Fighting Fast Fashion

 by Atty Nelson-Smith

Fast fashion is when clothes are produced quickly and cheaply in order to keep up with the rapidly changing trends in fashion. It has many environmental and social impacts as it damages the environment and influences the violation of many human rights of the workers. 

Fast fashion contributes hugely to landfill as these clothes are not made to last, but to be cheap and aesthetically trendy, so they don’t last long. When the clothes break or become fashionably outdated, they are thrown away and taken to rubbish dumps. Most clothing scraps from the production of the items are also not re-used and are thrown away. These clothes and scraps are mostly made of a blend of polyester and cotton, which can take between 20-200 years to biodegrade, so they accumulate at landfill sites faster than they can decompose. Fabric scraps are one of the waste types that are recycled the least, so most goes to landfill, for example, there are currently 13.1 million tonnes of textile waste in landfills that aren’t biodegrading. 

Fast fashion also affects the world’s rivers and oceans and their ecosystems. It’s the second largest consumer of water out of all the industries as the dyeing of clothes and preparation and production of yarn uses up vast amounts of water. It takes 700 gallons of water to produce one cotton t-shirt and 2,000 gallons to produce a pair of jeans. That’s enough water for an adult to drink over 4546 days (12 and a half years)!  Furthermore, the production of these clothes greatly pollutes water as the excess water, contaminated with chemicals from dyeing the clothes, is pumped into the streams and rivers around the factories.  Water is also polluted by microplastics released when the clothes are washed, which can’t be filtered out, so remain in the water and are washed out to the ocean. 35% of all microplastics from the ocean are from the textiles industry. 

Alongside the environmental impacts of fast fashion, it also creates negative social impacts such as the exploitation of workers and child labour. Evidence of child labour has been found by the US Department of Labour in multiple countries such as China, India, Indonesia and the Phillipines. There are 75 million people employed in producing clothes and most of these workers are seriously underpaid alongside having to work in inhumane conditions. In Bangladesh, the average garment worker makes $96 per month, which is 3.5 times less than the living wage. The people also have to work long hours in dangerous conditions and are not protected by their employers. For example, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, an eight-storey clothing factory collapsed, killing over 1,000 workers and injuring over 2,500 in 2013.  

Combatting the serious environmental and social impacts of fast fashion are much simpler than you may think. Buying clothing from ethical and environmentally friendly clothing brands and small businesses is great, however, it is expensive and often unnecessary because you can simply buy fewer clothes. By keeping clothes until they are completely worn out or not fitting you and fixing small holes or loose threads yourself instead of throwing the garment away, you will be contributing less to the fast fashion industry and reducing your environmental impacts. Moreover, if you do buy new clothes, try visiting charity shops, or using online second-hand clothing sites like Ebay, Depop and Vinted as this will mean that you won't be contributing to the fast fashion industry at all, and you will be supporting charities! When you have grown out of your clothes and if you don’t have a younger sibling to hand them down to, try selling them yourself online, or donating them to clothing banks and charities. This can help someone in need of clothes if they can’t afford them themselves, or allow someone else to enjoy the clothes at a reduced price and in an eco-friendly way.