Fast fashion and its ugly truth

Fashion means being able to express oneself through clothes. Being up to date with fashion has become so important in this age and world. Many people can tell the personality of a person by the way of their clothing. With so many fashion retailers it is hard for people to resist buying new clothes.

So, what exactly is fast fashion?

Fast fashion is a way of providing the customers with the replica of high-end brands in a cheap, quick, and disposable way. It has now become a major staple in the fashion industry. Retailers like Zara, H&M, Fashion Nova have become one of the major companies in producing these clothes. In 2014 an article was published where it showed that the average American woman is buying 64 new articles per year out of which only half of them are worn about three times or less. This has become possible because of fast fashion. Most of it has to do with people being heavily engaged on social media. People nowadays have become so self-conscious that they wouldn’t want to repeat the same outfit twice.

As social media is growing, we can see many influencers promoting different brands online. If we were to search on YouTube, we can see thousands of people trying out different types of clothing each week. This only accumulates how many clothes people are buying. There was once a trend in Instagram where people would post their daily outfits and use the #ootd which translates to outfit of the day.

Generally, high-end brands release a huge amount of clothes at a specific time or seasonally where they spend months on the design, materials, and manufacturing whereas fast-fashion retailers produce clothes at a very fast pace. Whatever they see is trending is available in their shops the next day. In H&M new clothes come in every Monday, Friday, Wednesday, and Sunday. It is estimated that in the 1980s an average American bought about 12 new pieces of clothing every year whereas now the average American buys about 68 pieces every year. With so many cheap fashion options available people have started investing in clothes just for the sake of diversity.

Now it may be unknown to many, but the fashion industry alone contributes to more carbon emission as compared to both shipping and aviation combined. The fashion industry contributes to about 8-10 % of global carbon emissions and nearly 20% of wastewater. According to the UN, it is estimated that a kilogram of cotton is required to make a single pair of jeans and about 7500 – 10,000 liters of water is required to produce a kilo of cotton. That is equal to 10 years of drinking water for one person. The carbon emissions from the clothing industry is complex to account for. There are different variables to look at like how the cloth is produced how it is transported and how it is disposed of after it’s no longer of use to the consumer.

Why is it bad for the environment?

Well, there are various reasons as to why fast fashion is bad for the environment. First, the clothes aren’t biodegradable it takes years and years for the clothes to decompose. Second, with millions of clothes to dispose per week there isn’t any other alternative except for piling it up in the landfills or burning them. Third the fabric used to make clothes like synthetic polyester uses around 70 million barrels of oil to make polyester fibers in our clothes. As per Lynn Wilson, an expert on the circular economy, globally “65% of the clothing that we wear is polymer-based”. Viscose is another fabric used to make fast fashion fabric which is even worse. Around 33% of viscose fabric used in clothes comes from ancient or threatened forests as well as the process involves a huge amount of waste. Out of 100%, 70 % of the harvested wood is dumped and only 30% ends up in the garment we wear.

Not only these while manufacturing there is process like dyeing, processing, and finishing. All these use toxic chemical products which are later dumped into rivers near villages. There was a case in Indonesia where the river is polluted due to harmful chemicals which have led to children with liver problems.

The main problem that comes after is the dumping of the clothes. Normally people just donate the clothes that they don’t wear but have you ever wondered where do those clothes really end up? Even out of the donated clothes only the suitable ones are selected while the rest of them are made into huge piles and sold to developing countries like Ghana. Yes, you heard it right. The clothes that you donate are sold. Even in that pile, there are some clothes which are dirty and cannot be sold so all these clothes are then sent to the landfill. This has caused a serious problem in Ghana like the water bodies are all contaminated and there is no more space to fill in.

In 2015 an article was published where it showed that in 2015 only 10 million tons of clothes were sent to landfills which would be equivalent to 5 million cars. So, one can only imagine what it is doing to the environment.

There are many ways through which we can help. Stop buying clothes that you don’t need. Or at least try thrifting or maybe switch clothes with your friends. It doesn’t have to be a huge step forward the little steps can help a lot from ending your clothes in landfills. An interview by NBC News showed that just wearing the clothes for nine months or longer can reduce its carbon footprint by 30%. Not only that if each person were to buy second-hand clothes instead of buying new ones it could save up to 6 pounds of co2 emissions that is equivalent to removing half the million cars off the road for a year.

To make clothing more sustainable the changes have to come from manufactures and big companies of the fashion industry but we as a consumer can also change the way in our behaviour like in the way we shop, before buying any clothes ask yourself “do you really need it”? Maybe a change in the way we shop can bring a change in the industry too.