WASTE
limited use garments
Fast Fashion is exactly what it sounds like: FAST. Modern day consumers are heavily influenced by the changing world around them. Today we are used to getting exactly what we want when we want it. With the click of a button we can call an Uber, play a song, or check our social media status. The technological revolution has created immediate response times for shopping. Consumers have access to 3 Billion items on Amazon alone. With the click of a button, any of these items can arrive within 24 - 48 hours.
Naturally, the consumer now expects the same from the garment industry. They want choices and immediate access. In 2020, the average American will take more than 400 photos. Now that everyone is a highly photographed celebrity, each portrait must feature a different wardrobe. Consumers are no longer buying clothes to last, they are buying new clothes for every occasion. Half of all female consumers will only where a purchased garment 3 times or less.
disposal
Each year, every American throws away approximately 80 lbs. of clothing. Roughly 87% of this clothing will end up in a landfill. Because most clothes are now made with blends of plastics, they are not natural and thus will take 200+ years to denigrate. Furthermore, clothing that is added to a landfill will suffocate all other disposed materials beneath. As a result, methane emissions will increase exponentially.
recycling
As a result of recent public backlash on fast fashion waste, companies like Zara and H&M have been promoting recycling. These companies encourage customers to donate or recycle their unwanted clothes. However, the large majority of recycled and donated materials still end up in the landfill.
Because the fast-fashion industry uses cheap material that consists of a series of petroleum blends, the material is difficult and expensive to reincarnate.
Clothes that are donated go through a series charities before most of them are ultimately rejected:
Clothes are dropped off at local thrift store
If rejected by thrift store, often donated to charity
After 6 months of no movement in charity, clothes. are sold to independent buyers from 3rd world countries
Once rejected by citizens in 3rd world countries, clothes end up in 3rd world land fill.
POLLUTION
The clothing industry has always struggled with water, air, and surrounding land pollutants. Yet, in the past two decades the industry has increasingly relied on fossil fuels. With more and more clothing being derived out of synesthetic materials, fossil fuel consumption has skyrocketed.
Today polyester is the second most used material in the garment industry, next to cotton. To make polyester and other synthetics like it, coal and petroleum are both required. When these two components react with water and air at the right temperature, polyester is created as a byproduct.
342 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL PER YEAR
That’s enough to power the entire United Kingdom for 6 months. Because most garment manufacturing is done in third world countries, the byproduct of the used oil is often fed into local streams.
”Textiles emitted more than the emissions of all international flights and maritime shipping combined.”
