From Runway to Landfill: The Environmental Impact of Fast Fashion
Fast fashion is a revolutionary market strategy that has reshaped the dynamics of the fashion industry. It is more than just a market strategy; it’s a colossal environmental problem. The fast fashion industry, one of the top significant polluters across the globe, is solely responsible for around 20% of global wastewater. While it may offer the trendiest clothes at an affordable price, the environmental and human costs are staggering. So, let’s unravel the dark truth behind fast fashion, its detrimental effects on our environment and how it affects other factors. We will also provide you with alternatives to fast fashion, a topic of utmost significance. So, stay hooked till the end!
What is fast fashion?
Fast fashion is a business strategy that includes the mass production of fashionable clothing and accessories that are trendy and inspired by celebrity culture and high-end style made from low-quality materials, available at very low prices. It is called ‘Fast Fashion’ because all the aspects of production are fast-paced. The cloth items are rapidly designed, mass-produced at a fast rate, and delivered quickly; the customer’s decision to buy them is fast, too. Fast fashion favours quantity over quality. Hence, these products are not durable and wear out fast. The demand for such clothes and fashion styles is at the highest, and the convenient nature of this fashion, i.e., low prices and quick availability, makes it highly preferable for customers. Fast fashion ensures that fashion trends change fast. The combination of rapidly changing trends and low durability of the clothing items ensures that consumers buy new clothes during the onset of every new trend. Fast fashion brands like H&M, Zara and Forever 21 quickly release new collections. It is a customer bait technique; the consumers, desperate to stay in the current trend and to look fashionable, buy every trendy clothing and discard the non-trendy ones. However, this rapid turnover of clothing also has significant social implications, including poor working conditions and low wages for garment workers in developing countries. Although it proves profitable for fast fashion brands and industries, the consequences of producing fast fashion items are detrimental to the environment and human rights.
Impact of fast fashion on the environment
The fast fashion industry’s staggering water consumption of around 79 billion cubic meters annually is a shocking reality. To put it into perspective, producing just one cotton T-shirt requires a whopping 2,700 litres of water!
The fast fashion industry dumps 85% of textiles in landfills every year, a significant contributor to global pollution. This industry is also responsible for carbon gas emissions, constituting nearly 10% of global carbon emissions. With such high pollution and waste production rates, the industry has alarmingly become the second-largest polluter in the world.
Water pollution
Fast fashion uses mass production techniques, which deplete natural water resources. These industries consume a lot of water and produce harmful wastewater. Around 20% of the global clean water is used for textile dyeing and finishing. The fast fashion industry is the second largest consumer of clean water. Water is also used in cleaning and laundry.
Wastewater includes surfactants, toxic chemicals, alkalis, and dyes. Untreated wastewater pollutes rivers and natural water sources, harming aquatic life and degrading water quality.
Landfills
Since the clothes are not durable, cheap, or high-quality, and people discard them once they grow out of style, waste is collected in water bodies and landfills. Low-quality garments are made from non-biodegradable materials that harm our environment.
Over 66,000 tons of garments remain in the Atacama Desert in Chile, a pile that can even be seen from space.
Microplastics
Synthetic materials used in fast-fashion clothes, such as nylon and polyester, release microplastics during cleaning and laundry. Microplastics are highly non-biodegradable, harm the environment, and can be ingested by humans and animals. They also negatively affect the marine ecosystem.
Fish can mistake microplastics for tiny food particles, which can cause blockage, inflammation, and increased mortality. Microplastics can also kill Corals and cause cancer and DNA damage in humans.
Air pollution caused by burning of clothes
Fast fashion companies burn unsold clothes from their collections to maintain secrecy and exclusivity by preserving their value and demand. They could recycle them but burning them is more cost-effective and less time-consuming. Since they keep producing more and more clothes quickly, they need room to store the new collection.
In 2017, it was revealed that H&M burns about 12 tons of its clothes every year and has been burning them since 2013. Such an activity leads to massive air pollution.
Climate change
Fast fashion leads to the emission of greenhouse gases. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Factors such as greenhouse gases, water pollution, the release of microplastic fibers in the environment, and non-recyclable waste produced by this industry are all responsible for climate change.
The dark side of the fast fashion industry: unsafe working conditions
The fast fashion industry is exploitative in nature. Workers work in a very poor and unsafe environment. Workers work 14-16 hours daily and are paid very low wages. They are treated poorly and verbally and physically abused. Women have complained about sexual harassment in the workplace. They have to work in extremely high temperatures and are exposed to harmful chemicals in clothing production. Most factories don’t even have ventilation, which leads to collapses and suffocation. Unsafe buildings in the industry are hazardous and could cause fires and injuries.
An infamous example is the Rana Plaza collapse incident in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The building collapsed and led to over 1,100 deaths of the workers; most of them were women, and thousands were injured. The shocking fact is that the workers knew about the unsafe and dangerous working conditions. Still, the fashion companies forced them to continue working, resulting in a massive collapse of the building. The fashion industry is also infamous for incorporating child labour.
Sustainable fashion: An Alternative to fast fashion
There are various ways to mitigate the harmful effects of fast fashion. By making conscious choices, we can play a significant role in preserving our planet. Let’s explore these steps and understand how our decisions as consumers can make a difference.
Buy durable and good quality clothes
Invest in high-quality, durable clothes. This will not only save the environment but also your money and time. Choose quality over quantity, and instead of buying cheap clothes made of low-quality materials, buy good-quality clothes.
Buy from sustainable and eco-friendly brands
By choosing to support brands that prioritize sustainability and eco-friendly practices, we can make a positive impact. Every purchase from an ethical brand is a step towards a more sustainable fashion industry. Let’s inspire change by supporting these brands and encouraging others to follow suit.
Go for thrifting
Thrifting is not only sustainable but also a top current fashion trend. People, especially Gen Z, are investing in and buying vintage and secondhand clothes. These clothes are cheaper in comparison and extend their lifecycle.
Choose clothes made of organic and eco-friendly material
Buy clothes made of recyclable and organic fabric over synthetic ones. Such clothes are of good quality, breathable and comfortable. They are durable and environmentally friendly. Investing in clothes made of organic hemp, cotton, linen, Econyl, and recyclable fabrics is a wise choice.
Upcycle your old clothes
Instead of discarding clothes that end up in landfills, upcycling them is always a better and fun alternative. You can turn your old clothes into brand new ones by upcycling them. Upcycling is transforming old clothes into new ones on your own by using your creativity. For example, you can cut old jeans to make new denim shorts, dye faded clothes, or sew patches of designs on torn parts of shirts or pants.
Donate clothes
If you don’t need your clothes, donate them to the people or NGO. Someone else will use these clothes, prolonging their lives instead of being thrown away in the dumpster. You are saving the environment and bringing smiles to new faces.
Rent clothes
Renting clothes is one of the best sustainable options. Instead of spending a lot of money on clothes you will barely wear, such as wedding clothes, you do not find yourself wearing extravagant, heavy, and expensive outfits even for a year. Renting clothes can be a very cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative.
Invest in versatile and timeless clothes
Buy clothes that can be worn with different outfits and never go out of style—for example, a good pair of blue jeans or a black formal shirt.
Conclusion
Fast fashion provides consumers with fashionable items at cheap prices, but its impact on the environment is very detrimental. It is a market strategy made to profit their industry. One of the top polluters, fast fashion, is a crucial reason behind the majority of pollution. It leads to water, air, and land pollution, and the microplastics released from these clothes are hazardous to all living organisms. The fast fashion industry not only exploits nature but also the workers, abusing and paying them unfair wages. As responsible citizens, we must avoid fast fashion and switch to sustainable fashion to save our planet and human rights.
