Walking into a chain store and picking out a cute $10 sweater or a $15 pair of jeans feels awesome, especially since keeping up with fashion on a college budget can be a real struggle. But it doesn’t feel awesome to know that fast fashion is wreaking havoc on the environment in so many ways. From the resources needed to grow textile materials to the landfills that are stuffed with discarded clothing items, the fashion industry is far from sustainable. Below, I’ve pulled together the major environmental issues in each step in the life cycle of a garment:
1. Growing the materials for textiles
Before any clothes can be made, the raw materials must be produced. Cotton, found in 40% of all clothing, is the most commonly used material in the world, but it’s very resource-intensive. According to an article on the website Sense & Sustainability, “Cotton production is one of the most water intensive crops – responsible for 2.6 percent of global water use.” It can take 5,000 gallons of water to produce one t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Additionally, the amount of pesticides used on cotton is staggering–about 12% of all pesticides and 25% of insecticides are used on this crop.
Synthetic materials don’t require water and pesticides, but they need large amounts of energy. Nylon production emits nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, and both nylon and polyester are made of petrochemicals that don’t easily break down.
2. Processing the textiles
Once the raw materials reach the factory, they must be processed and dyed. These practices utilize many different chemicals, which can cause health problems and pollute the surrounding area. Rashes, allergies, or respiratory problems can occur from contact with copper sulfate or aluminum sulfate, and other dyes are carcinogenic like potassium dichromate and tanning acid. Formaldehyde, PFC, VOCs, and dioxin-producing bleach are all dangerous chemicals that are present in our clothing. These hazardous molecules are especially dangerous for the factory workers, who are consistently exposed.
3. Creating pieces of clothing
Most everyone has heard about the inhumane working conditions in many textile factories. Employees work long hours with very little compensation, often in dangerous conditions. Child labor has been a huge issue as well, since factories employ underage children for cheaper wages. Working in these factories can literally be deadly: 1,100 workers were killed when the Savar building collapsed in Bangladesh in 2013. Fast fashion contributes to the use of sweatshops overseas, where the goal is to produce as much clothing as possible for as little money as possible, at the expense of the employees’ well-being.
Image Credit to Grimm Girl Dot Comm
4. Distributing the clothes
Once the clothes are sewn together in those overseas factories, they must be shipped all over the world to get to consumers. We all know that transportation contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, and fashion consumes huge amounts of fuel as container ships transport it across oceans. Only 2% of the 22 billion clothing items consumed in America each year is made in the US, and about 90% of those items must be transported in container ships. Outsourcing to other countries may be cheaper for corporations, but it’s taking a toll on the planet.
5. Discarding unwanted clothing
The saying “you get what you pay for” is definitely true when it comes to fast fashion. In order to produce cheap clothing in a short time span, retailers have to cut corners in terms of quality. Also, the consumers are forced to buy more clothing as the cheap items fall apart after a few washes, which means more money for the retailers. Customers also purchase clothes more often because fast fashion is constantly changing; the trends last only a few weeks and then the consumer has to buy new items in order to stay on top of the trends. Unfortunately, that means that people are throwing out millions of tons of clothing each year. According to the EPA, 15.1 million tons of textile waste was produced in 2013, of which 12.8 million tons ended up in landfills.
Image Credit to Trend to Trash Master
Obviously, the production of garments is a long way from being eco-friendly. From start to finish, the issues keep coming. Next time you’re in the mood for a shopping spree, spend some time looking at ethical and environmentally responsible clothing brands. You won’t be able to find a t-shirt for $5 but protecting our planet is priceless.
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