THE WHY
It can be easy to fall into the trend of fast fashion due to its low pricing and seemingly endless styles, but to get prices that low, human rights are violated and the environment suffers.
Let's dig into the issues:
Human Rights
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of humanity's carbon emissions.
Part of the reason the clothing is so cheap is because of the low pay that workers receive in the factories. Fast fashion is built on low wages, poor working conditions, and child labor.
Further down the production chain, farmers helping to produce the materials needed are often exposed to toxic chemicals that damage their health and well-being.
Child labor, though illegal in many countries, is still often used secretly in large factories where the children can be hidden and paid less than adult workers.
(Photo by Sarah Beekmans)
Environmental Impact
The equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill every second.
To create low-cost garments, the companies use low-quality fabrics and improper processes when making their products. They use toxic textile dyes that pollute water sources, fabrics made with fossil fuels, and micro-fibers that enter our water sources and ecosystems.
Even when they use good materials, the speed they need to produce them is unsustainable. To create the cotton needed to mass-produce fashion, large quantities of water and pesticides are needed.
The low quality also means the products are thrown away faster by consumers leading to more waste in landfills.
(Photo from The University of Queensland)
Animal Rights
Overall, microplastics are estimated to compose up to 31% of plastic pollution in the ocean.
As said in the environmental impacts, harmful dyes and micro-fibers are used in the production process that enter water streams and ecosystems, and hurt animals and their habitats.
Fast fashion brands also are unlikely to disclose where they obtained their materials, leading to questions on the ethicality of products with animal byproducts like leather and fur.
(Photo by Cheryl Ravelo)
More Sad Facts
In total, up to 85% of textiles go into landfills each year.
Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year — the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.
Producing polyester releases two to three times more carbon emissions than cotton, and polyester does not break down in the ocean.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that 35% of all microplastics in the ocean came from the laundering of synthetic textiles like polyester.
The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of water worldwide.
It takes about 2,000 gallons of water to produce a pair of jeans.
The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of all industrial water pollution worldwide.
(Photo by Joshua Ganyobi Odamtten)
Sources:
“The environmental costs of fast fashion.” UN Environment Programme, 24 November 2022, https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/environmental-costs-fast-fashion. Accessed 12 February 2024.
McFall-Johnsen, Morgan. “How Fast Fashion Hurts the Planet Through Pollution and Waste.” Business Insider, 21 October 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10. Accessed 12 February 2024.
Rauturier, Solene. “What Is Fast Fashion and Why Is It So Bad?” Good On You, 7 August 2023, https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/. Accessed 12 February 2024.
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