In the early 2000s, something changed the fashion industry forever. For most of history, buying new clothes was not a weekly thing, and garments costed more on average. However, the introduction of fast fashion into the consumer market meant regular consumers could access the newest trends at an affordable price. Are striped pants the new trend? No problem! A quick trip to the mall, a couple of dollars and they’ll be in your hands. This sounds like heaven for us consumers, but there are some very heavy downsides to fast fashion. The environmental impact that the textile industry of today has is unimaginable. Here are the main causes.
Textile Production
The concept of fast fashion is to make as much clothing as possible with the smallest amount of time and money. This encourages factories to cut corners and to not prioritize things like the environment. By example, making one t-shirt uses on average, 2,700 liters of water. That’s enough water to sustain someone for over two years! Globally, the textile industry uses 5 million liters of water a year to dye fabrics, enough to fill up around 200 Olympic swimming pools. And this is only water use. There are many more ways the textile industry kills the planet. One example is the release of greenhouse gasses from factories. Polyester production factories in 2015 released just as much greenhouse gasses as 185 coal-fueled power plants in the same year. (706 Billion Kg to be exact)
Increase of Household Waste
Since fast fashion has become widespread, it is reported that Americans are buying five times more clothing than in the 1980s. This doesn’t mean that we wear more clothes. It just means that we buy and throw away things in a much quicker cycle. Every year, Americans donate only 15% of their old clothes and the rest (10.5 million tons) ends up in landfills. This is the poorest recycling rate for any reusable material. Furthermore, only half of all recycled clothes are worn again. This is because organizations such as The Salvation Army receive so many donations that they cannot go through them all.
What can we do?
Personally, I can’t say that I’m a saint and I do sometimes indulge in a shopping spree at the nearest fast fashion retailer. However, I try to stay conscious of the amount of clothes I buy. Two shirts for $10 sounds like an attractive deal, but do you really need two more shirts? It is important to only buy what we need. Another environmentally conscious choice would be to shop in thrift stores, or with sustainable companies such as Everlane, Pact, or ABLE. Prices may be a bit higher, but the planet will thank you.
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