Introduction
Fast fashion and climate change has become a trend in the global market of clothing production and selling fashionable items at low prices bought in sets of seasons. But, hidden in its low prices and those beautiful clothes are major impacts on the environment. Consumers like you and I are often ignorant of how the fast fashion industry is causing climate change. High water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and C, textile waste, and many other indicators show that the model harms our planet. This blog aims at reviewing fast fashion and climate change and explaining why there is a necessity to come up with sustainable solutions.
The Rise of Fast Fashion: A Brief Overview
Fast fashion is an industry that came with the strategy of producing as many clothes in the shortest time possible at minimal cost. These brands include Zara and H&M, Shein and Cos that have made this model go viral by following the market trends, where new collections are released on a weekly basis. It seeks to mirror cutting edge trends from fashion shows or from stars and make them as soon as possible in order to feed clients’ appetite.
Key Features of Fast Fashion
- Quick turnaround times: These designs do not take months to wander from the drawing board to the shop shelves.
- Low-cost production: Competitive pricing is possible due to low cost in relation to labour and use of low cost synthetic fibre and other additives.
- Planned obsolescence: Apparel is intended for a short utility, then deemed no longer useful and therefore should be disposed.
This mode of quick consumption has resulted into this cyclone of production of clothes in the market. Current research suggests consumer today are 60% more likely to purchase garments currently than in the period 15 years ago, but the durability of the garments is only half as long.
The Environmental Impact of Fast Fashion
We know the effects that fast fashion has had on the environment up to now are overwhelming. It becomes one of the industry’s most polluted industry regarding carbon emission and water pollution, not to mention the vast amount of waste generated.
1. Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Today the fabricated apparel industry alone is responsible for approximately 10 percent of global CO2 emissions; this figure exceeds global aircraft emissions and ocean freight. One of the worst kinds of plastic is polyester, which constitutes over 60 percent of all clothing because of the production of synthetic fibers. Polyester is produced from fossil carbon and its manufacture generates nearly three times the amount of CO2 as cotton. Besides, fast fashion requires its products to be made in coal-dependent factories, enhancing the environmental impact of the sector.
Key Statistics:
- The fashion industry is expected to reach 35 percent of the global carbon footprint by the year 2050 in the event of no improvement.
- One cotton T-shirt put 2.1 kg of CO2 in to the atmosphere during its production.
2. Water Usage and Pollution
Another social impact of fast fashion is the effect on water resource since fast fashion products consumes greatly affecting the global water resource. It is sad that clothing manufacturing is very Consumptive of water despite it being the second largest consumer globally.
Impacts on Water:
- Another problem associated with the practice of growing cotton crops is the high consumption of water. For instance, it takes about 2700 liters of water to make one cotton T-shirt, the water that can be consumed by one person in 2.5 years.
- A great challenge and affected area of concern in the textile industry is the effluent generated from textile treatment and dyeing that contributes about 20% of water pollution.
Various chemical compounds which are employed during dyeing causes, pollute rivers and oceans posing significant hazards to water life. This require eradication of pollute which includes cadmium and lead among other pollutant which are not only dangerous to the human beings but also aquatic life forms.
3. Waste and Landfill Overflow
Techniques such as ‘Wear it once then bin it has added a lot of pressure on textile waste production. Of all textile products, between 80% and 85% end up in the landfill annually. Most of these garments are made from synthetic fibers non biodegradable fibers making them take as long as 200 years to decompose.
Key Issues with Textile Waste:
- The modern American citizen uses 68 pounds of fabric annually, 85% of which ends up in the garbage bin.
- Currently, only 1% of old fabrics get turned into new clothes, and majority of cast off garments are either buried or burnt.
The Social Impact: Exploitation in the Fast Fashion Supply Chain
But the industry is not only damaging clothes and the planet; it also has dramatic social impacts. So as to meet the price factor many brands opt to have their products manufactured in developing countries where there is cheap labor. This at times leads to the extreme levels of pulled down working standards, wages, and in some industries; use of young and abuses children.
Key Social Issues:
- Most of the garment workers are women who are paid wage rates far below the living wages in countries such as Bangladesh and India.
- Most factory workers have to work stationaried in factory with dangerous conditions inside working for long hours and have very few rights.
- The rapidity required by consumers creates intense exploited working conditions, several employees who basically work 7/24, 14-16 hours a day.
How Fast Fashion Accelerates Climate Change
Who doesn’t know fast fashion something that has highly contributed to the climate change? Global warming is as a result of high resource demands which the industry has for its production, energy consumed during production and wastage. Here’s how fast fashion drives climate change:
1. Deforestation for Raw Materials
We know animal based fibers such as cotton, wool, leather etc needs a lot of land to cultivate and to farm. This direction results in the felling of trees in order to accommodate the industries required for these industries thus accelerating the emission of green house effects.
2. Microplastic Pollution
Fashion products made from synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon release microplastic when they are washed. These small particles go into our water systems and become part of the problem in polluting our oceans and harming sea life. Microplastic fibers from textiles: The contribution of domestic washing to the aquatic microplastic environment is about 25–35%, or 1.15–1.76 kt/yr.
3. Energy-Intensive Supply Chains
The whole system, from manufacturing to the store, of fast fashion is energy demanding. Transportation of products, especially through ships, packaging, and storage also burn massive quantities of fossil fuels adding to the total carbon emissions of the industry.
The Rise of Sustainable Fashion: A Path Forward
Realization of destructive effects of fast fashion to the environment has led to a change of for sustainable fashion. People and companies are waking up to the need to practice sustainable business and consumption, and there is need for even more consciousness.
Key Components of Sustainable Fashion:
- Ethical production: Protecting employees from unfair wages and un-safe working conditions.
- Sustainable materials: Organic cotton, hemp, and recycled fabric as a material.
- Circular fashion: Consumerism should also change towards encouraging the purchase of reusable items, proper recycling and upcycling in addition to buying second-hand items.
- Slow fashion: Challenging consumers to purchase better quality products that will not be replaced often.
How Consumers Can Make a Difference
- Choose quality over quantity: Choose quality products that will be durable in use, and one can wear them for several years.
- Shop second-hand: Charity shops and second hand websites and apps are perfect for affordable, on trend clothing that don’t contribute to so much waste.
- Support sustainable brands: When buying products look for labels such as the fair trade label, GOTS certification and b corp certification to make sure brands are following the right practice.
- Practice mindful washing: Also wash your clothes with cold water and avoid tumble drying as often as you can, thus decreasing microplastic release and saving energy.
Conclusion
Fast fashion and climate change is one of the emerging issues that affect the world which calls for global interdisciplinary ushery efforts. It became clear that though the fashion industry spared many an expensive trip to boutiques, the negative impact on the environment and the people is simply too high. Reducing the role of fashion industry in eclipsing global warming necessitates such changes to make our world a better place to live in.
But this lies not just on the side of the brands, but the consumers as well. Through the book, we can all become better equipped to make more informed and sustainable decisions on what we wear and what we do to our wardrobes, which would in return inject more responsible change into the fashion systems we have today.
