Fast fashion is the second-biggest consumer of water and responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Unfortunately, the industry’s problems are often overlooked by consumers.
ast fashion, a term now central to discussions on sustainability and environmental consciousness, refers to a business model characterized by the rapid design, production, and marketing of inexpensive clothing.
Fast fashion companies focus on low-cost garments that replicate the latest fashion trends, quickly pushing them into stores to capitalize on these trends. This means that retailers are able to offer a greater variety of products in large quantities and allow consumers to get more fashion and product differentiation at a low price.
The term was first used at the beginning of the 1990s, when Zara landed in New York. The term “fast fashion” was coined by the New York Times to describe Zara’s mission to allow garments to go from the design stage to being sold in stores in just 15 days. The biggest players in the fast fashion worldinclude Spanish fashion giant Zara, Chinese Shein, Japanese UNIQLO, and Swedish H&M.
The Dark Side of Fast Fashion
According to an analysis by Business Insider, fashion production comprises 10% of total global carbon emissions, as much as the emissions generated by the European Union. The industry dries up water resources and pollutes rivers and streams, while 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year. Even washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.
The Quantis International 2018 reportfound that the three main drivers of the industry’s global pollution impacts are dyeing and finishing (36%), yarn preparation (28%) and fiber production (15%). The report also established that fiber production has the largest impact on freshwater withdrawal (water diverted or withdrawn from a surface water or groundwater source) and ecosystem quality due to cotton cultivation, while the dyeing and finishing, yarn preparation and fiber production stages have the highest impacts on resource depletion, due to the energy-intensive processes based on fossil fuel energy.
According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, emissions from textile manufacturing alone are projected to skyrocket by 60% by 2030.
The time it takes for a product to go through the supply chain, from design to purchase, is called lead time. In 2012, Zara was able to design, produce and deliver a new garment in two weeks; Forever 21 in six weeks and H&M in eight weeks. Newer industry player Shein, a major Chinese fast fashion company, has garments ready to be sold in just 10 days. This results in the fashion industry producing obscene
Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact
1. Water
The environmental impact of fast fashion comprises the depletion of non-renewable resources, emission of greenhouse gases and the use of massive amounts of water and energy. The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of water among industries, requiring about 700 gallonsto produce one cotton shirt and 2,000 gallons of water to produce a pair of jeans.
Business Insider also cautions that textile dyeing is the world’s second-largest polluter of water, since the water leftover from the dyeing process is often dumped into ditches, streams or rivers.
2. Microplastics
Furthermore, brands use synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon and acrylic which take hundreds of years to biodegrade. A 2017 report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that 35% of all microplastics – tiny pieces of non-biodegradable plastic – found in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles like polyester.
According to 2015 documentary The True Cost, the world consumes around 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year – 400% more than the consumption twenty years ago. The average American now generates 82 pounds of textile waste each year. The production of leatherrequires large amounts of feed, land, water and fossil fuels to raise livestock, while the tanning process is among the most toxicin all of the fashion supply chain because the chemicals used to tan leather – including mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives and various oils and dyes – are not biodegradable and contaminate water sources.
3. Energy
The process of making plastic fibers into textiles is an energy-intensive process that requires large amounts of petroleum and releases volatile particulate matter and acids like hydrogen chloride. Additionally, cotton, which is in a large amount of fast fashion products, is also not environmentally friendly to manufacture. Pesticides deemed necessary for the growth of cotton present health risks to farmers.
To counter this waste caused by fast fashion, more sustainable fabrics that can be used in clothing include wild silk, organic cotton, linen, hemp, and lyocell.
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The Social Impacts of Fast Fashion
Fast fashion does not only have a huge environmental impact. In fact, the industry also poses societal problems, especially in developing economies. According to non-profit Remake, 80% of apparel is made by young women between the ages of 18 and 24. A 2018 US Department of Labor report found evidence of forced and child labour in the fashion industry in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Vietnam and others. In fast fashion, sales and profits often take precedence over human welfare.
source : earth.org
