Fast Fashion - Dying Planet
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We may have the best clothing, but no place to live!
Fashion has always been a reflection of the times. It changes with the seasons, the trends, and with the culture. Being an essential aspect of our everyday lives, it helps us express ourselves and can also be used to make a statement.
In addition, fashion can be a way to show off personality and style. Whether one is wearing the latest trends or something more classic, clothing choice says a lot about a person.
Fast Fashion and Consequences
Fashion is constantly changing. In recent years, however, fashion has changed more rapidly. As a result, what’s popular today may be out of style tomorrow.
In the past, fashion was a slow-moving industry, with new styles debuting only once or twice a year. But fast fashion has changed, with new styles hitting store shelves weekly.
According to the UN, the fashion industry is now valued at $2.5 trillion and employs 75 million people across the globe.
The growing demand for cheap clothing has led to the rise of fast fashion, which is designed to be quickly produced and sold at low prices. In the past, people would buy clothes that would last them for years.
Now, they are more likely to buy cheap clothes they will wear a few times and then throw away.
While fast fashion has made it easier and cheaper to keep up with the latest trends, it has also contributed to a throw-away culture where people are less likely to value and take care of their clothes.
As more and more people buy into fast fashion, clothes are becoming cheaper and easier to produce. It also delivers quick gratification to consumers.
The average person now consumes 60% more clothing than just 15 years ago. According to Oxfam, an average Briton has 57 unworn clothing items.
The European Union is a major importer of textiles and apparel, accounting for 23% of worldwide imports. The largest textile markets within the EU (Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and UK) were responsible for 72% of the EU’s consumption rate and increased by 5.8% per annum.
The United States is the world’s top consumer of fashion apparel.
In recent years, fashion has changed the face of economics.
People across the countries have more disposable incomes. Their aspirations are indicatively fulfilled by fashion clothing and are fuelled with exposure to global fashion trends using social media. As the world population grows, so is the consumption of fashion.
The rise of fast fashion has made clothing more affordable and accessible. However, this newfound affordability has come at a cost.
To keep prices low, fast fashion brands rely on low-paid workers in developing countries and often skimp on quality, leading to garments that are made to be worn only a few times before they are discarded.
The fashion industry is built on the backs of workers in countries like Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Vietnam. These workers toil away in dangerous and exploitative conditions, earning a pittance for their labour.
Brands often rely on unethical business practices, poor working conditions, child labour, and environmental degradation are all too familiar in the fashion industry.
Those brands that profit from this exploitation is, unfortunately, household names. They are the ones who dictate the terms of production and, as such, are ultimately responsible for the working conditions of these workers.
Yet, repeatedly, these brands have been caught red-handed using child labour, paying workers below minimum wage, or forcing them to work in unsafe conditions. In 2014, the Rana Plaza Factory Complex disaster left 1,138 garment workers losing their lives.
Bangladesh is a leading textile exporter with a turnover of $38 billion, and so is Vietnam, with a similar quantum.
Globalization means that fashion can be manufactured in far-off countries for cheap. It is called by the fashion investors “Chasing the Needle”.
According to a BBC report, Ethiopia is an upcoming destination for cheap labour, where average wages are $7 per week, about a third of wages in Bangladesh.
Social media is a significant driver of fast fashion, as we are constantly bombarded with images of new trends and must-have items.
In addition, there are fashion influencers dotted on social media, with millions of followers, who promote the consumption of fast fashion like a black hole. They are another factor responsible for bringing fast fashion to this dizzy height.
And finally, the consumption of fashion is unsustainable and leads to a throw-away culture that creates mountains of waste.
This throw-away culture has had major implications for the economy regarding job creation and consumer spending. On the one hand, fast fashion brands have created thousands of jobs in low-wage countries where clothes are produced.
On the other hand, this constant consumption has led to a significant increase in personal debt and inequality. Though struggling to make ends meet, people are lured by the promise of low prices and quick gratification.
While fast fashion may be suitable for businesses, it is clear that it comes at a cost to society.
Environmental Cost
Fast fashion may be convenient and affordable, but its environmental cost is high.
This disposable fashion is devastating to the environment, as it takes enormous amounts of resources to produce and transport these garments across the globe.
Fashion, as an industry, has a major impact on the environment during and after production. During the production process, textile factories release pollutants into the air, including carbon dioxide and dust, which emits greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and toxic chemicals.
After agriculture, the textile industry is the second largest polluter of fresh water globally. For example, the British government’s Environmental Audit Committee highlighted that it requires 20,000 litres of water to manufacture a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
The carbon emissions from clothing happen at every stage in the fashion supply chain, but 70% of it comes down to two main phases: dyeing and finishing.
Dyeing and finishing textiles use large amounts of water and release harmful chemicals into our water cycle. Yarn preparation is the process where fibres need to be prepared before becoming fabrics.
The production takes about 43 million tonnes of chemicals each year. Unfortunately, this processing stage in these polluting industries goes unnoticed in the fight against climate change.
The fashion industry is one of the most emissions-heavy industries today. According to the UN, at 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas, it accounts for 8-10% of global emissions, even more than France, Germany and United Kingdom combined.
This staggering figure translates into an annual greenhouse gas footprint of 4% of all global warming. The projections show this could rise to 2.7 billion tonnes by 2030.
These pollutants can have an adverse health effect on workers and nearby communities. After garments are made, they often contain toxins that can be released when worn or washed.
These toxins can enter our waterways and oceans, where they can harm marine life and enter the food chain.
The use of toxic chemicals is also widespread in the fashion industry. Many popular fabrics, such as polyester, are made from petroleum-based synthetic fibres that release harmful chemicals into the environment. It uses an estimated 342 million barrels of oil every year.
Synthetic clothes are made from man-made materials, such as polyester, nylon and acrylic. These materials are derived from petroleum products and are essentially a type of plastic.
Synthetic clothes are also more durable than natural fibres, so they last longer and don’t need to be replaced as often. Hence, it makes a business case to buy them preferably.
However, it’s important to remember that even synthetic clothes hurt the environment. Microplastic fibres from each washing of synthetic clothes fill up the marine life and waterways.
Solution
The first step is to become more conscious of our consumption habits. Next, we must start asking ourselves tough questions about the clothes we buy and wear. Where were they made? How were they made?
What will happen to them when we finish using them? Most textiles can be recycled or reused, but unfortunately, many end up in landfills.
We must change how we think about fashion and move towards a more sustainable model.
It means – buying less clothing and only buying what we need. When shopping for new clothes, look for items that are made from sustainable materials such as
§ Organic cotton
§ Bamboo fabric
§ Linen fabric
§ Wool
§ Hemp fabric
§ Jute
o Choose quality over quantity – invest in well-made clothes that will last. Opt for timeless styles that you will wear for years to come. According to research by Leeds University, buying a maximum of 8 new items each year will reduce the fashion emission by 37%.
o Repair our clothes instead of throwing them away. And when they do need to be replaced, donate to charity or recycle old clothes instead of throwing them away.
o Support brands that are committed to sustainability.
Only then can we indeed call ourselves fashion forward.
Answering these questions can be daunting, but it’s a necessary first step to sustainability. Once we know more about the impact of our choices, we can start to change how we shop, wear, and care for our clothes.
Climate change is at a crossroads. It’s time to make the right choice.
Fast fashion may be the present wave, but it is not the future wave.
Supplementary Research: Pratibha Kathait
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