04-05-2025
I bought 'fast fashion' clothes from overseas - but it came at an excruciating cost the moment I put on my new pants
Aussie shoppers are increasingly turning to ultra-fast fashion from Asia as they are drawn by affordable price tags and inexpensive runway-inspired styles.
But mum Cath Matar is warning everyone to think twice before buying cheaply made clothes from overseas - after she and her teenage daughter Indigo developed what she claimed to be severe allergic reactions to their new outfits.
'My whole body and face flared up as soon as I opened the box - even before I took anything out of the packaging... the clothes were still in plastic,' Cath told FEMAIL.
'I came out in huge welts all over my arms. My eyelid swelled up and was so swollen it was half shut - I looked like I'd had a stroke.'
At first, the 56-year-old didn't suspect her mass-produced clothes were to blame for the painful rashes and oozing wounds - but she claimed she knew something was seriously wrong the moment she slipped into her new trousers.
'My leg broke out in sores,' the mum said.
She was distraught to see her 14-year-old daughter Indigo develop red, raised rashes on her skin - especially on her hands - after trying on her new outfits.
'It's heartbreaking,' Cath said of the moment she saw her little girl in pain.
'Flares are exhausting and Indigo's hands get it the worst. When Indigo flares like this, her face and hands are so wrinkled, she looks like a little old woman.
'People telling you to stop scratching is like telling you to stop breathing.'
The mum and daughter have lived with eczema for most of their lives - but have always managed to keep it under control.
However, Cath claimed that the recent fast fashion purchase triggered their sensitive skin, leaving them with intensely itchy rashes.
'Indigo and I suffer from head to toe, but our worst spots are our hands, which are ravaged,' she said.
'They're itchy and raw with deep cracks, oozing and bleeding with red hot inflamed lesions – sometimes right down to the bone - and it smells like your body is rotting from the inside, so you're even more self-conscious.'
After realising their new clothes were wreaking havoc on their sensitive skin, they threw everything into the washing machine.
'But it didn't make any difference and took ages to get back under control,' Cath said.
'It's excruciating and incredibly hard to get the skin elasticity back as your face and body feel so tight.'
The mum said she has since returned the items back to the retailer.
'I sent them back and told them exactly what happened,' she said.
'I'll never buy from them again... I'll stick to my usual cotton and linen from now on. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.'
Cath claimed the only thing that helped reduce the inflammation and heal their skin was the $24.50 Pink Eczema Cream from Australian natural skincare brand MooGoo.
'It calmed both of our skin down straight away, took the heat out and now it's really healing,' the mum said.
'It took about a week for the swelling to go down, then we peeled from the dead skin the swelling caused, but now we're almost clear.
'It's an absolute gamechanger.'
In May 2024, South Korean officials shockingly found some fast fashion clothes, bags and accessories contained high levels of toxic chemicals.
Dermatologist, Professor Deshan Sebaratnam from The Skin Hospital Sydney, explained how some mass-produced clothes can cause allergic contact dermatitis in patients who are sensitised to them.
'Washing the clothes (when you receive them) is a good idea,' he said.
'But there are some products, like benzalkonium chloride which require dozens of washes to get rid of the product.
'Patients are often better off throwing out the clothes if they are having reactions to it.'
Meanwhile, MooGoo CEO Melody Livingstone said the Gold Coast brand has seen a 25 per cent rise in sales of their eczema and psoriasis creams.
'We're now selling one of our psoriasis or eczema cream every one minute and 45 seconds,' she said.
'It's also been a hot summer, which seems to have flared people's skin issues. Even people who haven't had skin issues in the past, or only mild reactions, are blaming the dyes and chemicals used in manufacturing their clothes.
Melody said as there is no proven cure for skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis, education and keeping symptoms under control is critical.
'The skin has a protective barrier and if it's broken that means it's susceptible to infection. It is important to start using a good quality moisturiser to maintain skin barrier function,' she said.
