Fast Fashion & Sustainability: Will the Two Ever Get Along? (2024)

FAQs

Can fast fashion and sustainability ever really mix? ›

While fast fashion can never be sustainable, there are actions these brands can take that will push the industry in a better direction. Given the influence of the business model of the fashion industry, we need fast fashion to participate in the sustainable solutions available.

Outdated practices: Outdated practices within fast fashion often elicit more pollution and waste than they could if modernized practices were employed. By choosing modernized and streamlined production processes, businesses would produce fewer waste products and reduce the damage done to the environment.

Plastic fibres are polluting the oceans, the wastewater, toxic dyes, and the exploitation of underpaid workers. Fast fashion is big business, and while the environmental costs are rising, experts say there is another way: a circular economy for textiles.

Support minimalism: Slow Fashion items may be more expensive but you don't need as much when you know they'll last! Wash less. Sometimes it is enough to air-out clothes or partially remove stains before putting them in the washing machine. If washing, choose on cold and skip dry cleaning.

The main difference in fast vs. sustainable fashion is the amount of waste that each one produces. Sustainable fashion decreases waste by making clothing that is significantly better quality. Less waste leads to both less water pollution and fewer carbon emissions during production.

Reduced Carbon Dioxide and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Sustainable clothing uses biodegradable components from natural or recycled fibers. These materials grow with no pesticide or fertilizer use, consume less energy and water, and employ no chemical treatment, thus reducing the overall carbon footprint of these brands.

Is Sustainable Fashion Completely Sustainable? If we're honest with you, what we call sustainable fashion right now is not actually, technically, truly sustainable. All fashion creates greenhouse gas emissions during manufacture and shipping. Less than 1% of clothing is recycled into new clothing.

Fast fashion refers to the mass production of cheap, stylish clothes, resulting in significant environmental and labor issues. Mary Jo DiLonardo has worked in print, online, and broadcast journalism for 25 years and covers nature, health, science, and animals.

Fast fashion's benefits are affordable prices and instant gratification for consumers, more profits for companies, and the democratization of stylish clothing. On the downside, fast fashion is also associated with pollution, waste, the promulgation of a "disposable" mentality, low wages, and unsafe workplaces.

Why today's fashion is not sustainable? ›

These plastic-based textiles have a significant impact on the environment and climate throughout their life cycle due to emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants. The textile sector is a growing contributor to the climate crisis, with about 1% of crude oil production used to produce synthetic fibres.

With the help of fast fashion, today's consumers can buy new trendy clothing at a very low price. They can afford the latest articles and styles regularly because they are cheaply made. Fast fashion accelerates supply chains and drives costs down to meet constantly evolving consumers' demands.

Choose More Eco-Friendly Materials

Fast fashion makes use of a lot of cheap materials that use microplastics, for example, such as polyester and rayon. So instead, opt for items made from sustainable fabrics that are more durable, require fewer resources to produce, and are made of little to no microplastics.

Second-hand shopping is a great way to remove demand for fast fashion and prevent clothing from ending up in landfill. You could also swap clothes with friends or see if there are any clothing swap events going on in your area.

WHAT'S THE DEFINITION OF FAST FASHION? Fast fashion has three main components from the consumer's perspective: it's cheap, it's trendy and it's disposable. It makes purchasing clothes on impulse easy and affordable.

The thing is that ethical fashion will never reach the prices of ultra fast fashion — there are simply too many corners that have to be cut. That said, ethical fashion is not always more expensive. In fact, many fair fashion brands sell reasonably priced pieces similar to brands on the high street.

The Growing Community Stands Up For Sustainable Fashion

It contributes huge amounts to economies, creates jobs and holds a significant influence over society and global supply chains. It's because of this that there is a huge opportunity for fashion to create change.

Sustainable fashion (also known as eco-fashion) is a term describing products, processes, activities, and people (policymakers, brands, consumers) that aim to achieve a carbon-neutral fashion industry built on equality, social justice, animal welfare, and ecological integrity.

The rising consumers' demand for trendy and affordable clothing, the availability of low-cost labor overseas, quick manufacturing and communication innovations cause fast fashion.

The most obvious impact of fast fashion is the amount of clothing that ends up in landfill. When clothes are made cheaply, they don't last very long in people's wardrobes, but once they're thrown away, they don't biodegrade – this means they stick around in landfill for up to two hundred years.

What are the worst effects of fast fashion? ›

It dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams, while 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year. Even washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibres into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.

The disadvantages of fast fashion include –

not paying fair living wages to workers, poor working conditions, child labor, environmental destruction from hazardous chemicals, plastic-derived materials, and increasing amounts of water pollution and textile waste.

About 15% of global fashion consumers are already highly concerned about sustainability and consistently make purchasing decisions to lower their impact. That percentage could increase to more than 50% in the coming years as more shoppers gravitate toward sustainable practices.

Fast fashion promotes the throwaway culture, excessive consumerism, and makes clothes disposable commodities. Many consumers make purchasing decisions based on their emotions. Retailers use that behavior and tap into the subconscious of consumers.

Much modern clothing is not made to last. Due to super-fast production, designs are generally not well stress-tested before sale, and cheap synthetic fabrics are used in order to keep costs low. Much of it will end up in landfill after only being worn a handful of times.

This business model has been growing rapidly over the past 20 years. It answers consumers' rising demand for trendy and affordable clothes. Fast fashion has a huge economic impact. It's responsible for the recent growth (on average 4.78%) and future growth (5.91% in the next three years) of the apparel industry.

The issue of fast fashion can be traced back to the unethical business practices of corporations and companies. The preceding reason as to why companies are primarily responsible for fast fashion is because not every consumer can avoid it. Many consumers cannot afford to buy ethically produced fashion.

The apparel industry has the ability to provide dignified jobs for impoverished communities rather than forcing them further into poverty. While increased prices make many Fairtrade products inaccessible to those in poverty, a significant number of people who buy fast fashion have the means to buy Fairtrade.

Understand the problem with fast fashion

Water pollution. Pesticides & insecticides. Microplastics. High carbon footprint.

Its parent company, Walmart, is also a fast fashion brand.

In 2013, Walmart was one of the retailers associated with the Rana Plaza factory collapse.

What is the dark side of fast fashion? ›

The Darker Side of Fast-Fashion

Fast-fashion production is outsourced in countries like India, Vietnam, China, and Bangladesh with cheap labor. This raises other concerns in relation to the exploitation of workers who work in unsafe and inhumane conditions with zero safety net and low wages.

Welcome to the world of fast fashion. Fast fashion is a relatively recent phenomenon. During the 1990s, retailers began to introduce trendy, cheaply-priced, poorly-made clothes on a weekly basis, intending to match the breakneck pace at which fashion trends move.

Fast fashion still has a long way to go when it comes to sustainability. In fact, the nature of fast fashion - the intense turnaround times for new ranges and products - almost makes it impossible for fast fashion to ever truly be sustainable.

Because of this, the simple answer to your question is: no, fast fashion as a business model will never be sustainable. But here's where the confusion comes in. As we live through a climate crisis and the sustainable fashion movement continues to grow, fast fashion has caught onto these rising sustainability concerns.

Is Sustainable Fashion Completely Sustainable? If we're honest with you, what we call sustainable fashion right now is not actually, technically, truly sustainable. All fashion creates greenhouse gas emissions during manufacture and shipping. Less than 1% of clothing is recycled into new clothing.

Sustainable fashion is a way in which brands create clothing that not only reduces the impact on the environment but is also mindful of the people who work to produce the garments. Put simply, it is fashion that is ethically made and environmentally friendly.

Opt for organic and natural fibres, like cotton, linen, bamboo and hemp. Though they all come with their own issues, these materials are often kinder to the environment — and are all biodegradable. Being a more thoughtful consumer of fast fashion doesn't mean you have to go from zero to 100.

“Many of us are familiar with the news about Nike sweatshops, but they're just one of the many fast fashion brands violating human rights for the sake of fashion.” In addition to environmental impact, fast fashion affects the health of consumers and garment workers.

Approximately 65% of fashion consumers care about the environment, but only some regularly prioritize sustainability in their shopping.