What is fast fashion and how is it damaging the planet? (2024)

Our love of new clothes and our thirst for the latest fashions comes at a cost to the planet. As the need to address climate change becomes ever more urgent, we need to learn about the impact our clothes have on the environment and how we can cut the carbon from our closets.

It may surprise you to learn that the fashion industry produces about 10 percent of annual global carbon emissions, which is more than all maritime shipping and international flights combined. What’s more, fashion’s emissions of harmful greenhouse gases are projected to grow by more than 50 percent by 2030.

The fashion sector (including cotton farming) also uses about 93 billion cubic meters of water annually, representing 4 percent of all global freshwater withdrawal. In fact, just to manufacture a single pair of jeans requires a staggering 3,781 liters of water. And every second of the day, the equivalent of a garbage truck full of textiles is burned or added to landfill, while textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally.

And the main culprit is fast fashion.

Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry’s model of mass-producing clothes at low cost with high-speed turnaround times to replicate the latest streetwear and fashion trends as they appear in real-time on catwalks or on our social media feeds. Fashion trends are no longer seasonal, the latest desirable styles can be created and then appear in retail or online stores on a weekly basis.

This has encouraged the over consumption of clothing over the past two decades and driven a perception that clothes are disposable items rather than durable products.

But fast fashion is ultimately driven by us – the consumers. For a start, fast fashion is growing as people buy more clothes more frequently. An estimated 50 billion new garments were made in 2000; 20 years later and this figure has doubled to 100 billion. The average person today buys 60 percent more clothes than they did at the turn of the century and yet we keep them for roughly half as long.

Our desire for affordable, mass-produced clothing has also incentivized the fashion industry to become increasingly globalized, which creates huge additional carbon emissions as clothing is transported across the world to meet consumers’ next day demands by rail, road, sea and air.

“Most people don’t realize that those items in their wardrobe create about 10 percent of global carbon emissions and cause other environmental damage,” says Linda Freiner, Group Head of Sustainability at Zurich Insurance Group. “We need to raise awareness of the carbon in our closets, and, through education and industry measures, ensure sustainable fashion – rather than fast fashion – becomes the toast of our catwalks.”

So, what can be done to turn this fast-moving and seemingly throwaway sector of the economy into the “sustainable fashion” industry we need for a net-zero future? Here are five practical ways to help turn your closet green:

1. New and sustainable textiles

You might not immediately associate clothes with cutting-edge technology, but the development of innovative materials will be a key step in making fashion more environmentally friendly. The main aim of these next-generation textiles is to increase the durability and longevity of clothes, or to allow the materials from which clothes are made to be more easily recycled into other products.

Technology also comes into play when making fashion products out of recycled materials. For example, sports shoes are now being manufactured using recycled ocean plastic, while fashion brand RubyMoon creates swimwear from used fishing nets – and in doing so claims to have reduced its carbon footprint by 42 percent.

Switching to sustainable fabrics will also help. The Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 2020 (SCAP) states switching to sustainable cotton – certified by the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Organic Cotton and Cotton Made in Africa – will improve the material’s water footprint and reduce carbon emissions associated with clothing.

2. Buy second-hand

The simplest way to lower your fashion collection’s carbon footprint is to contribute to the so-called circular economy by buying second-hand clothing. You should still shop wisely and avoid purchases that you won’t treasure for the long term, but second-hand clothes are increasingly on trend because of their environmental benefits. In fact, the total value of the global secondhand clothing market is predicted to more than double from its value today to reach USD 77 billion by 2025. By 2030, will buying lots of brand-new clothes be frowned upon in the same way that driving a petrol-guzzling car or traveling by private jet is today?

3. Rent or borrow

Because so many of our clothes are worn only on special occasions, it makes environmental and economic sense to rent them or borrow them from friends and family. This could also allow you to wear more expensive outfits than you otherwise could afford to purchase outright. Fashion rental platforms like By Rotation and My Wardrobe HQ have become de rigueur and are very much in demand.

4. Upcycle

As the name suggests, upcycling is the opposite of recycling. Instead of breaking down an old item into its constituent materials to then reuse them, upcycling takes discarded products and refashions them into new products of a higher value or quality than the original. Upcycling is one of the biggest trends in fashion according to Vogue.

For instance, fashion label Reformation makes its clothes from low-impact materials, rescued deadstock fabrics – leftover seasonal stock that often goes to landfill – and repurposed vintage clothing.

5. Repair and reuse

Most of us buy or are given clothes we never wear. In fact, in some countries, an estimated 40 percent of purchased clothing is never used. Repairing damaged clothes or deciding to wear them for a longer time can help: a UK study by SCAP shows that wearing an item of clothing for nine months longer could reduce its environmental impact by up to 30 percent. A growing number of fashion brands, such as the environmentally-focused outdoor clothing company Patagonia, are now inviting customers to return any items of clothing to their stores that can’t be repaired so they can be recycled instead. Fashion trends are often cyclical. Now the way we make, wear, repair and reuse clothing must become circular too.