Image: AOP

Finland's top nature magazine Suomen Luonto has picked so-called fast fashion as the most useless phenomenon of 2018.

The point of the annual title, bestowed by the magazine's publisher the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, is to highlight unsustainable consumption trends.

Fast fashion certainly fits the bill; the term refers to a culture of clothing manufacturing, marketing and consumption that produces clothing quickly and cheaply – and often unethically. Fast fashion clothes go from catwalk to rack almost instantly, and people who buy the brands thoughtlessly tend to use their new apparel for only a brief period.

The term originates in 1990s America, where quick response manufacturing started to gain ground as Asian countries began to churn out low-cost clothing for global export.

Fast fashion is the 19th "most useless" title recipient. Winners from previous years include fleece fabric from 2017 (a source of microplastics), 2010's fur coats and quad bikes from 2005.