Image courtesy of Rio Lecatompessy
By Saanvi Bapat
How many times have you gone to the mall and walked into famous stores, such as Forever 21, H&M, Zara, or Gap? How many of you are wearing clothes from those stores right now while reading this? I, for one, am typing this in a hoodie from H&M and pants from Forever 21.
Buying from these stores means trendy clothes at little cost to your wallet but a rarely considered yet enormous cost to the environment. This is called fast fashion.
Let’s look at another option. Think about your local small business boutiques and shops that might be family-owned or your neighbor’s start-up that was built from scratch.
Buying from here is generally more expensive and you may have to pre-order that hoodie you want in your size two weeks in advance instead of just plucking it from a hanger like you would in the mall. This is called slow fashion.
Fast fashion clothes may be more stylish and cheaper, but the amount of damage that fast fashion industry methods have on the environment are horrific and far-reaching.
Fast fashion brands use synthetic fibers, such as polyester, and petroleum-based materials that are made from non-renewable fossil fuels. As a result, the fast fashion industry is heavily dependent of fossil fuel extractions, accounting for 1.35% of the global oil consumption. In 2015, over 700 million tons of carbon dioxide were emitted due to polyester production for textiles, a number projected to double by 2030.
Once these synthetic fibers end up in the ocean through the use of washing machines or umping the clothes as waste considerable damage is inflicted on the marine ecosystems. Polyester, a main material in synthetic fibers, consists of plastic, which takes many years to break down, and once it does, creates toxic substances that once released into the ocean, creating substantial harm.
The fast fashion industry also utilizes about one-tenth of the total water used industrially. Textile dyeing also requires the use of many toxic chemicals, making it a process that results in 20% of the wastewater worldwide. This wastewater is so toxic that it cannot even be treated to become safe again.
In addition to the environmental impacts, the fast fashion industry prioritizes quantity over quality, resulting in low-quality clothes meant to last only for a couple of wears after which they become out of style. These companies focus on producing more clothes as fast as possible rather than focusing on the quality and durability of the clothes being produced.
Fast fashion workers also endure low wages, horrible working conditions, and long hours. Most of these workers are in developing countries that have labor laws welcoming the economic benefits of the industry at the price of the workers.
The combined use of cheap synthetic materials and low wages mean that fast fashion companies can afford to charge extremely low prices, enticing many customers despite the lack of quality.
Now when you think about it, that innocent-looking shirt that you bought this weekend from Gap is in fact a part of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, discharging toxins in our oceans, creating more wastewater, and furthering human rights violations and unethical labor.
So, what’s the alternative? Don’t ever buy new clothes and instead, learn how to use the sewing machine and create all your garments from scratch? That’s a step in the right direction, but there’s something much easier and probably right down the street or a few blocks away. Remember those local boutiques and shops?
You may be thinking that those clothes are too expensive or their stock is too limited. That is because, unlike major fast fashion corporations, these small businesses that make up the slow fashion industry prioritize quality over quantity, going for natural, eco-friendly, and long-lasting textiles rather than cheap products made by unethical, environmentally harmful methods.
Instead of using synthetic fibers and petroleum-based materials, the slow fashion industry uses locally-sourced, bio-degradable, organic, raw materials that are chosen with concerns about sustainability and with a focus on durability and caliber. Instead of wanting to make as many clothes as possible, slow fashion works to make a smaller quantity without having to forsake quality. And once the clothes are discarded, they can be recycled and reused due to the types of materials utilized.
In addition to this, slow fashion industry laborers are paid higher wages, have better working conditions, and work much more reasonable hours than those having to work for fast fashion companies.
Considering the expenses due to higher standard materials, more ethical labor, and environmentally friendly production, it makes sense that slow-fashion clothes are so pricey. This increased cost means better quality and no negative environmental impacts or immoral means of production.
Overall, slow fashion means ethical fashion. It involves designs with sustainable sources, ethical and high-quality production, and a strong attention on recycling and reuse.
Between fast fashion and slow fashion, the latter clearly comes out as the winner. Fast fashion loses in pretty much all aspects, such as materials used, means of production, quality, labor, and sustainability, with the only positive being the affordability. Nevertheless, this cheap price does not cancel out the immense harm fast fashion has on the environment, with increased ocean toxicity, escalating greenhouse gas emissions, and unreasonable usage of water all to be partially blamed on the industry.
Though slow fashion is more expensive, the garments have a much longer usage lifetime, compared to fast fashion ones that wear out in a couple of wears, and are environmentally friendly and ethically made.
Now when you’re looking for a new set of clothes for your wardrobe, don’t be a part of that weekend mall rush but look towards those small boutiques and shops that you usually drive right past, because inside, concerns about the environment and human rights are truly considered and are reflected in the value of their products.
When looking at sustainability and the environment, slow really does win the race.
Sources Used:
Le, Ngan. “The Impact of Fast Fashion on the Environment.” Princeton Student Climate Initiative, Princeton University, 20 July 2020, psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/7/20/theimpact-of-fast-fashion-on-the-environment.
Geannette, Marissa. “Slow Fashion vs Fast Fashion: Why Slow Fashion Matters!” Clever Girl Finance, 26 Jan. 2022, www.clevergirlfinance.com/slow-fashion-vs-fast-fashion/. Accessed 12 June 2023.
www.fibre2fashion.com. “Fast vs Slow Fashion.” Www.fibre2fashion.com, www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/8460/fast-vs-slow-fashion#:~:text=Fast. Accessed 12 June 2023.
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