Content Overview:Fashion is and always has been a cornerstone of our society and economy. Fashion has much more than an aesthetic dimension. Since antiquity, fashion has not only been a way to keep warm in the cold months, or to cover the naked body. In thisBiopedia.bg article, you will learn more about how the fashion industry is changing the world through sustainable fashion.
Fashion is a way of self-expression, an important factor of the economic, political world and practically all aspects of life. For centuries, people have used fashion to demonstrate their status and personal style while following the trends of the age.
This is why sustainable fashion is so important to our world.
Fortunately, the latest trend in fashion is sustainability. For anyone concerned with creating balance in nature, preserving it and ensuring minimal damage, choosing sustainable fashion brooks no hesitation .
Fast fashion shows many negative impacts on the environment, our society, our health and the quality of our clothes.
Globally, many more people are now aware of the negative sides of fast fashion and the importance of opting for sustainable fashion. Our generations are becoming more socially responsible and environmentally conscious, which means that the move towards increased sustainability in the context of fashion is only just beginning.
What are the problems that fast fashion creates, how can they be overcome and what can you do to change the world and help protect nature and ethical working conditions worldwide by choosing sustainable fashion - all these questions we will try to answer in this article.
What is the harm that fast fashion does?
Our society is highly materialistic and prone to overconsumption. People buy clothes just for the feeling that shopping gives them, or to wear them once and then throw the clothes away.
Retailers are constantly changing trends to get consumers to keep buying more, which keeps retailers in business but ultimately seriously damages the environment.
Compared with 15 years ago, the average person buys 60% more clothes and keeps them in their wardrobe for half as long. People keep buying, which is rapidly increasing the waste produced by the fashion industry.
Fast fashion is dealing a serious blow to the environment and the way people live all over the world. Clothing production is responsible for 8% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. If kept at the rate it is now, CO2 emissions produced by the fashion industry are expected to increase to 2.8 billion tonnes per year by 2030.
This is the equivalent of 230 million passenger vehicles driven in a year.
Fast fashion is literally choking us.
It is also suffocating us metaphorically, because it opens up this huge gap between the different strata of society, it puts us into this never-ending marathon where we are struggling to be fashionable and up-to-date and just as we satisfy a trend, it has already changed.
Negative aspects of fast fashion:
Chemicals
Cotton covers only 3% of the planet's farmland, but generates 16% of all insecticides and 7% of all herbicides.
Ordinary cotton requires 1/3 chemicals for every 500 grams to make a t-shirt, and 3/4 chemicals for every 500 grams to make a pair of jeans. These chemicals are bad for the environment as well as your health and skin!
Social factors
The fashion industry is notorious for its poor working conditions. Over 50% of workers in the fashion industry are not even paid minimum wage, and there are many children forced to work in sweatshops and factories to the point of exhaustion for pennies. People are literally dying of exhaustion so that a few cheap T-shirts and dresses can hang in our wardrobes in the new season.
Resources
Agriculture uses a lot of land and natural resources, especially water. It takes about 2,720 L of water to produce one cotton shirt - equivalent to one person's water consumption for three years.
The Global Fashion Agenda predicts that the fashion industry will use 35% more land to plant cotton, forests for cellulose fibre and pastures for livestock by 2030. This means we will be using even more of our natural resources - and the materials simply end their short lives discarded in landfills after just one season of wear.
Pollution
Apparel manufacturing accounts for 20% of global water pollution due to the microfibers and dyes used in water treatment that severely impacts our waterways and oceans.
Waste
Nearly 60% of all clothing ends up in landfills or incinerators within a year of being made. This ultimately costs an estimated $100 billion. Considering how much money goes into producing these clothes, this waste is even harder to swallow.
Health
There are over 2,400 substances and chemicals used in the production of clothing, 30% of which pose a serious risk to human health.
The materials you put on your body every day matter to your health and well-being. Chemicals can soak into your skin, affect the cells of all systems and lead to long-term health problems.
Let's not even mention how expensive fast fashion actually is. Constantly buying and throwing away clothes seriously damages our wallets.
When you take into account that these goods contain chemicals that can damage our health, you also have to take into account the health care costs. Fast fashion is certainly not worth the damage it causes.
Sustainable fashion - what is it?
Sustainable fashion has many different elements and encompasses a wide range of 'nature and environment friendly' clothing options. 'Sustainable' refers to clothes that are well made and last longer, helping to reduce the turnover coming from fast fashion that damages our environment and health.
Furthermore, sustainable fashion is a way of producing clothes and fashion items that implies less consumption of non-renewable resources, less or no pollution, more ethical treatment of those working in the industry with proper pay, and a number of other pluses and benefits.
The goal of sustainable fashion is to extend the life cycle of materials, reduce waste and increase the value of timeless garments that are not affected by temporary trends. The main goal of sustainable fashion is to produce eco-friendly garments that stand the test of time.
- Sustainable fashion - key factors
- There are seven key factors for sustainable fashion:
- Clean and green/environmentally friendly
- Quality and not influenced by temporary trends
- Fair and ethical
- Second-hand and vintage
- Repairing and repurposing
- Clothing rental and exchange
