There is no doubt in saying that the fashion world has evolved in recent years to a larger level where new talent has been given the opportunity to reinvent ideas and creativity. It certainly has a negative impact on influencing the global audience to opt for fast fashion.
Fast fashion was invented with Zara when the founder Amancio Ortega established the business model of creating designs all year round instead of producing seasonal clothing in a huge production. These designs to date are sold all over the world in smaller volumes at a fixed price. Later many brands embraced the concept for greater profit and changed the consumers' habits to invest in cheaper clothing that never gets worn more than twice.
Customers had to act quickly to make purchases before the restricted number of designs were sold out because the transition from the runway to the store happened quickly and new styles were rotated frequently.
The problems with the fast fashion
Climatic concerns
Around 8% of the industrial clothing causes global climatic impacts by increasing the carbon emissions equivalent to taking a 4,100 km flight. Fast fashion has an impact on the environment in a number of ways, including freshwater use, the use of finite resources, the use of fossil fuels for energy, and consequences on human health. The majority of the contributions come from the stages of textile production and preparation, dyeing, and finishing, with distribution and disposal having a very minor impact.
Waste dumps
Due to its reliance on the capacity to produce goods in huge quantities, fast fashion directly contributes to rising emissions. The past 15 years have seen a two-fold growth in apparel production as a result of the growing popularity of fast fashion. By 2050, it is predicted that our clothing will consume more than a fifth of the carbon budget for a 2-degree scenario. While 97% of clothing is made from virgin materials with very little being recycled or reused, 73% of old clothing is directly disposed of in landfills.
This cheap clothing made from synthetics can take up to thousands of years to break down entirely. Recycling poses its own difficulties. Separating each type of cloth is necessary, in addition to separating elastic waistbands and buttons, which require extensive labor for a comparatively cheaper fabric. All of this adds up to the cost that is not practical to generate.
Chemical release
Although natural textiles like cotton are frequently produced using unsustainable methods, petroleum is the chemical source of synthetic materials. They use a lot of pesticides, which frequently end up in waterways and have additional detrimental effects. Additionally, they use a lot of freshwater.
Throughout the dyeing process, a lot of chemicals are used to both create the color and bind it to the fabric. These chemicals may make you uncomfortable when they come into contact with your skin, but they can also pollute the water supply during production, and employees may be exposed to harmful compounds in large doses for an extended period of time.
Conclusion
The goal of fast fashion is to turn a profit by creating lots of cheap clothing in large quantities. The effects of increasing manufacturing in this way are amplified in the supply chain. This addresses the effects of fast fashion on society and the environment. Despite the issues of high volume production, the takeover of industrial clothing has posed environmental threats that if not taken care of now, will convert the entire land on the planet into a dumping ground.
