The Detrimental Effects of Fast Fashion
What is fast fashion? Fast fashion is the phenomenon of cheaply made, overproduced, trendy clothing articles, most of which end up in our landfills, oceans, and dumps after just a few wears. In a report by Good on You, a website dedicated to writing articles about the effect of fast fashion and ways to help combat it and live more sustainably, they attribute the rise of fast fashion in large part to Zara. Solene Rauturier, a writer for Good On You, writes that the term “fast fashion” was “coined by the New York Times to describe Zara’s mission only to take 15 days for a garment to go from the design stage to being sold in stores.” Since then, the garment industry has skyrocketed. Not only does fast fashion contribute to pollution and waste, but it also is a catalyst for the mistreatment and underpayment of garment workers around the world. Fast fashion has been increasingly plaguing our planet for nearly the past two decades; when will enough be enough?
In an article by The Guardian, science correspondent Nicola Davis writes, “the fashion industry produces 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions every year”. According to Vox, polyester textiles production alone emits about 706 million tons of greenhouse gases. With the ever-growing rise of the fast fashion industry, these numbers are extremely concerning.
The concerning amount of pollution emitted by the garment industry becomes an even more significant concern when factoring in its waste amount. Waste shouldn’t be an issue when thinking of clothing, right? Garments are meant to be worn and loved for years, but our clothing becomes less and less durable with fast fashion. With landfills becoming major dumping grounds for these cheap clothes, our fashion becomes as disposable as a napkin. With fast fashion clothing items meant to be made as quick and low-cost as possible, longevity and sustainability aren’t on major garment companies’ minds. In an article for a Business Insider, Morgan McFall-Johnsen, a graduate from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism, writes that 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year. Even more shocking, WSJ states that “the world’s citizens acquire some 80 billion apparel items annually. And on average, consumers will wear each piece just seven times before getting tossed. When the longevity of clothes is next to nothing, their environmental impact becomes more significant with a large amount of pollution attributed to their production.
The exploitation of workers behind Fast Fashion production is an equally concerning issue. Though the garment industry has had a record of mistreatment and exploitation of workers, the rise of fast fashion and demand by the public for these cheap, readily available garments has made the issue an even more prevalent problem. The mistreatment and exploitation of garment workers have only become an increasingly problematic issue since the rise of fast fashion. According to a report by the Independent, in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, 80-95% of garment workers are women. In an article by The Guardian, it was reported that some women in India were verbally and physically abused when they failed to meet their quota. The mistreatment of workers only puts an even more tremendous strain on the industry. Considering only 2% of garment workers earn a living wage and other abuse of workers by the fashion industry, the phenomenon of fast fashion becomes more than just an environmental issue, but also a humanitarian one.
The issues of waste, pollution, and human exploitation connected to the rise of fast fashion have raised awareness to many consumers, but not nearly enough. With easy access and low prices, many can’t imagine a life without it. Until H&M, Forever 21, Zara, Shein, and countless other fast fashion giants begin putting people and the environment over profit, the danger of fast fashion only grows.
