Effects of Fast Fashion

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• Labour is usually produced in countries within the developing world where work regulations and minimal wage are virtually non-existent. As the manufacturing process does not require high level skills, workers accept low wages due to being desperate for any kind of income which will help put food on the table for their family.

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• The production of textiles requires the use of chemicals, which harm people who become exposed to them. There is also a rise in cancer, birth defects and respiratory disease due to the harmful effect that the chemicals are having on human health. Depression and suicide is also on the uprise within the manufacturing sector due to the pressure put on employees and the poor working conditions.

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• Fashion trends inherently create a situation where more buying occurs and not all clothing items bought are being used. Lower production costs also mean that finished items are sold to customers at a very low rate and people can afford quantity over quality.

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• Air freight is used to facilitate product supply and as a result, high levels of carbon are emitted in the transportation stage of the fast fashion supply chain. Air transportation is the preferred transport due to the high demands to deliver mass amounts of fashion on a weekly basis.

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• Manufacturing sectors rely heavily on fossil fuels such as coal to produce energy. Burning fossil fuel releases carbon, a greenhouse gas, which warms the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. This makes the mass production of fast fashion unsustainable.

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• Textiles are coloured with toxic dyes and the dye coloured waters are then washed into waterways.  As a result, coloured wastewater makes its way into fresh waters and oceans causing irreversible water pollution. 

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• Cotton which is the most used raw material in the fast fashion industry is produced using excessive water.  Cotton also accounts for a huge usage of insecticides and pesticides. Chemicals used in cotton farming often  get absorbed into the dirt and then run into waterways, contributing to global water pollution.

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• Textile waste is one of the biggest environmental risks of fast fashion. Consumer demand for fast fashion increases, landfill waste rises. The majority of textiles are not disposed of in an eco-friendly way at the end of there life stage. Synthetic fibres do not decompose and when sent to landfill release methane, a strong greenhouse gas which is twenty-one times more powerful than carbon at warming the environment.

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• Leather, exotic fur and animal skin fashion products such as shoes, bags, coats and jackets are often associated with superior quality, luxury and an expensive price tag. It’s worth remembering that an animal has had to pay an even higher price for it. These animals have to go through forced farming, food deprivation, mistreatment, painful killing methods, and sometimes even being skinned alive.

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• While it is true that this material can be eco-friendly, it is not always produced in the most ethical manner. Sheep are usually sheared once a year for the purpose of using their wool and this process can be quite painful for them. “Mulesing” involves cutting flesh from the sheep’s backside and is often carried out without any painkillers.

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• Animal cruelty doesn’t just exist in the clothing industry but also in the cosmetics industry. A lot of times, those beauty products that you are putting on your face have first been tried and tested on animals first in the most cruel imaginable settings.

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• we use the washing machine, synthetic microfibers are released while the items are being washed and this debris later ends up in our sea. This directly affects the fish and marine life who end up swallowing those microfibers and therefore disrupting their food chain. The lower the quality of the materials, the more microfibers it shreds while being washed.

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• Pesticides from cotton farming and the dyes used from textile processing also find a way into our rivers and as a result pollute our waters and the entire food chains, causing large amounts of fish to die every year.