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SLOWING DOWN FAST FASHION Ella talks us through the environmental consequences of looking the part for a small cost, and the alternative ways we can style ourselves.
Wrap reports that in 2018, £140 million worth of clothing went straight to landfill. For every 30kg of clothing disposed of, only 4.5kg of it is recycled, according to leading clothing brand “Alarm bells are ringing Hawthorn. In essence, and the climate crisis is this means that more finally beginning to be than 30% of our taken seriously” unwanted clothing is wasted. Alarm bells are ringing and the climate crisis is finally beginning to be taken seriously, this is an area of fashion that needs to be and can be dramatically improved. Fast fashion is defined as cheap, trendy clothing that moves quickly from catwalk to your wardrobe at an affordable price. The word worth focusing on here is ‘fast’. Companies such as Pretty Little Thing, Missguided or even high street stores such as Topshop would rather produce clothing quickly and cheaply in order to inflate their profit margins than make clothing ethically. It is a well-known fact that these stores are affordable despite (for the most part) being very high “High street stores would quality, but have you rather produce clothing quickly and cheaply in order ever stopped to ask to inflate their profit margins yourself why? than make clothing ethically”
The fashion industry used to run on four seasons a year: fall, winter, spring and summer. Respected fashion designers would spend many months and sometimes years planning ahead for each season to predict where trends would go and create what customers desire. Before this point, following high fashion trends simply wasn’t accessible to the masses and was set-aside for those who belonged to high society (the upper and middle classes). This was until the Industrial Revolution and mass production came into play. Over the course of the 20th century, the fashion industry was speeding up and the costs were decreasing. Fast forward to 2019 and the fashion industry is at optimal speed bringing everyone and anyone fashionable, catwalk-worthy looks at an extremely low price.
‘The fast fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined’, according to Business Insider. In total up to 85% of textiles go into landfills each year whilst washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year – the equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles. If something isn’t done about this extremely detrimental industry, the damage to the environment will only worsen. However, the “Encouraging consumers to invest rise of a very in pieces that are long wearing or different and versatile and promoting buying progressive clothing from second hand, charity fashion industry or vintage clothing stores” is coming into light – sustainable, slow fashion. War is being waged on single use plastic, meat and dairy and the fashion industry is now under pressure to follow suit and provide an ethical alternative to contribute to saving the planet. By definition, sustainable “The fashion industry is now fashion is a movement and process fostering under pressure to follow change to fashion suit and provide an ethical alternative to contribute to products which includes manufacturing clothes saving the planet” via upcycling clothes or other unrecyclable materials, encouraging consumers to invest in pieces that are long wearing or versatile and promoting buying clothing from second hand, charity or vintage clothing stores.
