The COST of
FAST fashion
Fast fashion is a term used to describe businesses that sell INEXPENSIVE garments designed and manufactured in a matter of weeks in order to capture current fashion trends. It is a relatively new business model developed in the late 1990s that depends on: a) selling trend-based pieces that encourage consumers to continuously consume, and b) the Quick Response Manufacturing model of production, which prioritizes timeliness in order to generate the MASS MANUFACTURE and scale of PROFITS necessary for fast fashion to work.
— Let's consider this for a moment
Fast fashion retailers produce new styles in “micro-seasons” every week of the year. That’s 52 seasons a year. In comparison, traditional fashion brands produce two to four seasons per year, although now many brands have been forced to release more and more clothing to keep up with fast fashion companies. This means that companies like H&M, Zara, Shein, Joe Fresh, UNIQLO, Boohoo, AliExpress, Primark, and Topshop (there are many more!) actively produce hundreds of millions of garments annually, and are often sitting on billions of dollars worth of unsold clothing. This isn’t exclusive to fast fashion brands either. As consumer culture has transformed for the worse, we’ve seen brands from H&M, Nike, Urban Outfitters and Burberry destroy their unsold merchandise due to over-production.
Long story short, fast fashion allows us to buy the latest it-piece for the same price as our lunches. But what we as consumers don’t see is that fast fashion has an extremely high hidden cost, and it’s the environment and garment workers involved in the fashion industry’s supply chain that have to pay.
Long story short, fast fashion allows us to buy the latest it-piece for the same price as our lunches. But what we as consumers don’t see is that fast fashion has an extremely high hidden cost, and it’s the environment and garment workers involved in the fashion industry’s supply chain that have to pay.
| ■ WHERE TO START? |
The Human Cost |
| As fashion retailers have moved their production factories to developing countries and disenfranchised communities in order to increase profit margins, supply chains have become increasingly convoluted. As a result, fast fashion companies often claim ignorance to accounts of abuse and human rights violations in factories as they have no longer have direct oversight. In fact, it is common for garment workers, whom are often women of colour, in developing countries to experience sweatshop working conditions and unreasonably long hours of work (many garment workers are working between 60 and 140 hours of overtime per week and it is common to be cheated of overtime pay). Plus, health and safety are often neglected and abuses are common. And on top of all this, these garment workers are paid 1-3% of the price of an article of clothing they produce. That’s up to 30 cents on a $10 t-shirt. In fact, only 2% of garment workers around the world are paid a livable salary. Furthermore, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that the fashion supply chain includes at least 6 million children who are engaged in forced child labour. |
Carbon Footprint |
Greenwashing |
| As a result of the mass production and over-consumption of clothing, the fashion industry has an unbelievably large carbon footprint (otherwise defined as the amount of greenhouse gases emitted both directly and indirectly). In fact, more than 8 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions are produced by the apparel and footwear industries. Plus, every year, the global consumption and usage of clothing leads to the release of more than 1.26 billion tons of greenhouse emissions, which is more than the amount generated by international shipping and flights combined. | "Greenwashing" is a marketing strategy employed by non-sustainable companies to make their products or services seem more environmentally friendly. By greenwashing their products, companies convince their customers that they care about the environment, when in reality, they don't. Now, some of you may be thinking, "what's the big problem?". Well, when companies like fast fashion retailers greenwash their products, it erodes consumer trust in eco-minded advertising and also dilutes the claims of other companies with real environmentally sustainable practices (like the very brands we carry). Likewise, greenwashing encourages consumers and companies themselves to ignore the big picture when it comes to environmental initiatives, making it a whole lot easier for companies to distract their customers from their poor environmental behaviours. |
Gender-Based Discrimination |
| Garment workers are disproportionately female, which means that women are disproportionately feeling the burden of the fast fashion industry in developing nations. In fact, more than 70% of garment workers in China are women, with the share being 85% in Bangladesh and 90% in Cambodia. Although many argue that these jobs give these women a means to provide a living for themselves and their families while working for some of the most profitable companies in the world, the truth is that they are working for poverty wages under dreadful conditions. Garment factory owners and managers often fire pregnant women or deny maternity leave, physically and verbally abuse, threaten non-renewal of work contracts and turn a blind eye when male managers or workers sexually harass female workers (as detailed by reports developed by a group of international human rights and labour organizations who studied H&M, GAP and Walmart's garment factories across Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). The exploitation of female workers and their unequal position in their societies has allowed fashion companies to make huge profits while denying these workers who produce their clothes the most basic rights. Furthermore, garment workers reported that instances of physical abuse greatly increased during high stress production times as a result of the fast fashion industry's incredibly un-sustainable production timelines. |
Clothing is Political |
| Understanding sustainability in fashion means that we need to talk about colonialism and race. Consider this for a moment: When Sourcemap traced the supply chains for most major apparel and clothing manufacturers, their data mapping revealed that the fashion industry's world trade routes resemble the routes used 150 years ago at the height of European colonial exploitation. Just like how colonized nations provided cheap chocolate, coffee, fruit and sugar to the West, developing nations now provide cheap and semi-disposable clothes to the West. In this sense, "the fashion industry is built on the oppression of black and brown women, an institutionalized form of racism from a colonial past" (source), making clothing very political. Furthermore, as Hoda Katebi best explained in her Q&A, "Fashion is so deeply and inherently political. It literally frames how we present our bodies in a public space and therefore in and of itself reveals infinite information about how we identify and express our gender, culture, global influences, socioeconomic class, and oftentimes race and religion as well. No piece of clothing was created outside of the influences of the world that we live in, and therefore each piece of clothing represents something; a piece of history at the very least." |
Textile Waste & Overproduction |
Water Consumption |
| As clothing has become more and more inexpensive, the reality for a lot of fast fashion consumers is that throwing away their clothes and buying new is more convenient than paying for repairs. In 2017, a rough estimation of 13 million tons of clothing was either dumped into landfills or burned, and by 2030, that number is predicted to increase to 134 million tons. This is especially ridiculous when over 95% of discarded clothing can be recycled or upcycled to make something else. Fast fashion brands typically produce more items than they can sell each season because it is less expensive to destroy the leftovers than produce less. Excess inventory is more than a financial burden for brands – each unsold item of clothing represents environmental damage and the labor of garment workers who may have suffered in poor working conditions to make the garments that sit unsold and possibly end up in the trash or incinerated. When garments made of natural fibres (such as cotton) ends up in landfills, it decomposes similarly to food waste and produces methane – a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to approximately 25% of the manmade global warming we experience. On the other hand, synthetic fibres like polyester and nylon are plastic fabrics made from petroleum and don’t biodegrade at all - instead, they break down into tiny pieces called microplastics. There are approximately 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans - 13 times more pieces than stars in our galaxy. And 35% of these microplastics came from synthetic textiles. Microplastics are so ubiquitous that on average, we eat five grams of microplastics every week. That's like eating a credit card worth of plastic. Furthermore, both natural and synthetic fiber clothing will have been bleached, dyed and printed with chemicals during the production process and once in landfill, these chemicals leach into the soil and groundwater, contributing to the pollution of our already decreasing freshwater supplies. We are literally poisoning the earth with the fast fashion garments we throw away. |
The fashion industry is a massive consumer and polluter of our limited fresh water supply. Only 2.5% of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and only 0.3% is accessible to humans. And according to a NASA-led study, many of the world’s freshwater sources are being used faster than they are being replenished. The fashion industry is definitely a part of this problem. Two thirds of all fibers used to make our clothing are cotton based, and although cotton is a natural fiber, it is a low-yield crop that wastes a whole lot of water. In fact, it requires 2720 litres of water to make a simple cotton T-shirt. That’s how much we normally drink over a 3 year period. On top of that, roughly 17% to 20% of industrial water pollution is owed to fabric dyes and treatments resulting in the discharge of toxic chemicals into fresh water streams, the death of aquatic life, the ruining of soils and poisoning of local drinking water. In China, estimates say 90% of local groundwater is polluted, and according to the World Bank, 72 toxic chemicals in the water supply are from textile dyeing. While most, if not all first world countries have laws in place to prevent this sort of environmental contamination, it's a very different story for developing countries where many fast fashion retailers have moved their production to. |
Toxic Chemical Exposure |
| A recent Canadian investigation discovered that consumers who purchased from fast fashion retailers may be exposing themselves to potentially toxic chemicals. Out of 38 samples of children's, adult's and maternity accessories and apparel, 1 in 5 items had elevated levels of toxic chemicals including lead, PFAS and phthalates. Lead, which can be used in textile dye pigments, can cause damaging health effects to the brain, heart, kidneys and reproductive system. Phthalates, a group of chemicals often used to make plastic more flexible, are endocrine disruptors that can have damaging developmental effects and affect the liver and kidneys. Phalates has also been linked to increasing rates of global infertility. PFAS, which are a collection of fluorinated compounds commonly used in clothing for waterproofing and stain resistance, are also known to be endocrine disruptors and are considered "forever chemicals" because they aren't flushed from the body and don't break down in the environment. |
Buy Now, Donate Later? |
| For anyone who doesn’t want their old clothing to end up in landfills, clothing donations sound like a guilt-free win-win solution. But in reality, the path of our old clothes isn’t always straightforward and doesn’t always benefit the people we think. In fact, most donations don’t sell in-store. Only approximately 10% (USA) to 25% (Canada) of the clothes people donate to thrift stores or charities get sold. Everything else ends up either in a) landfills, b) cut down and sold as rags, c) ground down/reprocessed for use as insulation or car-seat filing, or more likely d) sold abroad. In 2017, approximately $173 million in worn or used clothing was exported from Canada to countries around the world; a third of that export making its way to Africa. This might not seem like a very big problem, but in developing countries like Kenya (which imported closed to $21 million in secondhand clothing from Canada last year), this practice floods local markets and consequently suppresses local textile industries. Furthermore, these textiles usually end their life in these countries and end up in their landfills. We are essentially exporting our unwanted garbage to developing countries. So how can we declutter our closets without donating our clothes? Sell it on pre-loved marketplaces, give it away to friends or family, join or host a clothing swap, upcycle it with a DIY tutorial, downcycle it into kitchen rags or towels, or find a textile recycler! |
| ■ NOW TIME FOR A DEBATE |
| Non-Organic Cotton | Organic Cotton |
| Uses seeds treated with fungicides and/or insecticides Applies synthetic fertilizers which are primarily made from nonrenewable sources, including fossil fuels. These fertilizers do nothing to sustain the soil and can alter the soil pH, upset beneficial microbial ecosystems, increase pests, contribute to the release of greenhouse gases, and pollute nearby environments. Employs monocropping agriculture, which is the practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. This damages the soil ecology and results in a more fragile ecosystem with an increased dependency on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. PS, 22.5% of the world's insecticides and 10% of all pesticides are applied to COTTON crops Dependant on irrigation Applies herbicide to prevent weed germination and sprays herbicide to kill weeds that do grow Uses insecticides to control pests The pesticides used in the farming of non-organic crops are responsible for the deaths of an estimated 20,000 people a year in developing countries (WHO). 3 million people also suffer related chronic health problems due to exposure to these chemicals Residual chemicals on fibers may cause irritation to skin |
Uses untreated seeds Agricultural practices include crop rotation, intercropping and composting, which results in healthier and more organic soil. The organic matter in the soil also retains water more efficiently Seeds are controlled through cultivation and physical removal Maintains balance between pests and their natural predators through healthier soils Uses beneficial insects and biological and cultural practices to control pests Less processed and not treated with chemicals, making the fibers more durable. Fibers are also softer Organic cotton is free of allergens and irritants Despite all these benefits, organic cotton can use twice as much water as non-organic cotton |
Next Up: The Slow Fashion Movement →
| ■ WHERE TO START? |
Human Rights |
| As fashion retailers have moved their production factories to developing countries and disenfranchised communities in order to increase profit margins, supply chains have become increasingly convoluted. As a result, fast fashion companies often claim ignorance to accounts of abuse and human rights violations in factories as they have no longer have direct oversight. In fact, it is common for garment workers, whom are often women of colour, in developing countries to experience sweatshop working conditions and unreasonably long hours of work (many garment workers are working between 60 and 140 hours of overtime per week and it is common to be cheated of overtime pay). Plus, health and safety are often neglected and abuses are common. And on top of all this, these garment workers are paid 1-3% of the price of an article of clothing they produce. That’s up to 30 cents on a $10 t-shirt. In fact, only 2% of garment workers around the world are paid a livable salary. Furthermore, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that the fashion supply chain includes at least 6 million children who are engaged in forced child labour. |
Carbon Footprint |
| As a result of the mass production and over-consumption of clothing, the fashion industry has an unbelievably large carbon footprint (otherwise defined as the amount of greenhouse gases emitted both directly and indirectly). In fact, more than 8 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions are produced by the apparel and footwear industries. Plus, every year, the global consumption and usage of clothing leads to the release of more than 1.26 billion tons of greenhouse emissions, which is more than the amount generated by international shipping and flights combined. |
Greenwashing |
| "Greenwashing" is a marketing strategy employed by non-sustainable companies to make their products or services seem more environmentally friendly. By greenwashing their products, companies convince their customers that they care about the environment, when in reality, they don't. Now, some of you may be thinking, "what's the big problem?". Well, when companies like fast fashion retailers greenwash their products, it erodes consumer trust in eco-minded advertising and also dilutes the claims of other companies with real environmentally sustainable practices (like the very brands we carry). Likewise, greenwashing encourages consumers and companies themselves to ignore the big picture when it comes to environmental initiatives, making it a whole lot easier for companies to distract their customers from their poor environmental behaviours. |
Gender-Based Discrimination |
| Garment workers are disproportionately female, which means that women are disproportionately feeling the burden of the fast fashion industry in developing nations. In fact, more than 70% of garment workers in China are women, with the share being 85% in Bangladesh and 90% in Cambodia. Although many argue that these jobs give these women a means to provide a living for themselves and their families while working for some of the most profitable companies in the world, the truth is that they are working for poverty wages under dreadful conditions. Garment factory owners and managers often fire pregnant women or deny maternity leave, physically and verbally abuse, threaten non-renewal of work contracts and turn a blind eye when male managers or workers sexually harass female workers (as detailed by reports developed by a group of international human rights and labour organizations who studied H&M, GAP and Walmart's garment factories across Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). The exploitation of female workers and their unequal position in their societies has allowed fashion companies to make huge profits while denying these workers who produce their clothes the most basic rights. Furthermore, garment workers reported that instances of physical abuse greatly increased during high stress production times as a result of the fast fashion industry's incredibly un-sustainable production timelines. |
Textile Waste |
| As clothing has become more and more inexpensive, the reality for a lot of fast fashion consumers is that throwing away their clothes and buying new is more convenient than paying for repairs. North America alone produces more than 12 million tons of waste in textiles (approximately 68 pounds of waste yearly per household), accounting for 5% of all landfill production. This is especially ridiculous when over 95% of discarded clothing can be recycled or upcycled to make something new. And when garments made of natural fibres (such as cotton) ends up in landfills, it decomposes similarly to food waste and produces methane – a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to approximately 25% of the manmade global warming we experience. On the other hand, synthetic fibres like polyester and nylon are plastic fabrics made from petroleum and don’t biodegrade at all - instead, they break down into tiny pieces called microplastics. There are approximately 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans - 13 times more pieces than stars in our galaxy. And 35% of these microplastics came from synthetic textiles. Microplastics are so ubiquitous that on average, we eat five grams of microplastics every week. That's like eating a credit card worth of plastic. Furthermore, both natural and synthetic fiber clothing will have been bleached, dyed and printed with chemicals during the production process and once in landfill, these chemicals leach into the soil and groundwater, contributing to the pollution of our already decreasing freshwater supplies. We are literally poisoning the earth with the fast fashion garments we throw away. |
Water Consumption |
| The fashion industry is a massive consumer and polluter of our limited fresh water supply. Only 2.5% of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and only 0.3% is accessible to humans. And according to a NASA-led study, many of the world’s freshwater sources are being used faster than they are being replenished. The fashion industry is definitely a part of this problem. Two thirds of all fibers used to make our clothing are cotton based, and although cotton is a natural fiber, it is a low-yield crop that wastes a whole lot of water. In fact, it requires 2720 litres of water to make a simple cotton T-shirt. That’s how much we normally drink over a 3 year period. On top of that, roughly 17% to 20% of industrial water pollution is owed to fabric dyes and treatments resulting in the discharge of toxic chemicals into fresh water streams, the death of aquatic life, the ruining of soils and poisoning of local drinking water. In China, estimates say 90% of local groundwater is polluted, and according to the World Bank, 72 toxic chemicals in the water supply are from textile dyeing. While most, if not all first world countries have laws in place to prevent this sort of environmental contamination, it's a very different story for developing countries where many fast fashion retailers have moved their production to. |
Buy Now, Donate Later? |
| For anyone who doesn’t want their old clothing to end up in landfills, clothing donations sound like a win-win solution. But in reality, the path of our old clothes isn’t so straight, and doesn’t always benefit the people we think. In fact, most donations don’t sell. Only 10%-25% of the clothes people donate to thrift stores or charities get sold. Everything else ends up either in a) landfills, b) cut down and sold as rags, c) ground down/reprocessed for use as insulation or car-seat filing, or more likely d) sold abroad. In 2017, approximately $173 million in worn or used clothing was exported from Canada to countries around the world; a third of that export making its way to Africa. This might not seem like a very big problem, but in developing countries like Kenya (which imported closed to $21 million in secondhand clothing from Canada last year), this practice floods local markets and consequently suppresses local textile industries. Furthermore, these textiles usually end their life in these countries and end up in their landfills. We are essentially exporting our unwanted garbage to developing countries. So how can we declutter our closets without donating our clothes? Sell it on pre-loved marketplaces, give it away to friends or family, join or host a clothing swap, upcycle it with a DIY tutorial, downcycle it into kitchen rags or towels, or find a textile recycler! |
| ■ NOW TIME FOR A DEBATE |
| Non-Organic Cotton |
| Uses seeds treated with fungicides and/or insecticides Applies synthetic fertilizers which are primarily made from nonrenewable sources, including fossil fuels. These fertilizers do nothing to sustain the soil and can alter the soil pH, upset beneficial microbial ecosystems, increase pests, contribute to the release of greenhouse gases, and pollute nearby environments. Employs monocropping agriculture, which is the practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. This damages the soil ecology and results in a more fragile ecosystem with an increased dependency on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. PS, 22.5% of the world's insecticides and 10% of all pesticides are applied to COTTON crops Dependant on irrigation Applies herbicide to prevent weed germination and sprays herbicide to kill weeds that do grow Uses insecticides to control pests The pesticides used in the farming of non-organic crops are responsible for the deaths of an estimated 20,000 people a year in developing countries (WHO). 3 million people also suffer related chronic health problems due to exposure to these chemicals Residual chemicals on fibers may cause irritation to skin |
| Organic Cotton |
| Uses untreated seeds Agricultural practices include crop rotation, intercropping and composting, which results in healthier and more organic soil. The organic matter in the soil also retains water more efficiently Seeds are controlled through cultivation and physical removal Maintains balance between pests and their natural predators through healthier soils Uses beneficial insects and biological and cultural practices to control pests Less processed and not treated with chemicals, making the fibers more durable. Fibers are also softer Organic cotton is free of allergens and irritants Despite all these benefits, organic cotton can use twice as much water as non-organic cotton |
Next Up: The Slow Fashion Movement →