Fast Fashion
by Wednesday Satterlee: Press Manager at The Tomorrow Project
How many clothes can one person have? Well, on average an American woman has about 100 clothing items and if you are like me, half of those clothes go unworn most of the time. With fashion trends changing at an unprecedented rate, we find ourselves buying and tossing clothes as if they were disposable items. The market for cheap clothes, mass produced at ever increasing rates to keep pace with the fashion world, is growing every day. In turn, this increases the environmental harm caused by the fashion production industry, harm that is worsening by the second.
Here are some statistics to help you fully understand the effects of fast fashion on our earth:
The fashion industry produces 20 percent of global wastewater and 10 percent of global carbon emissions - more than all international flights and maritime shipping.
Cotton farming is responsible for 24 percent of insecticides and 11 percent of pesticides
Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally and it takes around 2,000 gallons of water to make a typical pair of jeans.
85 percent of textiles are sent to landfills, i.e. 21 billion tons a year.
Washing clothes also releases half a million tonnes of microfibres into the ocean every year.
Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned.
Source: (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), UNEP
If the fashion industry makes no changes, by 2050 they will use up a quarter of the world's carbon budget. But how can we help as individuals?
Well, once I learned of the detrimental effects of fast fashion on our Earth, thrift shopping became an appealing alternative. Thrift stores keep clothes out of landfills, give life to pre-loved clothing, support local communities and help end fast fashion culture. What's not to love? Along with brick and mortar thrift stores, second-hand clothing websites like Depop are also a great way to shop. After I downloaded the app for Depop I was able to sell many of my own clothes and make some money, while staying sustainable. Thousands of users are giving vintage pieces a new home and helping to make green shopping trendy and accessible!
Although donating the clothes that sit endlessly in your closet is a great choice, upcycling can also be fun and green. Painting flowers on a pair of jeans, embroidering some old shoes, stitching shirts, can make an unused piece one of a kind.
Choosing to thrift shop may seem small but it is a stride in the right direction. Because sustainability of our environment should always be part of the choices we make, even when it comes to keeping up with fashion.
References,
Sustain Your Style, Inhumane Working Conditions https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/old-working-conditions
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Fashion and the SDGs: what role for the UN? (UNECE)
UN Environment Programme, Putting the Brakes on Fast Fashion, 2018, UNEP
Greenpeace, Timeout for Fast Fashion, Greenpeace
Business Insider, Morgan McFall-Johnsen, 2019,.businessinsider