How Fast Fashion is Affecting Our Planet | Need for Change
We live in an era marked by celebrity worship, where countless fans are busy emulating their idols. What a popular Instagram model wears or how an infamous singer dresses, dictates the fashion trends today. It is, thus, no surprise that these trends are volatile and fluctuate regularly while people are expected to keep up with them.
The environment created by the need to keep up is one where industries such as “fast fashion” flourish. This business model takes advantage of the public's desire to mimic the latest looks flaunted by their favourite celebrities and influencers. But what is fast fashion?
The name gives it away!!
What is Fast Fashion?
The rapid production of trendy clothes sold at affordable prices to cater to the masses is a phenomenon called “fast fashion”. It allows fashion enthusiasts to express their tastes and fashion choices without having to dent their pockets. It is no wonder then that these trendy brands have been readily embraced by people from across the globe and all walks of life.
Why is it so Popular?
The speed with which this fashion is produced suits the ever-changing demands of consumers perfectly, making it extremely popular. These brands have perfected themselves at quickly churning out runway trends into affordable, mass-produced clothing. Consumers can always find the latest styles on store racks, setting a cycle of continuous purchasing and discarding into motion.
Proponents of fast fashion believe that the innovation and fresh ideas demanded by this industry benefit the fashion industry as a whole and help it grow.
But there is more to this industry than meets the eye.
Fast Fashion's Environmental Impact
Our environment is paying a steep price for fast fashion's continuous cycle of low-cost, high-speed clothing production. Every step of the production process generates waste that endangers wildlife, degrades land and contaminates the soil and oceans.
Let us take a look how;
- The use of synthetic fibres in the industry is prevalent. Polyester, nylon, and acrylic often constitute the major chunk of the raw material used in the industry. These fibres take hundreds of years to biodegrade after being discarded by the user proving to be detrimental to the environment. Upon each wash, clothes produced by fast fashion brands release small pieces of microplastics that accumulate in the ocean harming marine life.
- The production of the widely used microfibers requires large amounts of petroleum and energy for extraction. Energy is also consumed during the dyeing and finishing stages of manufacturing where chemicals are heated and applied.
- Producing such fibres emits greenhouse gasses as well as volatile organic compounds and air pollutants into the atmosphere.
- Freshwater resources are being depleted shockingly fast since the fashion industry uses up to 93 billion cubic meters of water in a year. The leftover water, contaminated by toxic chemicals used in the dyeing processes and laden with microplastics, is often dumped into rivers, streams or the ocean itself, destroying the sea life near the shores. This illegal dumping is made possible because most of the production takes place in developing nations where there is a lack of regulations preventing factories from contaminating freshwater bodies.
Fast Fashion’s Dark Secret
Managing a low production cost is a result of several cost-cutting practices undertaken by fashion producers around the world. This is a cause for concern for many!
Labourers, unfortunately, face the brunt of cost-cutting in this industry.
Fast fashion brands often have their production plants located in developing countries where it is easier for them to exploit their workers due to a lack of labour law enforcement.
According to the World Resource Institute, around 80% of the garments produced are made by 18 to 24-year-old women, who, due to lack of education, are easier to manipulate into working at lower wages.
Moreover, it is a fact proven by the Department of Labour in the US that forced child labour is involved in the fast fashion production processes in countries like India, Vietnam, Brazil, Argentina and others.
Production takes place at factories with inhumane and unsafe work environments with workers being paid extremely low wages, helping these companies earn bigger profits.
Fast Fashion Facts: Need for Change
The following facts make it easier to comprehend the scale of this industry.
- According to some estimates, approximately 100 billion items of clothing are produced annually by fast fashion brands around the world making it the third largest manufacturing industry globally.
- Studies show that these brands mainly target customers between the ages of 18 and 24. These usually are students with limited finances and thus are attracted to trendy and cheap clothing caring little for the quality of the clothes.
- Climate activists are outspoken on the pollution the aviation and shipping industries create. It is surprising to note that fast fashion, accounting for up to 10% of the global carbon emission, pollutes the earth more than the aviation and shipping industries combined. This emission is a result of not just the manufacturing processes but the distribution of the clothes as well.
- Carbon emissions are not the only byproduct of the fast fashion industry. A study at the University of Portsmouth shows that 60% of clothes are made of “plastic-based materials” and so once the clothes fall out of trend (which is “fast”) and are discarded, they become a substantial source of microplastics.
- The faster they come, the faster they go! The website Earth.org claims that 92 million tonnes of textile waste is dumped annually. This includes clothes that are out of fashion, clothes that don't fit, and general textile waste. The majority of this waste ends up either in landfills or is burnt, both being detrimental to the environment and the planet.
The European Union has come alive and has made plans to end this phenomenon and its detrimental effects on the environment by the year 2030. By ensuring the use of sustainable fabrics and banning the burning of unused clothes, the EU could be successful in reducing the carbon emissions from the fast fashion industry.
Final Word
There is a serious need for change. The use of biodegradable fabrics such as CELYSTM in fashion production can be a significant step in the right direction. This fully compostable fibre offers a workable alternative to current practices and will help reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.
It is by choosing such innovative brands that the fast fashion industry can lower its dependence on Earth’s fast-dwindling resources and make a meaningful shift towards sustainability.
At the same time, adopting ethical production practices can bring down the environmental footprint of fashion significantly and make way for a more responsible and environmentally-conscious future, a future in which fashion remains both beautiful and sustainable for generations to come.
