Fast Fashion waste dilemma-First what is Fast Fashion?
I remember not that long ago; clothes shopping was an occasional activity mostly driven by season changes or when you out grew the clothes you had. Then clothes started to become cheaper, fashion cycles sped up with rapid inventory turnover. Shopping became more of an escape. Pretty soon anyone could indulge in mimicking the celebrity culture and trendy clothing based off the latest catwalk fashions. This is the goal of Fast Fashion brands, to get the newest styles on the market as fast and cheap as possible, so shoppers can buy them while they are still at the height of their popularity. This constant flow of clothing forms a key part of the toxic system of overproduction and consumption that has contributed to fashion being one of the world’s largest polluters.
How can you identify Fast Fashion brands? Here are the indicators.
· A huge number of styles that touch on all the latest trends.
· Very short turnaround time between when a garment is seen on the catwalk or in celebrity media and then hits the store shelf.
· Supply Chains that consist primarily with offshore manufacturing with cheap labor that lack adequate rights or safety. The supply chains are complex with little transparency beyond the first tier.
· A limited quantity of a particular garment. This drives consumers into the “buy it quick before it runs out” mindset.
· Materials are cheap and of low quality such as polyester and blends (primarily fossil fuel based). Construction of garments are bare minimum this causes clothes to degrade or fall apart after just a few wears and get thrown away.
This fast fashion system was designed for maximum profit with little to no thought on the overall impacts to the environment or the workers creating the clothing.
The Problem with “it’s okay, just donate or recycle it”
The Fast Fashion business model has us drowning in unwanted clothes and clothes made from low quality materials that are heavily fossil fuel based and too cheaply made to hold up for long. The apparel industry is now seemingly trying to grapple with the environmental and social costs of its Fast Fashion business models.
One area Fast Fashion is focusing is the end of use with promoting reuse and recycle. Take back programs are popping up in stores. On the surface that sounds great. But is it really?
When it comes time to clean out our closets of outdated, outgrown or worn clothes many people rely on donating to thrift stores and charity shops as a way get rid of unwanted clothes, feeling they are doing right for the environment. There is also growing online market for consumers to resell their gently used clothing as well. For some, being able to donate or resell old clothes justifies buying more clothes that they may not need. I also donate or recycle old clothes, and every time I have that lingering question what really happens to the garments I donate.
Charity shops like Goodwill offer levels of opportunity for the clothes to be sold. Clothes stay in the shops for several weeks, then if the clothes are not sold, they are shipped out to outlet stores and or baled and auctioned off. I personally researched one of my local large charity shops and it is shocking the amount of clothes that come in and is put on the floor. Then every two weeks pulled and baled, auctioned, and the majority ending up in landfills, incinerated or shipped overseas. That is from just one store. Imagine the huge amount of clothes from every thrift and charity shop.
Selling gently used clothes online is another option that is attractive because the consumer can earn from their old clothes. They still must be able to ship their clothes. But not all clothes will be accepted or sold. According to ThreadUp only 40% of the items received are accepted, 60% are not accepted due to clothes that are missing sizes, items with cosmetic defects (like a missing button or a small stain), brands or styles we have too much inventory of, and any men’s clothing items. According to the Council for Textile Recycling only about 10–20% of clothing donated for example to charitable clothing companies ends up resold back into the community. The bulk is resold to recycling companies.
A large problem with Fast Fashion is the quality of garment construction and low-grade materials that causes clothes to degrade or fall apart after just a few wears. This makes them more likely not to be accepted for resell and just tossed or end up at best recycled and worst incinerated or landfill.
Donating is a well-intentioned approach to dispose of old clothes. But does it really lessen the impact on the environment as much as consumers think it does. Looking at this from a natural systems perspective no it really does not lessen the impacts as much as people think. It delays some of the impacts by keeping clothes in circulation for as long as possible, but the impacts are largely still there. Because much of the clothing from the secondhand market still ends up in the recycling and waste stream.
Clothing production has roughly doubled since 2000.While people bought 60% more garments in 2014 than in 2000, they only kept the clothes for half as long.
Take-back programs to reclaim used clothes with in-store donation bins have become popular. On the surface this is a positive step. But is it really addressing the issue of reuse the way the consumers are led to believe with messaging? Is it making a big enough dent in the problem? Not really.
The messaging on many in-store donation bins has reuse and recycling claims with phrases like “creating the new” or “Shred the fibers and stitch into something new” that messaging implies the clothes can be made into new clothes. To encourage shoppers to donate used clothes they get a coupon or discount on a future purchase. This just reinforces the buy more attitude and serves the Fast Fashion business model.
It is also not that easy to turn used clothing into new fibers or new clothes. Because many clothes are blends, they don’t break down easily. The quality of cotton and wool is diminished by weakening the strands when it is recycled. Basically, you get a lesser product. There is not a lot of transparency about what happens to the clothing donated in the donation bins. For example, numbers are posted with how much is donated but it is not shown in context with how many garments continue to be produced, and there is no transparency as to where the donated clothes go after they are donated. Omitting these details paints a rosier sustainability story than what is actually happening to discarded garments.
It is clear we can not recycle or donate our way out of the vast environmental impacts of Fast Fashion the system needs to change.
Can Fast Fashion change for the better using a natural system thinking approach?
From this perspective change needs to happen at every part of the system of Fast Fashion and with a sense of urgency, innovation, and commitment. For example, the sheer volume of clothing produced and purchased daily it is estimated it could take a decade or more to recycle what even one store sells in a day. It is clear we have surpassed the carrying capacity of the earth.
The Business Model is the road map and currently the problem: Fast fashion is a model of cheaply made massed produced apparel that are sold at a low price. This appeals to the consumer desire for variety, speed and value in retail. On the surface it seems like a good value but not with poor construction and cheap materials. They are not designed for longevity but to be worn for a short time and discarded. The business model needs to change. Are Fast Fashion brands truly seeking to change their fundamental business model? Or are they primarily focusing on a feel-good in the moment fix of promoting recycling and reuse and placing the burden on the consumer and communities to deal with the waste of an old model business structure. Instead of a system designed from the top down at every stage with sustainability as the main driver.
Choices at the beginning of the production system matter: Supply Chains and Materials for a regenerative approach: No matter how environmentally sound a natural fiber is, diversity will be needed and adapted to locality because there is not a single new fiber source that can or should be scaled to equal fossil fuel-based fiber production. There will have to be a combination of the use of natural fibers, including cotton, wool, flax, hemp, ramie, etc. Plus, new fibers developed using agricultural waste, and new R&D around plant-based materials as a starting point for producing viscose/rayon and other man-made cellulosic fibers. There are even new innovations with fabric materials made from captured carbon emissions. The increased use of rPET is also not much of an improvement. It will still end up in the environment, plastic in plastic out.
The excuse is always the cost of natural sustainable fibers. Yes, Polyester currently does have cost advantage because of all the oil subsidies, scale, and decades of R&D focused on petroleum-based fibers. It is possible to change those economic drivers and increase R&D but Fast Fashion has to be part of the shift. The Fast Fashion industry can influence the changes on a large scale and make natural fibers cost competitive with an investment in R&D.
Manufacturing, it’s about people: Supply Chains that consist primarily with offshore manufacturing and cheap labor that lack adequate rights or safety. For example women make up the majority of workers and are the most vulnerable. The lack of living wages and safe conditions disproportionally affects women. The supply chains are also very complex with multiple tiers that are difficult to track. They shift in a constant race to shave off more profit margin. Legacy supply chains will have to be changed. For example, building on a new network based more on the resilience of cooperative decentralized regional production. This approach will help with providing better working conditions and wages. Design not just for reuse, recycling, repair. But also, for decomposition, non-harmful biodegradability, no harmful chemicals used at any stage. The supply chains and technology will have to be developed to reintegrate materials from recycled garments back into supply chains.
Taking Action:
Current Strategies that could scale up
· First produce less, right from the onset (better tracking of how much to produce based on data of what sells and does not).
· Do we really need 15-to-20-day cycles to produce new garments? Reevaluate following the intense seasonal calendar that fashion functions under. Instead, produce as needed.
· Design clothes for higher quality for longevity and adaptability, i.e. changing seasons and fashion trends.
· Offer a path and materials to repair garments.
· Design not just for reuse, recycling, repair. But also, for decomposition non-harmful biodegradability.
· Focus on new materials, i.e. natural, plant based i.e. agricultural waste. No harmful chemicals at any stage.
· Develop technology and systems to integrate recycled/donated clothes back into the supply chain.
· Third party certifications: Materials used, working conditions/wages with all tiers, manufacturing.
· Educating the consumer as to the true social and environmental impacts of the apparel brands they buy. Transparency is key.
Consumers what can you do?
· Keep doing the good things you are doing by recycling and donating your unwanted clothes. But demand from clothing brands the whole story of where those clothes go and the true impacts from the beginning of the garment to end of use.
· Advocate for policy change around the right to repair, end the use of harmful chemicals, supply chain and labor, and environmental impacts.
· Try your hand at refashioning or re-styling garments.
· Buy less and buy garments that last. Look for well made clothes from high quality sustainable materials, quality vs quantity.
· Support clothing brands that are transparent with all their environmental and social impacts that are verified by third party certifications.
· Support clothing brands that offer repair options.
Change can happen
I am encouraged by the innovations in natural and non-harmful materials, and sustainability focused business models from new smaller clothing brands. But the reality is the big Fast Fashion brands need to make significant changes in all aspects of their business models, not later but now with urgency. The world is past capacity to deal with the amount of clothing produced. Fast Fashion brands have an opportunity to truly make game changing innovations in all of their activities, will they rise to the challenge?
