As women, we're constantly bombarded with images of the latest fashion trends. Everyone from big labels to influencers push us to update our wardrobes all of the time. With the ubiquity of fast fashion, it actually seems possible to stay on trend because everything on offer is so cheap – even hefty hauls likely won’t break the bank. But there’s a problematic story behind those inexpensive, disposable clothes; one with a devastating impact on people and the planet.
We’re going to spend a bit of time in this post diving into the dark side of cheap clothing, from the environmental impact of textile waste to the exploitation of garment workers around the world. Admittedly, this is a big, complex topic that has any number of books and academic papers trying to cover it adequately, but our hope is that by highlighting some of these hidden costs, we help amplify awareness of the issues and encourage folks to examine their own wardrobe-building habits.
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast fashion is the practice of quickly cycling new super trend-oriented styles into shops so consumers always have something new to react to and buy. This practice, introduced in the late 90s to early 00s, completely upended the fashion industry, virtually sweeping away the former practice of putting out high quality, carefully planned biannual “spring” and “fall” lines. To entice consumers to purchase at such frequency, fast fashion had to be very inexpensive – at price points that psychologically signaled shoppers to say, “at that price, why NOT get it??” These price points became a race to the bottom amongst labels, and they used every trick they could to economize their production process, chasing cheap farming and manufacturing across the globe while turning blind eyes to the impact of those choices. Today, fast fashion has become the norm, so much so that we raise our eyebrows when clothes aren’t price-of-a-lunch cheap. What’s the cost of all of this? It’s high: we’re risking the planet, human lives, and our own well-being.
Impact on the Environment
Of its many sins, major among them is fast fashion’s catastrophic impact on the environment. Nearly all stages of a quickly-produced garment’s life have negative consequences for our planet:
Raw Materials: Cheap fashion relies heavily on both polyester and conventional (aka non-organic) cotton. Both are greedy, greedy fiber sources that are problematic for the environment. Synthetic fossil fuel-derived fibers – polyester by far the most dominant of the pack – comprise 69% of the materials used in the clothing industry each year, and take 1.3 billion barrels of oil each year to produce. Once produced, synthetics go on to shed microplastics every time they are washed making up an estimated 35% of microplastics released into the environment each year. Conventional cotton, on the other hand, the second most common fiber in the fashion industry, is no less greedy. As a thirsty crop that takes 2,700 liters of water (enough drinking water for one person for 2.5 years) to produce a single t-shirt, it creates an enormous strain on an increasingly dry planet and has led to the eradication of fresh water sources for entire populations. Conventional cotton also requires synthetic pesticides just to keep it growing. These pesticides get in our water systems and emit into the air nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas.
Textile Manufacturing: Taking raw material and turning them into usable fabric can be an intense process, especially when performed at scale, as demanded by the fast fashion industry. A significant portion of the ecological harm in the textile industry happens when dying and finishing fabrics. These stages require a huge amount of water and petroleum-based chemicals. Many factories at pressure to produce as cheaply as possible forgo closed-loop water systems and end up releasing their manufacturing waste into water sources, leading to biologically dead rivers and lakes and to textile manufacturing’s claim to 20% of global water pollution.
Supply Chain Transport: Fast fashion’s pursuit of cheaper, cheaper, cheaper has led to what in other contexts might look like laughably complex supply chains. Brands might fly fabric and buttons and zippers and thread from manufacturers 1, 2, 3, and 4 in zig-zag paths across the globe to factory A only to then fly partially completed garments to factory B in another part of the world where they’ll get finished for two cents cheaper than they would at factory A – and then they’ll fly those completed garments to a packaging warehouse in yet another part of the world where the garments then set forth on their many individual flights to stores and consumers. In the decidedly un-laughable context of global warming, these carbon emission-heavy supply chain decisions are just reckless.
End-of-Life: In the pursuit of cost cutting, clothing produced for fast fashion are simply of terrible quality. Nowhere in the design process is a garment’s post-purchase life considered. Fast fashion is generally okay with consumers throwing out 50-85 pounds of clothing each year after minimal use. The cheap fabric blends so typical of fast fashion make proper recycling difficult if not impossible, which means these clothes by and large end up inundating landfills and developing countries alike.
Impact on People
The environmental impact of fast fashion is just one side of the coin. Equally as concerning is its notorious maltreatment of its farmers and textile and garment workers. A race towards the bottom (of cost and quality) has led to abusive, sometimes deadly labor practices.
Fast fashion clothing is frequently made in developing nations who willingly set exploitative labor laws so as to lure big companies in with promises of cheap labor and little regulation. The resulting farms, factories and subcontracting networks often require workers to toil long hours in hazardous conditions for incredibly meager pay.
Farmers and raw materials workers, like those dealing with cotton and leather are frequently exposed to hazardous pesticides, chemicals, and airborne particles. Garment workers (those who cut, sew and trim items of clothing) are often paid a pittance by the piece and are expected to maintain extraordinary quotas each day in poorly lit and ventilated workspaces.
Because of low wages, lack of worker’s rights laws, and abusive debt schemes, clothing manufacturing workers are almost always are trapped in a cycle of exploitation, perpetuating poverty and inequality.
The High Cost of Cheap Clothes
Although fast fashion appears to be inexpensive, the hidden costs of these items are not at all reflected in the price of the clothing itself. The constant abuse of people and the environment is only compounded by fast fashion’s clever deployment of psychology to keep us shopping. Frequent product turnover, price tag games, and trend chasing (ahem…knock offs) has led us to not just accept, but to become a little addicted to the haul. On average, we end up spending more on cheap clothing now than we used to when clothing was more expensive and of higher quality.
The thing is, the haul’s not all that satisfying in the end. Most of us don’t even wear what’s in our closets, and adding a bunch of cheap clothes that look like everyone else’s cheap clothes to our piles leaves us a little empty. Then we make the decision to toss our clothes, which makes the guilt of owning so many cheap clothes all the worse. Argh. We’ve got enough guilt, we don’t need this!
The impact of fast fashion on the environment and people is clear, but the good news is that we can make a difference with our fashion choices. By choosing to invest in slow, sustainable, and ethical fashion, we can reduce our environmental footprint, support fair labor practices, and be proud of the clothes in our wardrobe.
At Estella Moon, we believe that fashion should be beautiful, comfortable, AND sustainable. We’ve chosen to embrace slow fashion cycles, prioritize quality and versatility, and to work with manufacturers that share our commitment to ethical, sustainable practices. We know that turning the tide of fast fashion is a big, multi-player endeavor and that we’re just one tiny piece of the puzzle. But we care a lot about this and want to do what we can – both through our business decisions and through our communications – to be a part of it. We’ll keep exploring sustainability choices in future posts and we hope you’ll join us in this pursuit!
Sources
European Parliament: Impact of Textile Production and Waste on the Environment
TEDx: Fast Fashion’s Effect on People, The Plant, & You, Patrick Woodyard
TEDx: Microplastics are Everywhere but We Can do Something About Them, Sarah Dudas
The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth Cline