Did you know the fashion industry is the second largest pollutant in the world? Well, as crazy as it may seem… it is. Soon enough, the damages will be irreversible and there will be no way to save our beautiful planet.
If there is one thing you get from reading this post, I hope it’s that the next time you are about to buy hundreds of dollars worth of cheap clothing, you stop and think about people other than yourself; the workers who suffered from making those garments, or the future generations who will suffer because the Earth they are living on is, in fact, dying…
I’m going to start this post off with a question. When you think of the fashion industry, what sort of words or images first pop into your head? Perhaps you think of this glamorous world with red carpets and runways. Well, behind all of that, is an industry filled with waste, harm, carelessness, and greed. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fashion world, but I think it is extremely important that consumers, now more than ever, are fully informed and aware of the cost that is coming with the way the industry is currently running. On the bright side, I am here to hopefully act as your guide as we all take this journey together to living a more sustainable lifestyle!
Outlined below are the top five most negative aspects of the fashion industry.
- The Rise of Fast Fashion
First on the list we have the rise in fast fashion. I have briefly spoken about this topic in my previous post December 5, 2020; The Wilting Butterflies – It’s Raining Fashion (itsrainingfashion.com), so if you haven’t already, go check that out! The term fast fashion is defined as “inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends.” In other words, cheap, trendy clothing that moves quickly from design to retail stores. Instead of having the typical two seasons (spring/summer and autumn/winter) where new designs are released, brands now release 52 micro-collections per year. That’s a brand new collection each week. In simplest terms, fast fashion is causing overproduction, which then leads to overconsumption, which leads us into our next topic:
2. Textile Waste
Textile waste is basically any clothing or material that we deem as unusable or worthless, and ultimately throw away to be placed in landfills or incinerated. Our world has become very materialistic. I mean, I love clothes (don’t we all). I will admit that I used to put mass orders into places like SHEIN or Forever 21 all because it was cheap and I could “get more for less.” Then, I finally learned the cost of it all. It may seem like a great deal at first, but I promise you, it’s not. To start, the quality of the clothing you are receiving is made to last you 1-2 wears. I’ve even had garments come in that already had holes in them. This then leads us into the next step, throwing the clothing away. Never, never, never, throw clothing or shoes away, because after, they sit in landfills and release toxic chemicals into our atmosphere. In addition, this cheap clothing I’ve been talking about, is made of manufactured, or synthetic fibers. These have become very common because of how easily and quickly they can be made in labs. They are made up of harmful materials like plastics, so when they are sent to landfills, they never can decompose. They remain in those landfills forever while even more begin to pile on top.
You see this all becomes a very vicious cycle and lots of us are still caught up in it. It goes a little something like this: 1. Spend a lot of money on clothing from fast fashion companies because “you get more for your money.” 2. The clothing comes in, bad quality, already with rips and tears. 3. You wear it once, twice, maybe three times, but now it is unwearable. It has holes and rips in the seams. 4. You throw it out because it is of no use to you anymore. You do not know how to fix the rips, or don’t think it’s worth your time. 5. You send another order into the same fast fashion company, who still sends you bad quality clothing that only gets worn a few times.
It’s a never ending cycle. If you do this, don’t blame yourself. In fact, I did this for a long time. I’m not innocent. But the important thing now is that we all make change. We have been conditioned this way, to buy this cheap clothing over, and over again. It’s killing us, our Earth, future generations to come, and the garment factory workers in the process. In the end, none of us win.
3. Water Waste and Pollution
Back in March I watched a really powerful documentary that I would recommend to all of you. It is called RiverBlue and it discusses a lot of the harmful aspects of the fashion industry. One line that stuck out to me the most and I will never forget was this: “They say you can predict the ‘it’ colors by looking at the color of the river.” When I stopped to think about this, I felt sick to my stomach. I thought about all of the trips I’ve taken to the beach, or days I’ve spent sitting by a lake and enjoying the atmosphere, and then I imagined what they will be like in 10 years, or maybe even less. Gone the days will be that the waters are crystal blue and beautiful. They will turn brown, smell, and kill all life that exists beneath the surface. All freshwater will become polluted, and we will be left in quite the predicament… Did you know that out of all of the water on this Earth, less than 3% of it is freshwater, and of that 3%, 29% of freshwater is underground, and 70% is frozen. That leaves 1% available.
Besides the polluting of the water, the fashion industry is also known for its water waste. I want you to take a guess at how much water it takes to make one cotton shirt. Just one. Take a guess.
Are you ready…?
Answer: 2,700 liters of water. That’s right. To make ONE cotton shirt it takes 2,700 liters. To put that into perspective, that is equal to 2.5 years of drinking water, or 24 full bathtubs.
Need I say more?
I will. I have two more major areas to share with you (although the list could go on forever).
4. Carbon Emissions
So a lot of you may be asking what carbon emissions even are. Like what does that term mean? When discussing “carbon emissions” we are directly talking about carbon dioxide or CO2. Now, CO2 is released into our atmosphere naturally, whether it’s by plant and animal respiration, or through the interaction of the ocean and the atmosphere. However these carbon emissions have never caused any problems because of the balance that nature tends to keep. Unfortunately, the scale started tipping long ago, disrupting the balance, and can you guess what caused it? That’s right, human actions yet again. Through the extracting and burning of fossil fuels, carbon emissions have shot up and haven’t stopped rising. The issue with this is that carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that absorbs radiation, and prevents heat from leaving the atmosphere, hence global warming.
Now I’m sure you’re wondering where the fashion industry fits into all of this. Well, the industry releases carbon emissions in several different ways: textile production, garment transportation, and decomposition in landfills. In 2015, just the production of polyester clothing produced 706 billion kg of greenhouse gas emissions. That is equivalent to what 185 coal-fired power plants produce in one year! You also may be wondering why you should care? As global warming and climate change continue to worsen due to these emissions, the Earth will become permanently damaged. No going back. And if you think “this won’t directly affect you,” I hate to break it to you, but you’re wrong. First, there will be more frequent and severe weather. Increased droughts, floods, and intense storms ultimately creating a warmer and wetter world. From there, due to the warm and wet conditions, there will be an increase in waterborne illnesses and disease carrying insects. Next, comes a higher rate of deaths. People will not be able to withstand the conditions. The list just goes on: higher sea-levels, drier air, more acidic oceans, and extinction of wildlife.
None of this is meant to scare you, or make you lose hope for the future. If anything, I hope it pushes you to want to make change not only for the world today, but for future generations.
5. Unfair Pay and Working Conditions
The last area I want to address is the poor treatment of the garment workers. These conditions have only worsened because of the rise in fast fashion. Consumers are demanding clothes at such a high and fast-paced rate and not realizing who’s truly paying the price. You may or may not have heard of the tragedy that took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh at Rana Plaza. Rana Plaza was a building that housed five garment factories. On April 24, 2013, it collapsed and killed at least 1,132 people and injured more than 2,500. Weeks before workers brought it to management’s attention that there were cracks in the walls and they feared for their safety. Nothing was done, and innocent lives were lost because of our greed. Garment workers to this day still get paid unlivable wages. In Ethiopia, the monthly minimum wage is $26. Monthly. Not weekly, not daily, not hourly. Monthly. The worldly average last year was $470 per month. That is not enough. Not to mention, the workers typically only sleep a couple hours a night at the factory. They hardly ever leave because they’re “trying to make a living.” Women have to bring their kids to work and also expose them to all of the dangerous conditions.
If you have the time, please watch this documentary called The True Cost. It is well worth the 90 minutes of your time. It is completely free to watch on YouTube and I have attached the link.
The True Cost: The True Cost | Documentary | Clothing Industry | Fashion Market | Capitalism | Modern Slavery – YouTube
I thank you all for taking the time to read about something I have grown to be so passionate about. I hope you are leaving this post feeling knowledgeable, educated, and maybe even a little inspired. Now that we have tackled the negatives, things can only go up from here! Over the course of the next few weeks I will be supplying tips and habits we can all implement into our lives. How to tackle these problems head on, one by one. Let’s save this planet together and band together to make change in this industry we all love so dearly.
References:
What are Carbon Emissions (and why do they matter?) | EarthHero Blog
Consequences and Effects of Global Warming – What is the Impact? | NRDC
5 Negative Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion – Tamborasi
The fashion industry is responsible for 10 percent of CO2 emissions – Big Think
60+ Shocking Fashion Industry Waste Statistics & Facts 2021 (woollygreen.com)
