Fast fashion versus the environment: the new trend still attracts the public despite the harmful consequences

Ultra-fast fashion has attracted hordes of young trendsetters shopping for affordable clothes online amid rising inflation, but the growing industry hides more serious environmental problems.

The downside of fast fashion

CHINA-ECONOMY

(Photo: JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images)

Boohoo in the UK, SHEIN in China and Emmiol in Hong Kong use the same Internet-based business strategy to create products and collections quickly and cheaply.

Well-known “fast fashion” brands with brick-and-mortar locations, such as Sweden’s H&M and Spain’s Zara, face fierce competition from these companies, according to the Japan Times.

Young people under the age of 25, sometimes referred to as Generation Z, enjoy ordering fast fashion, which is then shipped by mail.

Greenpeace, on the other hand, has criticized the “disposable clothing” trend as outrageous waste, claiming that it consumes 2,700 gallons of water to produce a T-shirt that is quickly thrown away.

According to the environmental advocacy group, many of these cheap garments end up in large landfills, burned in campfires, along riverbeds and washed out to sea, with serious implications for people and the world.

Images of piles of shoddy clothing being thrown away or returned to the seller shortly after purchase have gone viral, drawing attention to the sheer amount of waste.

Due to decades-long high inflation, demand for affordable clothing has increased, making it difficult for many high-overhead, COVID-hit high street stores to compete.

T-shirts cost customers $4.80, while dresses and bikinis cost $8-$9.

Lola, an 18-year-old Nancy resident and French high school student, has turned SHEIN shopping into a low-cost hobby.

Ignorant of the environmental impact, he claimed that the brand only allows him to keep up with current fashion without spending a huge amount.

Lola often buys 10 things for an average total of $71 in two or three orders each month from SHEIN.

The young ultra-fast fashion target market, like Lola, simply has less money to spend.

As a result, these customers want quantity rather than quality in clothes, according to Paris-Dauphine University economics professor Valerie Guillard.

However, the business is known for consuming invaluable resources and harming the environment.

Scandals related to alleged poor working conditions in their factories have also hit ultra-fast fashion firms.

In November 2021, Swiss NGO Public Eye learned that workers at various SHEIN plants had been working up to 75 hours a week, in violation of Chinese labor regulations.

Following media claims that its suppliers were underpaying workers in Pakistan, Britain’s Boohoo also came under fire.

Furthermore, according to the French Agency for Ecological Transition, fast fashion is responsible for a staggering 2% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

That is equivalent to all maritime and air traffic combined.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg has expressed her discontent with the genre in the meantime.

Last year, Thunberg urged change in a letter that the fashion industry is a huge contributor to the climate and ecological emergency, not to mention its impact on the countless workers and communities that are being exploited around the world so that some can enjoy fast fashion. that many treat as disposable.

read also: How the fashion industry and consumer culture are destroying our environment

Ways to reduce clothing waste

In addition to reducing the manufacture of new clothes, people should also stop throwing away clothes that are no longer in their closets.

According to 2017 estimates, a garbage truck full of textiles is burned or dumped in landfills every second, according to CHEC International.

Instead, a large volume of clothing can be recycled to make new clothes or other products.

Although clothing can be recycled, less than 1% of the total fabric used to make clothing is recycled into new garments.

Only 12% of waste is recycled and used for things like insulation or mattress padding.

There are some suggestions to minimize clothing waste.

Washing at lower temperatures and mending when possible will extend the life of people’s clothing.

Sell ​​or donate old clothes to a charity shop. Used clothing can be sold on a variety of commercial websites. If something can’t be fixed or isn’t fit to be given to someone else, put it in a bag and recycle once it’s full.

After that, the clothes will be transformed into new things like cleaning cloths, industrial blankets or chair padding.

Old clothes and other textiles can be donated to one of the UK’s many textile banks. People can usually locate them in nearby parking lots and supermarkets.

To determine the location of the nearest textile bank, go to the Recycle Now website.

Several stores will recycle people’s old textiles and clothes if they give them the clothes.

We must change our consumption habits to achieve a sustainable future.

Without doing so, we will not be able to stop the food waste epidemic or the climate problem.

Our clothing choices and the fast fashion trend are no better.

We must take better care of both the clothes we wear now and the ones we leave behind.

Related Article: Sustainable fashion, clothes that make the world a better place

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