Fast Fashion Will Be the Death of Us
Kayla Reidy
Fast fashion is killing our world. Quickly. Fast fashion is fashion that’s sold at incredibly low prices, produced by cheap or free labor, which most of the time is child labor. In Bangladesh, the average fast fashion worker makes the equivalent of 33 cents an hour. 93% of people working within the fashion industry do not make a living wage. While paying workers these inhumane wages, the fast fashion industry accumulates around $3 trillion in profits each year. In addition to screwing over their workers at every single turn, the fast fashion industry is quite literally killing our environment through its water consumption and carbon emissions.
As the second largest consumer of water globally, the fast fashion industry consumes approximately 79 trillion liters of water every single year. This accounts for 20% of international water waste. When manufacturing a single cotton shirt, fast fashion companies consume about 2,700 liters of water. To put that into perspective, 2,700 liters of water is enough for one person to survive on for up to 2.5 years. For a singular cotton shirt. When manufacturing one pair of jeans, fast fashion companies consume about 7,600 liters of water. Enough for one person to survive on for up to 7 years. Again, for a singular pair of jeans. When considering that approximately 1 billion pieces of clothing are produced by the fast fashion industry annually…there is quite a lot of wastewater that could be put towards helping to solve the growing water crises around the world.
The fast fashion industry not only uses up vital resources like water, it also emits dangerous products into the environment. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions, making it the second largest contributor to global carbon emissions. Fast fashion alone contributes 5% of global carbon emissions, emitting approximately 1.2 billion tons of CO2 or CO2 equivalent annually, more than international air travel shipping combined. When manufacturing one pair of jeans, fast fashion companies emit around 33.4 kg of CO2, the same as the average car emits when traveling over 80 miles. If current trends continue, the fashion industry will use 25% of the international carbon budget by 2050.
Obviously we can all agree that this is not sustainable, so how is it continuing? Fast fashion companies purposefully use cheap materials that last for short periods of time in order to force buyers to replace their clothing more frequently. The average life cycle of clothing is steadily decreasing, contributing to the exponential increase in the rate at which people are buying new clothes. In 2014, the average person in the United States purchased around 35 pounds of new clothes. While fast fashion companies continue to manufacture clothes that fit the new, trendiest style, the clothes that we discard in order to justify purchasing these new clothes sit in landfills for years. In 2015, the fashion industry created 92 million tons of waste. Even with current technologies, it will take 12 years to recycle what fast fashion companies produce every 48 hours. At the end of the day, the best, most sustainable clothes for you to wear are those that you already have in your closet!
Although it is important to address these environmental factors, it’s also extremely important to note that avoiding fast fashion companies is not always an option for some. As privileged upper to middle class white kids, who can afford to buy from sustainable clothing lines, continue to shop at thrift stores, the prices have begun to rise out of price range for many. Those who can no longer afford to shop at thrift stores are now being forced to buy clothes from fast fashion companies, so when encouraging friends and family to stay away from fast fashion, remember to keep in mind the privilege that comes along with that ability.
It is past time for the fast fashion industry to be held accountable. If things do not significantly change, and quickly, by 2030 there will be a 60% increase in the fast fashion industry. Unfortunately, due to capitalism, fast fashion and all other forms of exploitation are inevitable and unlikely to change until we demand a revolution to make that change happen.
Kayla (she/her) has been organizing with Ohio Youth for Climate Justice since March 2020. She began her work in organizing through the gun violence prevention movement, but has since become passionate about a wide variety of topics. The most important thing to Kayla when doing organizing work is to ensure that all issues are viewed through an intersectional lens, because only when our most marginalized communities are truly liberated can our society be truly just.
