Kennadee Mecham

Mr. Haslam

English 1010

11/2/2021

Rhetorical Analysis on “The Real Cost of Cheap Fashion” by Laura Anastasia

Laura Anastasia wrote the article “The Real Cost of Cheap Fashion”, which was

published by Scholastic on September 4th, 2017; she wrote this article to inform people of the

consequences that fast fashion has on the environment and other people. She also wrote this

piece to address others' concerns about fast fashion. Many people have been conversing about

this subject, talking about how it’s bad, how it can be solved, and how they believe that getting

clothing for cheap prices, truly isn't worth it, when all factors are considered. Now you may not

know what fast fashion is, but fast fashion is when clothing is produced inexpensively, rapidly,

and in bulk, to meet the needs of the current fashion trends. I believe that Anastasia wanted

students and teachers to read her article not only because it was published by Scholastic, a place

where students and teachers look for information, but also because teachers share their

knowledge with their students, making it easier to get the word out and to teach future

generations about this current problem. Fast fashion is widely used by youth and other young

people due to the affordability and the current trends that change daily, therefore making this

another reason for students to be the author’s target audience.

Throughout Anastasia’s piece, she argues the fact that fast fashion is harmful. She uses

this general idea to go in depth and express the actual issues fast fashion has caused. She
explains that fast fashion has been and is impacting people, even children in 3rd world countries,

and our environment. She brings to attention that fast fashion is causing children and women to

work long hours in horrible conditions with little to no pay, simply just to meet the fashion

demands in the United States. Anastasia also brings up the main idea that fast fashion has caused

many accidents, resulting in the killing or harming of thousands of people. She also expresses the

harm of fast fashion when she talks about the effect it has on the environment; she explains that

fast fashion causes a lot of waste, not only creating garbage but wasting useful natural resources.

Laura Anastasia wrote “The Real Cost of Cheap Fashion” very effectively, by using

pathos, ethos, and logos, to gain the attention of her intended audience. As a student myself, I

believe that her use of pathos was a big factor in making her piece as effective as it is. The author

used pictures, stories, and emotional wording, to get her point across. One of the photos she used

was two pictures set side by side. On the one side, was a picture of a 13-year-old boy working in

a textile factory in Bangladesh, and on the other side was a picture showing the collapse of the

Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh in 2013, that killed more than 1,100 people. These

pictures give the reader a visual of what Anastasia is talking about, causing the reader to be sad

and feel pain as they see the horrors talked about actually occurring in real life. Another way she

uses pathos is when she defines fast fashion when she states, “.... what is known as fast fashion:

trendy clothes designed, created, and sold to consumers as quickly as possible at extremely low

prices.” When you first hear this definition, I think it would make a reader happy knowing that

they can get cute new clothes for a low price, but once Anastasia goes into detail about the

consequences of fast fashion, it causes the reader to change their point of view and really

question their fashion choices. She teaches readers about the conditions and low pay these

employees have to deal with. One way she does this is when she says, “Fast fashion items may
not cost you much at the cash register, but they come with a serious price: Tens of millions of

people in developing countries, some just children, work long hours in dangerous conditions to

make them, in the kinds of factories often labeled sweatshops. Most garment workers are paid

barely enough to survive.” Knowing that people are getting paid barely enough money to

survive, while working for long hours in bad conditions, causes the reader to imagine the

circumstances and feel the pain these people are going through. This is a horrible situation, so

obviously it's going to make people sad and upset, but knowing that kids have to work at such a

young age, in harm's way, is terrifying and sad because kids should be able to be kids and

shouldn’t have to worry about dying.

Laura also makes her writing effective by using ethos to show her credibility. Credibility

makes you want to read an author's piece and allows the reader to trust the author. When the

reader is able to trust the author, it makes their writing that much more effective. Laura has over

10 years of experience in the publishing industry and has worked for many different companies.

This shows her dedication to writing, and allows the reader to know she is serious about her

work. Another way she shows ethos is by using quotes. Anastasia uses many different quotes

from many different sources. These quotes make her more credible because you can tell she did

her research and wants to bring you real, truthful facts. The quotes she used, also show her

credibility, because her quotes seem to be from credible sources themselves. These tactics that

she uses to present her credibility, end up making her piece effective, because it allows the reader

to know that the author truly knows what she is talking about.

The final strategy that the author uses to appeal to her intended audience is logos.

Anastasia uses logos multiple times throughout her article. She uses real life examples, facts and

tons of evidence to get her point across. Knowing that what the author is telling the reader is true,
makes this piece more effective because it causes the reader to want to make a difference after

hearing about the problem that the author brings up. Anastasia tells the story about a woman

named Taslima Aktar. Taslima was 23 years old. She had a persistent fever that lasted weeks, but

because she couldn’t afford to lose her job, she wasn’t able to see a doctor. This resulted in her

losing consciousness and later passing away. This story shows real evidence to why fast fashion

is truly a problem, making this an effective piece for her argument.

In conclusion, Anastasia’s article “The Real Cost of Cheap Fashion” is an effective piece

due to her uses of pathos, ethos, and logos. She truly wants her readers to see that fast fashion is

a problem and she doesn’t do it by making it up and pretending it is a problem. Instead, she uses

quotes, real examples, pictures, words, and many other impressive strategies to show that she

truly cares and knows what she is talking about. Because she is a very good writer, it makes her

article truly effective, and hopefully will one day make a difference in the world.

Word count: 1186 Words

Anastasia, Laura. “The Real Cost of Cheap Fashion.” The New York Times Upfront, 4 Sept.
2017, [Link]
[Link]#1070L.

Peer Review Comments

I think that the essay went into great depth and detail when explaining the introduction
and background information necessary to understand the topic and context of the
article. I really liked this sentence: ¨Fast fashion is widely used by youth and other
young people due to the affordability and the current trends that change daily,
therefore making this another reason for students to be the author’s target audience. ¨
The introduction is very well established and organized. I think she gave the necessary
background information to understand the topic of the article. It develops a
conversation about the topic that makes it easy for the reader to understand.
I haven't personally read the article, but from how she summarized it, I was able to
develop an understanding of what the author is talking about and what point she is
trying to get across. However, I think it would've been nice if she could've given the
definition of fast-fashion, as I don't totally know what that means.
Laura Anastasia wrote “The Real Cost of Cheap Fashion” very effectively, by using
pathos, ethos, and logos, to gain the attention of her intended audience. This focuses
on the text itself and not the subject of the essay.
She makes claims of how the author uses pathos, logos, and ethos to effectively
persuade and connect with the audience.
I don't think that she needs to add any subclaims to her thesis statement, because she
has all that she needs in her thesis statement. I think each claim is very well developed
and supported with evidence because of how much she talks about each one, and
how she goes into great detail for each one. I think sharing the definition of fast-fashion
would support each of her claims a little bit more.
Her conclusion effectively communicates how the author of the essay effectively
communicates and connects with the audience. She does a really good job of bringing
the essay to a close.
She focuses on the rhetorical elements of the article really well. She effectively
describes how the author used these three elements to connect with the audience.
However, I think that the discussion on Pathos was a little bit overemphasized, and
that ethos and logos were a little bit underplayed.
She organized the essay very effectively and made it very easy to follow and
understand. The introduction and conclusion are very organized and get the point
across very well.
There weren't any major grammatical/spelling errors except a few spelling errors and
misplaced commas.
She didn't include any questions to the peer reviewers.
I think that the essay was very well organized and easy to follow. She made her thesis
very clear and developed the conversation about the rhetorical appeals very well.
However, I think that she could´ve given a clearer definition of fast-fashion.
ETHAN GUYMON , Oct 25 at 10:08am

Nick Delquadro
Nick Delquadro
1:33 PM Today
It was published by the New York Times Upfront Scholastic which tells more
information about the credibility of the publisher.
Nick Delquadro
Nick Delquadro
1:49 PM Today
Talk about if she cites her resources correctly and how those sources establish her
credibility.
Nick Delquadro
Nick Delquadro
1:51 PM Today
They can also UNDERSTAND the severity of the issue with their own logical reasoning.
Nick Delquadro
Nick Delquadro
1:53 PM Today
Try ", resulting in her losing consciousness and later passing away."
Nick Delquadro
Nick Delquadro
1:54 PM Today
Add: “,”
NICK DELQUADRO , Oct 25 at 2:21pm
Kennadee did a great job with organization, clear delivery, and elaborating the text. I
loved how there was clearly an introduction, thesis, summary, 3 main points on pathos,
ethos and logos, and a conclusion about her thesis. She also did a great job keeping to
the text in her thesis and essay and translated the voice and passion of Anastasia
instead of inserting her own voice and passion. It was extremely impressive to see all
of the requirements met with clarity and emotion.
To polish this essay, there is some wording that could be improved to fit a more
academic and informative tone of a higher level English student. There were lots of
dependent clauses that were worded in a way that may be easy for me to follow as a
fellow teenage high school student, but a larger, older, and more professional audience
mah require more than the common use of “because” and sentences that appeared as
run-ons with several commas in one sentence. Most of my comments on re-wording
sentences can be categorized as adding more academic clarity.
Outside of those revisions that I would make, I loved the delivery, topic, article,
elaborations, and keeping to the text. It was a great read and provided a great
rhetorical analysis of Anastasia’s piece.
NICK DELQUADRO , Oct 27 at 1:18pm

Strengths of the essay are that it has a good explanation of who the article is intended
to be for, when it is published, and has a good general summary of the whole thing.
You got to the point straight away when you addressed usage of tools such as pathos,
logos, and ethos. The introduction does establish the context of the text, as I am able
to follow and understand what is being explained. The summary is rather short,
however, I can see the idea of the article. The thesis is that the article is written very
effectively using certain tools. Evidence through ethos, logos, and pathos are given.
The sentence, “....what is known as fast fashion: trendy clothes designed, created, and
sold to consumers as quickly as possible at extremely low prices.” is quoted to explain
how pathos is entertained by making readers happy. Low prices equal happiness, so
and so. The organization of the essay is very nice because it’s easy to follow and has a
very specific orientation. Everything flows logically, and there are no major spelling or
grammatical issues. Overall, the essay is great, the only thing I would suggest is adding
more to the summary? Otherwise, great job!
BREANNA GIANG , Oct 28 at 9:33am