How Fast Fashion is Destructive to Environment and Consumer

The Perils of Fast Fashion

Fast fashion is destructive to the environment and consumer. It has sparked an alarming consumer trend that has caused environmental alternatives (and movements) to pop up. The problem is that fashion moves quickly from runway, to store, to consumer and finally to landfill. Along this journey bad working conditions, poor quality manufacturing and pollution are all problematic factors.

Consumer culture is causing a massive amount of wastage. The fashion industry is one of many areas where this is true. The UK and US are both contributors of a large amount of textile waste each year, it is estimated that in America only 15% of unwanted clothing finds its way to recycling facilities whereas the rest ends up in landfill. The problem with this is that the materials that many clothes are made of are inorganic or synthetic and therefore do not degrade effectively and the chemicals in the clothes end up contaminating the environment. When the wasted fabrics are burned, CO2 is released in the environment causing more greenhouse gasses.

In short it contributes to landfill waste, greenhouse gasses and contamination of both the land and water due to the use of toxic chemicals. All this whilst encouraging blind consumption from customers and enthusiasts.

Why You Should Embrace Slow Fashion

A natural counterpoint to fast fashion, is slow fashion.

This is a movement that is starting to gain traction (although there is still a way to go) thanks to campaigners leading to better public awareness and more brands rejecting fast fashion methodologies.

Better quality and environmentally sustainable materials make up slow fashion. They are reduced in smaller quantities from local environments. There are less styles per season. Basically, clothes last longer, stay in fashion for more time and have a much lower environmental cost.

Slow fashion is a much more ethical process with sustainably in mind. There are some fab brands out there to check out if you haven’t already. Rapanui is one that I like in particular (with some excellent tees) and then there are over popular heavy hitters like Kowtow, People Tree, Thought and Komodo that are all worth looking into.

Other Things You Can Do

Slow fashion is the way to go, embrace that for sure. Check for sustainable materials as well as ethical practices from your brands. However, perhaps you still have old clothes that aren’t these things (maybe they aren’t even that old) or perhaps you want to get the most out of what you do have?

I think there is one very simple question we should ask ourselves: do I like this piece of clothing (does it appeal visually or make me feel good)? If the answer is yes, then you should be wearing it. If the answer is no, then why? Is it aesthetically unpleasing? Uncomfortable? Can it be repaired if damaged? Out of fashion? None of these are reasons of course to throw it to landfill.

Reusability is an important word. It means many things to many people. As well as the obvious definition; to me the word also means compassion. Both to others and to the world we live in. It is an important part of environmentally conscious living and I would always advise swaps, second-hand shops and donations over throwing clothes out. Equally, giving to family members or friends is a fantastic option as it can be an act of kindness, declutters and stops things going to landfill. Ultimately, as long as you approach your fashion choices asking how to maximise reusability; you’ll find there are effective zero-waste ways to do so. It’ll save you money too and break you out of that consumerism loop.