doesn’t share information about where its clothes are made. The brand doesn’t convey whether it has supply chain traceability or which suppliers it works with. This lack of information makes it hard for consumers to trust claims that Edikted ensures ethical working across all its supply chains.
Furthermore, the brand Edikted doesn’t disclose other safety and health standards like chemical usage, waste disposal, or safety protocols. Because this brand provides no easily accessible information, it cannot be verified whether it is ethical.
Advantages of Shopping from Edikted as a Fast Fashion Brand
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1. Affordability and Trendiness
Edikted’s fast fashion business model ensures that Gen Z can access the latest trends at an affordable price. With their online marketing model and rapidly changing collections and styles, you can easily find the latest fashion pieces without breaking the bank.
2. Numerous Styles to Choose from
Like other fast fashion brands, Edikted creates new styles weekly, if not daily. It quickly sketches, produces, and distributes new outfits inspired by the latest trends. They also have a made-to-order model with many style choices appealing to consumers. Moreover, it has a quick turnaround, enabling you to stay trendy without having to wait for long.
3. Use of Recyclable Packaging
Edikted uses recyclable polybags and cardboard for its packaging and shipment, reducing its carbon footprint.
4. Cruelty-Free
Despite the company not mentioning it’s a vegan brand, it doesn’t appear to use any animal-derived materials such as leather, wool, or animal fibers in its production.
Disadvantages of Shopping from Edikted as a Fast Fashion Brand
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1. Environmental Pollution
The constant speed and demand for Edikted clothes stress environmental sectors such as biodiversity, soil quality, and land clearing. Fast fashion brands also contribute to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, water wastage, and massive textile waste due to overproduction and overconsumption, leading to consumers’ disposal of clothes.
2. Ethical Concerns
Edikted’s business model may raise ethical concerns regarding living wages, worker rights, and factory conditions. While the brand mentions adherence to employee diversity and legal and ethical employment, the actual implementation and impact on workers remain uncertain.
3. Lack of Transparency
Edikted’s lack of transparency in its supply chain and manufacturing locations raises questions about the traceability and conditions under which its products are made. This lack of information hinders informed consumer choices.
4. Quality Concerns
Edikted’s focus on quick production and low prices might compromise the overall quality of products. Unlike high-end brands, fast fashion brands prioritize cost-effectiveness over durable materials and construction, leading to shorter garment lifespans.
5. Limited Sustainability Efforts
While Edikted states that it focuses on sustainability to make the earth cleaner and happier for future generations, its overall approach toward sustainability is still rated poorly. Moreover, its lack of transparency in sustainability practices and goals and the unsustainable business model makes its sustainability issues unclear.
Sustainable Alternatives to Edikted
As a customer, you have the right to know how a fashion brand’s production practices impact the environment. Edikted should overhaul its practices around environmental and labor issues to become a more ethical and sustainable brand. But if you love the Y2K vibes of Edikted but want to support brands doing better, there are other sustainable alternatives that might as well meet your needs including;
- Good Swaps
- Afends
- Neu Nomads
- Luna + Sun
- Girlfriend Collective
Conclusion on Is Edikted Fast Fashion
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The Edikted clothes brand is fast fashion, and its sustainability measures are equally in their infancy. The brand must overhaul its practices around employees' rights and environmental issues to become more sustainable and ethical. A good place to start is using lower-impact materials, producing fewer styles overall, and ensuring workers are paid a living wage.
You may want to keep off fast fashion brands like Artizia, Cider, and Edikted to create a cleaner and healthier environment. However, finding clothing you like at an affordable price range can be challenging. But, it is best to think of the period you are going to use that clothing and discourage the throw-away culture, causing massive landfills. You can opt for various sustainable alternatives to Edikted, such as For Afends, Luna + Sun, and Good Swaps.
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