How fast fashion is killing the planet
How many influencers do you follow on social media? Have you ever noticed how they bombard you with new products like clothes, accessories, and push you to buy something each day? The irony in shopping fast fashion: the more you buy, the more you want. The more you want, the more you WASTE.
‘Fast fashion’ clothing retailers like Zara, H&M & Mango make cheap and fashionable clothing, but the cost comes at a high price. According to The Carbon Trust, the purchase and usage of cloths cause to 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
The term ‘fast fashion’ has become more prominent in conversations surrounding fashion, sustainability and environmental consciousness. The term refers to ‘cheaply produced and priced garments that copy the latest catwalk styles and get pumped quickly through stores in order to maximise on current trends’.
Environmental Statistics:
Textile treatment and dying are responsible for 17-20% of industrial water pollution!
200,000 tons of dyes are lost to effluents every year.
Fast fashion industry uses 79 Trillion liters of water each year. Please don't forget that 750 million people DO NOT ACCESS to drinking water in the world.
Washing cloths, meanwhile, releases 190,000 tonnes of textile microplastic fibers flow into the ocean each year.
Three out of five fast fashion items end up in landfill!
92 million tonnes of waste produced per year are coming from the fashion industry. Synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon and acrylic, which take hundreds of years to biodegrade!
It causes to 93% of the world's soil degradation, which leads to 30% reduction of food production over the next 20-50 years if nothing changes.
70 million trees are cut down each year to make our clothes!.
"85 % of the daily needs in water of the entire population of India would be covered by the water used to grow cotton in the country.
100 million people in India do not have access to drinking water."
— Stephen Leahy, The Guardian
The True Costs says that the world consumes around 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year, 400% more than the consumption twenty years ago.
Not finished! What about the human rights?
"Worker rights of fast fashion employees are strongly violated"
Fast fashion factories are often dangerous for workers. Unbearably long working hours, terribly low pay and extremely hazardous working conditions are just some issues. The most well-known proof of this is the collapse of the Dhaka garment factory in 2013 that took the lives of 1,134 people and left around 2,500 injured.
What can we do about it?
Choose second hand or rent the cloths.
Select organic or natural fibers that do not require chemicals to be produced, or linen, recycled fibers etc which is produced with less water.
Choose sustainable brands.
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