With the price of everything in America on an upward trend, one commodity is getting cheaper: clothing.
Fast fashion is the catchy term for the business model quickly being adopted by many clothing companies. It involves cranking out as many pieces of clothing that appeal to fickle new trends as possible, often using questionable manufacturing methods that make the clothing exceptionally and unbelievably cheap.
It seems that much of the public is ignoring the environmental consequences of fast fashion. Many do not care to admit the impact that they have on this issue as turning a blind eye is more beneficial for their wallets.
Nonetheless, it is time to face this man-made problem head-on as failure to do so will have dire consequences for the Earth.
The fashion industry releases more CO² than the shipping and aviation industries combined and as of now, the total greenhouse gas emissions from textile production are estimated at 1.2 billion tons annually. According to The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, these emissions will face a 60% increase by 2030. Moreover, research from the UPenn Environmental Innovations Initiative suggests that “the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of total global CO2 emissions, which is as much as the entire European Union (EU) emits.”
This puts our planet on the fast path to being uninhabitable. The culprit? Fashion. Fast fashion’s tight-fisted grasp is due to a recent mindset shift about clothing. According to Earth.org, “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.”
In 1901, the average American family spent 14% of their annual income on clothing, and by 1929, the average middle-class American woman owned a total of nine outfits. Now, the average American woman owns about 103 pieces of clothing. So what changed?
For one, social media has exploded in popularity and the addition of features like TikTok Shop allows you to buy outfits from your favorite influencers with the click of a button. On top of that, the sprawling closets and stockpiled shelves of your Instagram feed make it hard to not feel jealous of the rampant consumerism showcased on your For You page.
The rise of inflation is another key reason. People want to stay on trend and look good but are spending so much money on everyday items that they will jump at the opportunity to buy cute, cheap clothing, even if it means it was made unethically.
It has long been considered a faux pas to wear an outfit more than once, however, it didn’t seem that people bought into that until recently. As the amount of items in a person’s closet increases, the number of times that piece is worn decreases. Now add the fact that this piece of clothing is most likely inexpensive, low-quality, and gets worn less.
When fast fashion is washed it releases an incredible amount of microplastics due to its low quality. According to Earth.org, just one load of laundry releases approximately 700,000 microplastics. That is why around 94% of American tap water contains microplastics, which can cause myriad health issues, including digestive issues, reproductive health problems, respiratory harm, etc.
This low-quality clothing is disposed of in record numbers, ending up in landfills overseas, mostly in East and Southeast Africa, and polluting land around the world.
Fast fashion also utilizes dyes that are made quickly and cheaply (like everything else that they make) and these dyes are damaging to the environment, especially when fast fashion makes its way into African landfills.
According to the UPenn Environmental Innovations Initiative, “Regardless of whether you’re using something organic or a fossil fuel derivative, clothing production requires dyes and other chemical treatments, to stop shrinking, to have garments hold color, or to resist the elements. As you might imagine, if and when these chemicals are released into water systems, they are very toxic to aquatic ecosystems and life.”
As Patricia Espinosa, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary said, “I believe we stand at a turning point in history. For the first time, humans are no longer just affected by weather cycles, we are affecting those cycles—and suffering the consequences of doing so.”
Whether or not we want to believe it, humans are a driving force behind climate change and the explosion of the cheap fashion industry has played an integral part. If we want to save our planet before it’s too late, this industry needs to slow down immediately.
While it is completely unattainable to ask people to give up buying fast fashion altogether, there are ways we can reduce our impact. You can donate or upcycle your clothing, thrift more, and research the brands you shop from to ensure that you are buying ethically.
The future of our planet depends on it.
