Fast Fashion and its effect on the Environment

As someone who dresses good to feel good, I’ll be the first to admit that I love a good sale. Especially with the rise of online shopping, clothing prices have become more and more affordable. However, have you ever stopped to wonder how it is possible for brands to stay afloat while keeping prices so low?

• Environmental impact of fast fashion

Fast fashion allows retailers to pull smaller quantities of greater product variety and allow consumers to get more fashion and product differentiation at a low price. It may be trendy and light on our wallets, but it comes at a high cost to the environment. According to a study by the United Nations Environmental Programme, the fashion industry produces 20% of global waste water, and 10% of global carbon emissions - which is more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. It dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams, while 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year. Even washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.

• Is sustainable fashion truly sustainable?

Brands and consumers are becoming increasingly educated about the massive amount of clothing and textiles that is wasted each year. The increased scrutiny leads brands to readjust their collections, turning to recycled and organic materials to level up their sustainable credentials. Today, sustainability is a booming fashion trend that encourages consumers to make more conscious choices. However, sustainability has also become the new buzzword for the fashion industry. While some companies may truly be reducing their footprint, others may simply be throwing in keywords to appeal to their audiences, without making any real change to their practises.

• What can we do to reduce our fashion environmental impact?

Buy well: Quality over quantity - invest in a few good quality pieces that will last you for years to come. Where possible, avoid synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon, which are basically oil in the form of clothing. Instead, lookout for natural fibers like hemp and linen, which grow with very little water and no petrochemical inputs.

Buy less: The simplest of solutions can sometimes be the most effective. Every year, 100 billion articles of clothing are purchased worldwide, but most of these garments eventually end up in landfills. Be selective in your choices, don’t buy into trends for the sake of it.

Be Aware: Brands are using marketing, such as H&M’s “Conscious Collection,” to promote themselves as sustainable, but many of these brands do not offer any proof that their products utilize any sustainably produced materials. Reward the brands that are really walking the walk, and beware those who are just throwing around sustainability as a buzzword.

While it may not always be feasible to shop sustainably, every step we take counts towards easing the toll on our environment. Slowly but surely, each of us can develop eco-friendly clothing habits, one piece of garment at a time.

Shirina Mulani

Marketing Department