Fast Fashion: The Hidden Environmental Impacts

​Chloe Zhao ‘28

In today’s ever-changing fashion world, fast fashion has become a wardrobe staple for many consumers, attracting young people who seek affordable and stylish clothing. Major retailers like Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 enable customers to keep on trend without breaking the budget. However, it is also noted that this convenience carries a huge environmental cost.
Fast fashion refers to the rapid production of inexpensive clothing that replicates the latest runway trends, making them available to consumers in record time. The emergence of fast fashion gained prominence in the 1990s with Zara, a Spanish fashion retailer, pioneering a rapid production model that enables garments to swiftly transition from design to retail within a mere two-week timeframe. This renovative strategy allows companies to profit by perpetuating an endless cycle of consumption, while resulting in wasteful production and widespread environmental damage.

The United Nations Environment Programme considers the fashion industry the world’s second-largest user of water, accounting for about 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Just one single cotton shirt would consume approximately 700 gallons of water, while for a pair of jeans the number would be 2,000 gallons. Textile dyeing— a key step in fast fashion— stands as one of the largest global polluters of water. Dangerous dyes and chemicals in the wastewater find their way into the rivers and streams, impacting aquatic life and local communities.
The proliferation of microplastics is another hidden consequence of fast fashion. Many fast fashion items are made with synthetic materials like polyester and nylon, materials that shed tiny plastic fibers every time they’re washed. These microplastics may find their way into the deepest ocean and the highest glacier peaks, and because over 60 percent of modern synthetic materials are non-biodegradable, they persist indefinitely.

The cycle of fast fashion produces not only pollution but also waste. An average American generates around 82 pounds of textile waste annually, and the majority of this waste ends up in landfills. Fashion trends shift rapidly, and as the trend drastically changes, fast fashion items quickly lose their appeal and get disposed. Additionally, fast fashion products are often low in quality, making them prone to wear and tear, which further accelerates their disposal. And through frequent product updates and sales, retailers are fueling this process. About 85% of all textiles are discarded annually, adding to the mountain of waste in landfills worldwide.
Fast fashion’s impact is not only environmental but also social. Many fast fashion garments are made in developing countries where labor laws are often lax. Low wages, poor working conditions, and even forced labor are common, particularly among young women, who make up the majority of the workforce. One of the most tragic incidents occurred in 2013 with the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which killed over 1,100 workers and injured 2,500 more. And this was not an isolated incident–though being the most severe one. Between 2006 and 2012, more than 500 Bangladeshi garment workers lost their lives in factory fires, highlighting the unsafe working conditions pervasive in the industry.

Despite the damage that fast fashion perpetuates, it is now accompanied by a number of solutions: “slow fashion,” being one of them, involves consuming less and placing emphasis on quality and sustainable brands. Brands such as Patagonia, Everlane, Stella McCartney, and Reformation have ethical labor standards, sustainable materials, and durable products. All in all, they are all reputed to practice sustainable business. ThredUp, Poshmark, and several other similar platforms have also begun to gain popularity among consumers for their second-hand purchases and sales, consequently lowering the demand for new items. Simultaneously, clothing rental services like Rent the Runway offer an alternative to buying items for temporary use, allowing consumers to enjoy trendy items without contributing to waste.

References
How Fast Fashion Is Destroying the Planet. (2019, September 3). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/books/review/how-fast-fashion-is-destroying-the-planet.html
Putting the brakes on fast fashion. (2023, March 17). UNEP. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/putting-brakes-fast-fashion
World Economic Forum. (2020). These facts show how unsustainable the fashion industry is. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2020/01/fashion-industry-carbon-unsustainable-environment-pollution/