What is fast fashion?
The term “fast fashion” was first popularized in the 90s when Zara landed in New York. From there, “The New York Times” introduced the term “fast fashion” to describe Zara’s mission of design-to-store in 15 days. Today, some of the biggest fast fashion brands are Zara, SheIn and Temu. Although these brands are cheap, accessible and carry the latest fashion trend, they create numerous negative side effects to humans and the environment.Â
The toxic effects of fast fashion
How is the fast fashion industry toxic? Let’s take a look at some data. First, over half of all textiles and clothing made are cotton based. This creates a high demand for crops and leads to large amounts of water consumption. According to climate-xchange.org, “to grow one kilogram, the [cotton] crop demands 20,000 liters of water. To put that into perspective, that same kilogram of cotton produces enough fabric for one t-shirt and one pair of jeans.” For large-scale ecosystems in central Asia, Australia and Mexico, traditional farming methods are the main cause of destruction. Over 120 million trees each year are cut down and used to make clothing, which in turn decreases the amount of carbon sequestered.Â
Another issue that arises in fast fashion is that it omits a substantial amount of microplastics. Commonly, fast fashion items are made of cheap fabrics, such as polyester, nylon and acrylic, which all take hundreds of years to biodegrade. To put that into perspective, the contents of a low-quality shirt you buy today could still be around by the time your great-grandchildren exist. Not only that, but an estimated 35% of all microplastics found in the ocean are from the textile industry; which number keeps growing due to the fact that the percentage of consumption in the fashion industry is up 400% compared to 20 years ago.
These are just a few examples of the negative effects fast fashion has on the environment, and while this all can seem daunting, there are things you can implement into your everyday life to help decrease the toxic effects of the fast fashion industry.Â
what can you do?
While no one is perfect, and most of the time people are unknowingly adding to the problem, there are many things you can do to change your consumption habits. First, is educating yourself and others. How can you know how to solve a problem if you do not know what the problem is? Even a quick Google search of the negative effects of buying from fast fashion companies will take you to a number of links with data, sources and information. Educating others and spreading awareness pushes more people to ask more questions and, hopefully, begins to decrease the amount of textile waste accumulated each year.Â
Second, an obvious yet important step is to stop buying from fast fashion companies. In this day and age, social media allows for the facilitation of micro-trends, easy access links to fast fashion websites and more, which all play into the consumerism mindset that the more you have the more you will be liked and happy. This ideology is wrong and is pushed onto people for the sole purpose of upholding a capitalist society. A better and still accessible option is to buy second-hand or from businesses with ethical labor and manufacturing practices. There are even online second-hand shops such as Depop, ThredUp and Poshmark, all of which still carry name brand and trendy items.Â
These are just two ways you can lower your contribution to textile waste. However, it will take a group effort to see a noticeable difference in the pollution made by the textile industry.
No one is asking you to be perfect or have zero carbon footprint. In fact, it is an inevitable outcome of being a human who interacts with their environment. The goal is not to have zero waste, but instead to decrease the amount of waste made in the future. I hope this article gave you some insight into the negative effects of the fast fashion industry, and next time you are buying a piece of clothing, think of the impact it will have on you, others and those to come.