By Dasha Kuleba.
Waste in the Fashion Industry
In the US, 10.5 million tons of clothing is sent to landfills each year-- about 30 times heavier than the Empire State Building. It takes 2720 litres of water to make a T-shirt, which is how much a person drinks over the span of 3 years.
The fast fashion industry is responsible for producing 20% of global waste, and the fashion industry produces 10 percent of the world's emissions. It takes 80 years for clothes to break down in the landfills, and only 15 percent of consumers recycle their used clothing.
That is why we need sustainable fashion.
What does Fashion Sustainability mean?
Sustainable fashion, or eco-fashion, is a process of adapting change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological change and social justice. This includes not only making the production of clothing eco-friendly, but also paying fast fashion factory workers (which are mainly in developing countries) a fair living wage.
Fashion is a multi-billion dollar industry, but only a small percentage of that relates to ethnically sourced retailers.
Why is Fashion Sustainability important for the future?
Sustainable fashion saves natural resources.
According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development, fashion is the second most polluting industry, emitting 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year: more than air travel and shipping emissions combined. 1.5 trillion litres of water is used by the fashion industry each year.
Sustainable fashion improves quality of life.
Currently, around 170 million children are engaged in some form of garment work. Sustainable fashion doesn't support child labour.
Sustainable fashion will save the lives of animals.
The leather industry alone is slaughtering and killing over 430 million animals per year.
We cannot maintain our quality of life as humans, the diversity of life (of animals and humans), or the earth's ecosystem unless we embrace sustainability.
What is Fast Fashion and how does it link to sustainability?
You may not even know that your favorite stores are fast fashion. These include Shein, Primark, H&M, and Zara. Fast fashion can be characterized as cheap, trendy clothing that is inspired by catwalk trends or celebrity endorsement; retailers quickly meet the sudden customer demand. The concept is the shoppers can buy the newest styles as soon as they get onto the market and discard them after a few wears. This concept playing on consumerism and the idea that you will not be relevant if you don't have the latest fashion trends.
Ethically sustainable fashion brands we should support
Hissy Fit Clothing
This UK based clothing brand sells unique and trendy items that are British designed and manufactured, ranging from sizes 4 - 18.
Patagonia
Based in the US but sold worldwide, they are best known for Fair Trade Certified collections and environmental sustainability. Patagonia was one of the earliest defenders of environmental ethics in the active wear fashion industry.
Lucy & Yak
This brand began in New Zealand but later migrated back to the UK and started selling their handmade dungarees on Depop, selling out within hours. Now, they are a big, established brand with 13 employees in the UK and have pledged to always pay the Living wage. Each garment they make is made from organic fibers and all postage materials are 100 percent recyclable.
WEAREWEWEAR
They are a London based swimwear brand that praise body positivity as well as sustainability. Their 'Eco Edit' range is especially impressive, as it is made in Italy from unwanted waste materials such as fishing nets and industrial plastics.
Ultimately, I hope this article on Sustainability and Fast Fashion really opened your eyes and broadened your horizon to how problematic the fashion industry is, and what you can do to help create change and support more brands that are environmentally and socially ethical, or even shop second hand as this could be a great way to find unique vintage pieces! I'm not suggesting you to throw out all your fast fashion affiliated clothing, as this would just be adding to the waste problem, but try and cut down on your shopping habits.
British designer Vivienne Westwood once said, "Buy less, chose well, make it last".
Don't cling to the idea that re-wearing clothing is a fashion faux pas. We challenge you to go Eco friendly with your fashion consumption!
Find Dasha here.
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