The Environmental Costs of Fast Fashion
Most of us understand that the shopping choices we make have an impact on the wider world. As consumers we are more educated than ever before about the impacts that our consumer habits have, both on the environment and on the communities responsible for making the products we buy. As such, there has been a rise in the number of brands that are focusing on manufacturing and selling clothes that are more sustainable.
Consumers understand that the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, and that it contributes heavily to the pollution of our land, water, and air. We also know that much of the affordable clothing available on the high street and online is made by communities living in some of the poorer parts of the world. These communities bear the direct burden of this pollution, which contributes to poor health outcomes.
Fast fashion is also associated with unethical manufacturing processes, which include but are not limited to the use of sweatshops and child labour. This is the ugly side of the fashion industry, and it is something that everyone is guilty of partaking in to some degree. Even people who do everything they can to make sustainable and ethical shopping choices can end up supporting unethical businesses inadvertently.
These are only some of the issues with the fast fashion industry, and other issues relate to things as fundamental as the materials used to create clothing, and the manufacturing processes involved. For example, the leather tanning industry which is big business in places such as India, is extremely polluting and is responsible for releasing vast quantities of dangerous substances directly into the environment such as chromium.
These risks to the environment cannot be ignored, especially as global populations grow and our demands for affordable fashion increase. Unless drastic action is taken to mitigate these effects, we can expect these problems to get worse every year, particularly because legislators seem unwilling to provide legal frameworks for the amount of pollution that is permissible and to introduce laws that promote more ethical and sustainable manufacturing processes.
Do your bit by choosing ethical brands
The sportswear industry is one of the least sustainable in the world, what's this because a lot of sportswear is not made to last and needs to be replaced after only a relatively small number of wears. People who wear a lot of sportswear will tend to choose more affordable options that are not as long-lasting as they should be and can get through quite a lot of this kind of clothing every year.
There are a few brands which provide sustainable sportswear in the UK and this sportswear is usually made from specially designed fabrics and using different manufacturing methods that have a smaller impact on the environment. Sustainable brands will often use recycled materials such as nylon to produce the sportswear, and this is more environmentally sound than choosing virgin materials to produce that clothing.
Choosing sustainable clothing does not mean choosing clothing that is of lower quality, less fashionable. In fact, much of the modern sustainable clothing on the market directed at people while exercising is designed to be both sustainable and fashionable. Wild sustainable sportswear may be a little more expensive than fast fashion equivalents, you will find that it lasts longer and provides you with better value for money over time.
If you want to maximise the benefits of your low impact shopping, you should choose clothing that you intend to wear many times before disposing of it. This way you get your money's worth, and you are also not wasting the Earth's resources. Every piece of clothing that we buy, we should intend to wear it as many times as possible. It is no secret that some people are guilty of buying clothes that end up going unworn, only to be sent off to a landfill when we do a yearly wardrobe clear-out.
The most important thing to do is to reduce the amount of clothing we buy. Next, make sure every garment you do buy is worn at least 15 times or more - preferably until it is looking too worn to carry on wearing. You can also look into buying second hand clothing, or trading clothing with your friends when you no longer want it.