The Harmful Nature of Fast Fashion

Hannah Howison Senior Staff Writer

Clothes shopping used to be an irregular excursion reserved for when the weather changes or clothes become unwearable. Now, clothes are becoming cheaper, trends are passing quicker and shopping has become a hobby for when there is time to spare.

Fast fashion is defined as inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends. This may appear to be a fit idea, but this is not the case; fast fashion exploits underpaid workers, harms animals and damages the earth.

A fast fashion incident you may have heard of is the collapse of the Rana Plaza clothing manufacturing complex in Bangladesh. This 2013 event spurred conversation around fast fashion. The conditions where these underpaid laborers work started to be questioned. Consumers started to realize that their affordable and trendy t-shirts cost human lives, not just pocket change.

To explore how fast fashion became so popular, we need to take a step back. Before the 1800s, the process of creating clothing was slow and made by a single person, typically for themselves or a close relative. Then came the debut of the sewing machine, which made clothing much cheaper and quicker to make. By the ‘60s and ‘70s, clothing became more of a means of personal expression than a way to dress. Jumping to the late 1990s and present day, fast fashion has become increasingly popular, and online shopping has reached an all-time high.

But why is fast fashion so harmful? The textile and clothing industry has an arduous and complex supply chain. The chemicals used in the initial steps of the process are incredibly harmful to the environment, the factory workers and consumers.

Current practices cause immense amounts of textile waste, which are typically incinerated or landfilled. Massive amounts of water and energy are used to produce these garments. The fabrics used to produce these cheap clothes often include synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon and acrylic, all of which take hundreds of years to biodegrade.

The process is also harmful to wildlife and animals. Tanning leather is by far the most toxic process in all of the fashion industry. Harmful chemicals are used, including formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, oils, dyes and mineral salts. Water becomes polluted by the various chemicals used to produce these garments, and is ingested by wildlife, often ending in death. Animal welfare is also at risk when it comes to fast fashion. Animal products including leather, fur and wool are used directly in garments. Certain scandals have highlighted that real fur has often been passed off as faux fur.

The process of making these clothes is also incredibly draining on energy sources. The process requires sizable amounts of petroleum and releases particulate matter and specific acids such as hydrogen chloride into the atmosphere.

Cotton is the most-used resource for fast fashion clothing, and it is incredibly harmful to the environment to produce. Certain insecticides such as organophosphates, pyrethroids and neonicotinoids, which are used to produce high-quality cotton, are harmful to the environment as well as farmers.

To produce a single cotton shirt, about 700 gallons of water are used. For a pair of jeans, it takes about 2,000. The textile industry is the world’s secondlargest polluter of water, as the water left over from the intensive dyeing process is dumped into rivers, streams or other bodies of water.

A 2017 report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) titled “Primary Microplastics in the Oceans: a Global Evaluation of Sources” estimates that close to 35% of all microplastics in bodies of water come from synthetic textiles such as the ones used by these fast fashion retailers. A documentary released in 2015 claims that the population consumes around 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year, which comes out to be 400% more than 20 years ago.

Textile waste due to fast fashion is also an incredible problem. In the United States of America, the average American generates 82 pounds of textile waste each year. This has only gotten worse as cheap, low-quality clothing has been on the rise in recent years.

To put this into perspective, SHEIN—a fast fashion online retailer with an estimated 43.7 million active consumers—adds 2,000 new items to its online store on an average day.

To combat the waste produced by fast fashion retailers and consumers, garments can be recycled for fabric after they’ve gone out of style. This seems to be a perfect solution in theory; however, it has been proven that only 0.1% of all clothing is recycled.

Another substantial problem regarding fast fashion is child labor. It is estimated that 260 million children around the world are actively employed. The International Labor Organization (ILO) approximates that 170 million of these children are child laborers. Child labor is defined by the United Nations as “work for which the child is either too young—work done below the required minimum age—or work which, because of its detrimental nature or conditions, is altogether considered unacceptable for children and is prohibited”.

Child labor is illegal in most countries, but not everywhere. Most of the fashion supply chain requires low-skilled labor, which is perfect for children. In cotton picking, children are often hired for their small fingers, which have less chance to damage the plant. These children are also underpaid, with false promises of decent wages.

In recent years, people have argued that fast fashion is on the decline; however, this is far from the truth. People have argued that so-called environmentally courteous millennials and Gen Zers are too informed to indulge in fast fashion. However, data shows that ultra-fast fashion brands such as SHEIN, Forever 21 and Fashion Nova are selling more than ever. SHEIN has an estimated 43.7 million active consumers, 7.5 million of which are United States-based. SHEIN generated an estimated $15.7 billion in 2021, which is a 60% increase from 2020.

What is the alternative? Well, it’s easy as a concept called slow fashion that focuses on making clothing last. Have a shirt you don’t like anymore? Try styling it with a new pair of pants, layering or taking a pair of scissors to it to make it more trendy.

Choosing clothing that is ethically produced is incredibly important as well. Choosing highquality and eco-friendly fabrics are all beneficial to the environment. Shopping secondhand through platforms such as Depop and Poshmark is also incredibly beneficial. The deals that come from these sites are also hard to beat.

Making the clothing you already have last longer is another way to support a slower model of fashion. Wearing clothes until they’ve worn out, mending them when possible and ethically recycling them are all ways to support a slow fashion model.