The alarming impacts of making new styles of clothes every day and week make people wonder what is fast fashion and why is it a problem? Fast fashion is a term used for clothes and accessories that are tailored to mimic trending fashion designs.
Fashion trend pioneers created it to ensure consumers have access to cheap versions of trending clothing. However, recent studies have uncovered the challenges it poses to the environment. This article will reveal fast fashion effects on the environment in 2024 and what will possibly happen in 2025.
Statistics You Should Know About Fast Fashion
The need for human clothing is the major drive behind fashion. Back in the days, fashion used to be more about the quality and durability of a fabric. But now, clothing retailers have made it more about trends that fade as fast as they come.
Retailers like Zara, Forever 21, and H&M are the key players involved in fast fashion. They speed up their production time just to catch up with every new trend that surfaces. This has pushed them to adopt the use of substandard materials that are not sustainable to the environment. The fast fashion culture is the reason why end users now own a pile of clothes they barely wear before discarding them in landfills.
The textile industry relies on the use of fossil fuel, therefore making it one of the leading polluting industries. According to Statista, the fast fashion industry emits approximately 879 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and this figure is expected to exceed 1.2 billion metric tons if severe measures are not put in place. Yet, Zara and H&M, which are the two leading fast fashion brands, are valued at 17.8 and 13.6 billion dollars respectively.
Fast Fashion Effects on the Environment
No matter how trendy fast fashion clothing may look, they are made with low-quality materials, which are detrimental to the environment. Explained below are some of the side effects of fast fashion on the environment:
Landfills
Fast Fashion clothing are quite difficult to recycle due to the use of substandard materials. Hence, they end up in landfills. Majority of the fabrics used for fast fashion are synthetic materials, which are not biodegradable. They take several years before decomposing; contaminating the soil, and releasing toxic gasses to the environment.
The speed at which these fabrics are produced make it impossible for fashion houses to sell them all, with a large part of them moving directly from stores to landfills without being worn at all.
According to a recent study, 92 billion out of 100 billion clothing produced yearly end up in landfills. This figure is expected to reach 134 million tonnes by 2030.
Carbon Emission and Climate Change
When it comes to carbon emission, the fashion industry ranks ahead of the aviation and shipping industry combined. This is due to the use of plastic materials (nylon, acrylic, polyamide, etc.), which relies mostly on non-renewable fuel sources.
Toxins emitted from burning fossil fuels are one of the major factors influencing climate change. And yet, carbon emission from textile industries is projected to increase by 50% come 2030.Freshwater & Ocean
When producing fast fashion fabrics, several chemical and oil components are mixed alongside water to give a proper finishing. A fast fashion water pollution statistics by the United Nations Environments Programme (UNEP) stated that it takes 3,781 liters of water to make a pair of jeans. The wastes generated through this process are highly toxic and they are diverted into oceans or other freshwater sources.
Laundering also plays a significant part in water pollution. Every piece of cloth is made of microfibres that gradually wear off while washing. These microfibers eventually find their way into the ocean to destroy aquatic habitat.
Animals and Farmland
Some fast fashion materials can only be sourced from animal skin or furs. In most cases, these animals are subjected to harsh treatment in order to hasten the material harvest. For aquatic animals, most of them either get trapped or poisoned.
Countries with less strict environmental rules suffer the most in terms of waste disposal. Some of the waste that does not make it into the ocean end up in open fields or farmlands. This exposes them to toxins that depletes their soil fertility in the long run.
Fast fashion also affects wildlife populations and puts endangered species at risk of extinction. The constant cutting of trees for fabric making has drastically reduced the habitat meant for wildlife to thrive.
How Much Waste is Created by Fast Fashion
The type of waste created by fast fashion varies across each stage of production. The dyeing and finishing stage is responsible for the liquid waste released into the ocean, the transportation and fiber production stage causes CO2 emission, while the unsold fabrics are moved to landfills.
Fast fashion production is a big contributor to freshwater wastage. This is evident in manufacturing one cotton shirt, which consumes about 700 gallons of water – because cotton is planted in dry areas.
In the textile world, microfibers tend to be one of the highest waste created. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have estimated the industry to be responsible for 35% of the world’s microplastic wastes.
How Fast Fashion Industry Pollutes our Water
Water pollution is one of the most common problems associated with the fast fashion industry. The time duration needed to complete the production is so short that manufacturers produce way more than the required numbers, resulting in more and more waste into the ocean and freshwater sources.
The chemical components present in the waste are quite strong and nearly impossible to purify. A continuous disposal of waste into the water could lead to the extinction of several aquatic animals.
How Fast Fashion Industry Pollutes Air (Emissions)
The greenhouse gasses emitted during the extraction, production, and distribution stage of fast fashion fabrics can be well associated with air pollution. Just in 2020, about 121 million tonnes of CO2 was emitted through textile consumption alone.
The fast fashion production process is not the only one responsible for excess carbon emissions. Infact, a BBC survey reported that the production process only accounts for ⅓ of global emissions. While the majority of the emissions are from consumers’ activities like laundering and dumping in landfills.
How does Fast Fashion Affect Kids Health
The overhead cost required to produce fast fashion products in developed countries is quite high. Therefore, the majority of them have successfully moved their factories to countries that have less environmental laws and more cheap labor.
In most of these countries, their labor targets are women and children, which largely contribute to children’s declining mental and physical health.
Physical Health Condition
The constant zeal to produce clothes at a low cost has been at the detriment of children around the world, especially in countries like China, India, Indonesia, etc. It exposes them to physical health challenges that arise from climate crises, toxic emissions in air, water pollution, biodiversity loss, and more.
On the other hand, fast fashion garments usually contain strong chemical compositions that may trigger severe allergies on children’s skin.
Mental Health Condition
The intense pressure teens and children put themselves through to join the latest fast fashion trend can be mental draining. Fashion brands are not helping, as they keep on releasing new trends within a very short time. This increases body image issues, low self esteem, anxiety or depression in children’s lives.
The fast fashion culture is quite dangerous to kids because it creates a chain of dissatisfaction and also boosts kids desire to purchase irrelevant products. That is why there is a rising rage of impulse buying and regret in society.
Underaged Employees
One of the major reasons why textile factories incorporate under-aged employees is for cheap labor. In order to meet up with their low overhead cost during production, they choose to settle in countries with lenient laws against child labour.
They use underage laborers to perform straining tasks like picking cotton fields, yarn spinning, and packaging of textile fabrics. These jobs expose them to certain industrial hazards, deprive them of their childhood, and interfere with their education.
Although, child labour is prohibited in many countries, but it still exists in some areas because of the high poverty rate. According to the EU, the agricultural sector is responsible for 70% of child labour globally and a chunk amount of them are found in cotton picking fields.
Save our Lands and Kids by Long-term Investment in Clothing & Fashion Accessories
Fast fashion frenzy has made our society lose its touch for long lasting, durable fabrics. With the whole environmental damage caused by this trend, people should consider the need for long lasting clothing fiber.
In the past, it usually took a longer period for manufacturers to finish production. This helped maintain a moderate and less harmful effect on the environment. But with the introduction of fast fashion, the production cycle has reduced drastically and the effect can be seen around us.
Natural and Organic Pieces
One of the best ways out of this mess is to educate consumers to choose clothing made with fabrics that have little to no synthetic content. This will reduce our carbon footprint and also save aquatic animals from the dangers of microfibre deposits.
The use of sustainable natural fibers like organic cotton should be encouraged, as they emit less CO2. They last much longer and can easily be recycled into new fashion products. Other organic fabrics that can be adopted include plant or animal based fibers like jute, hemp, linen, silk, alpaca, etc.
Avoid Excess Purchasing
Another way to maintain a long-term investment in the fashion industry is for consumers to avoid excess purchasing. Although, this is not an idea fashion houses would buy into, but if consumers can change their mindset, everyone will adjust.
When you start purchasing fabrics made from quality materials, you will be able to keep it for a longer period. In fact, this system will save the younger generation from fast fashion trends that constantly put pressure on them.
Donating, not Dumping
A lot of used garments thrown in the trash remain in landfills for years. This is because most of them are made of non-biodegradable materials. Rather than dumping them in the trash, it is best to repurpose them or donate to the less privileged. For example, a jean trouser can be cut and repurposed into a short.
In fact, littering landfills with textile products have made waste management a bit difficult in recent years. Fast fashion materials take a longer period to decompose. This makes the underlying soil and water toxic.
Conclusion
As it stands, demand for fast fashion is constantly on a rise and its environmental impact is something that can not be ignored. Fast fashion effects in 2024 have been bad and it’s looking like 2025 will be worse unless we take actions to put a stop to it.
