Author: Evelina Kyritsi
Publication date: 01.10.2024
In today’s world of ever-changing trends, the fashion industry has become synonymous with speed and convenience. Fast fashion offers cheap, trendy clothing at a high environmental cost, driving pollution, waste, and resource depletion. As industry grows, its negative impact on the planet becomes harder to ignore. It’s time we rethink our fashion habits for a more sustainable future.
What is fast fashion and how it all started
Fast fashion is the production of cheap, trendy clothes that copy styles from runways or celebrities to quickly meet consumer demand. These items are made to be worn briefly and then thrown away, contributing to overproduction and waste, making the fashion industry a big polluter. In the late 1990s and 2000s, fast fashion surged as online shopping grew. Brands like H&M, Zara, and Topshop dominated by quickly and cheaply replicating high-end designs. With affordable, trendy clothes always available, it's clear why fast fashion became so popular.
How Fast Fashion Harms the Environment
Fast fashion damages the environment by quickly producing cheap clothes, leading to a lot of waste and pollution. Synthetic fabrics like polyester shed microplastics into the ocean, and low-quality clothes often end up in landfills or are burned. The industry also releases large amounts of greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. On top of that, it relies on poor working conditions for people in low-income countries.
Water Waste and Pollution from Clothing Production
The fashion industry uses a huge amount of water, over 79 trillion liters each year, making it one of the most water-intensive industries. This doesn’t just affect water supply; the production of clothing also creates pollution that harms the environment and human health. As a result, our limited supply of clean drinking water is put at risk. Despite its big impact, the fashion industry’s effect on water often gets less attention than its role in climate change.
Toxic Chemicals in Fast Fashion
Fast fashion relies heavily on harmful chemicals in clothing production, from dyes and bleaches to materials like viscose. Viscose, made by turning wood pulp into fiber, uses toxic chemicals such as carbon disulphide, which can cause serious health problems like heart disease, cancer, and psychosis. Factory workers and nearby communities are the most affected, especially in countries like Indonesia and India.
In addition to harming people, these chemicals pollute the environment by contaminating water, air, and soil around factories. In some areas, locals have stopped using their water supply due to fears of health risks, showing the severe impact fast fashion has on both human health and nature.
The Carbon Footprint of Fast Fashion
It is causing a big increase in carbon emissions from the fashion industry. A study looked at the carbon impact of fast fashion, using jeans as an example. It found that making and shipping jeans for fast fashion creates 2.50 kg of CO2 per wear, which is 11 times more than traditional fashion. Developed countries have a much larger carbon footprint from fast fashion than developing countries. However, second-hand clothing can cut these emissions by 90%. The study shows the need for more sustainable fashion and suggests ways to reduce fast fashion’s environmental harm, like promoting circular fashion.
Conclusion
Fast fashion has changed how we shop, but its damage to the environment and people is too serious to ignore. The industry uses too much water, causes pollution, and increases carbon emissions. Synthetic fabrics and harmful production methods hurt the planet and often exploit workers in poorer countries. To reduce these negative effects, it's crucial to embrace more sustainable fashion habits, like choosing second-hand clothing stores, supporting ethical brands, and promoting circular fashion. By rethinking our consumption, we can help create a fashion industry that values both the environment and human well-being.
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