Fast fashion is trendy clothing that goes from fads, celebrity culture or the catwalk then quickly turned into the garments in clothing stores, online retailers or direct from celebrities. These may be high-prices clothes or offered at low prices but the retailers & manufacturers encourage consumers to frequently buy and discard clothes. Consider that the average person is purchasing 60% more clothing than 15 years ago but, that same person is only keeping that same clothing half as long.
What’s wrong with Fast Fashion?
There are many downsides to Fast Fashion:
- Almost 3/5 of all clothing ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being produced.
- Over 8% of global greenhouse-gas emissions are produced by the apparel & footwear industries. This is expected to rise by almost 50% by 2030 according to UN research.
- Fully 20 to 25 percent of globally produced chemical compounds are utilized in the textile-finishing industry.
- Chemicals used in the manufacture, treatment & dyes used pollute the waters.
- 93 billion cubic meters of water – That would meet the needs of five million people – is used by the fashion industry annually.
- Half a million tons of microfibers, which is the equivalent of 3 million barrels of oil, is now being dumped into the ocean every year.
- Clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014. This has partly been contributed from social media’s influence on consumers.
What we can do:
- Stop the disposable clothing culture. Only purchase clothes that will endure years of wear and is not purchased because of some quick style change.
- Consider purchasing clothing from thrift stores. Not only will you save money. You can help save the environment, keeping those clothes from landfills.
- Clothes you no longer need, should be donated to charities or thrift stores. Do not discard in the trash. Or consider trading clothing among friends so it gets reused by others.
- Research manufacturers that are more environment friendly.