fastfashion

Globally, the second most polluting industry is fashion.

This alarming information appeared in Stacey Dooley Investigates ‘Fashion’s Dirty Secrets’ (BBC, 2018). Since then, I’ve gained a growing awareness to the state of the environment and the particular effect the fashion industry is having on it. After reading various sources, I’ve accumulated my own list of ways I can help alleviate the problem.

1. Don’t Throw Unwanted Clothes Away.

As tempting as it is to throw away old clothes- 3/4 of Britons do (Perry, 2018). It’s much better for the environment to take those garments to a charity shop or re-use them. Is it necessary it goes in the bin? Or is there a creative way it could get a new life? For me- on a fashion degree- any extra material can always be cut up and used in some way.

Figure 1- An example of my work, re-using a curtain.

2. Awareness of Where to Shop.

Do we always know the ethics of a store when we’re shopping in it? Of course not. But 5 minutes of research can give a plethora of information on where a store stands on sustainability. It seems simple, but I want to be supporting the brands that understand how important it is to be aware of the environmental state and be positively contributing to the issue. For example, & Other Stories have a ‘Textile Recycling‘ solution to help minimise the effect of fashion on the environment (& Other Stories, 2019).

3. Quality of Clothes.

One of the main features of fast fashion is the price, clothes are more often than not on the cheaper side. Which in turn, happens to also be a downfall of the industry, the better the price, the more we buy. But we’re forgetting the garments aren’t as durable. I’ve always tried to make a conscious effort to save my money, to be able to buy the clothes I know I’ll get a lot of wear out of.

4. Shop When and as Needed.

If we all stopped falling for the next fast fashion deals, brands would have to listen to consumers. Production would slow down and there wouldn’t be as much waste going to landfill. By decreasing our shopping habits, we’d only be purchasing items when we needed them. Ideally, with less demand, designers could focus their energy on how to use less fabric for multiple garments.

5. Washing Polyester Fabrics in Bags

For £5.99 you can buy a set of laundry bags from Amazon. Washing polyester fabrics in bags, stops the microfibers coming off the fabric. Ultimately, when this happens the microfibers add to the already astonishing amount of plastic in our oceans and affects the sea life.

If we all just started one of these points, we’d be making a difference.

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Currently, the fast fashion industry is catastrophically damaging our environment, and whilst it’s doing so in numerous ways, I wanted to research a particular avenue; water. That being arguably one of the most important factors- we need to look after- that needs to also be sustained.

Something that can be found in the majority of our wardrobes are jeans. But not all of us are aware of the true cost of owning them. According to the BBC: ‘it can take over 15,000 litres of water to grow the cotton to make a pair of jeans’ (Sanghani, 2018). Not only this, but because of the continual consumer need for these cotton garments we’re seeing whole lakes drying up. The Aral sea- once globally the fourth biggest lake- had ‘completely dried’ (Hoskins, 2014). Whilst this obviously leaves residents with no water, it also seriously affected their health. Pesticides were released from the exposed sea bed and affected people and farm land (Hoskins, 2014). Also, dust has replaced water, causing respiratory problems for people nearby (Hoskins, 2014). From watching a documentary a few months ago, I understand the surrounding residents have been slowly trying to recover the sea (BBC, 2018). However, I think that’s something that shouldn’t have to be done, the problem of water usage should have been addressed much sooner before a whole lake emptied.

From the decrease of vast water to the quality of it: ‘fashion is the cause of 20 per cent of water pollution globally’ (World Bank cited in Nahyan, 2019). During the textile dyeing procedure, 85% of the water used pollutes the local water sources (Cotton inc cited in Nahyan, 2019). Greenpeace are seemingly very invested in this matter and have created a ‘Detox’ campaign: ‘which exposed the links between textile manufacturing facilities using toxic chemicals and water pollution’ and aims to encourage fashion brands to eliminate the hazardous portion of manufacturing (Greenpeace, 2012). The chemicals ending up in the water are highly toxic to the wildlife and people who rely on those water sources. Azo dyes are commonly used in the textile industry, when some break down during the process another chemical is released, that one being able to cause cancer (Greenpeace, 2019). Furthermore, heavy metals are used in certain dyes which once in the body, can have irreversible effects (Greenpeace, 2019). Overall, I think it is a basic human right to have clean drinking water and it leaves me feeling guilty to think many people don’t have that, just so we can have highly-toxic-made clothing.

The points I’ve put together in this post apply to fashion as a whole but with the alarming rate of the fast fashion industry, it’s safe to say the latter is also very much accountable. Finally, whilst I think we’re all starting to become more aware of the issues that lie within the fast fashion industry, I think we still have far to go.

Tag: fastfashion

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