The term “fast fashion” was first coined by The New York Times in the early 1990s when they described Zara’s mission to speed up the transport process of clothing items, wanting them to go from production to making sales in stores all within 15 days. The design, production, and marketing process is more about driving low prices to capitalize on fashion trends, in an effort to stay relevant and financially well as quickly as possible. By keeping prices low, more quantities of the products are distributed and with higher variety because they can produce more. Options, trendy, and cheap? Sounds like a good deal, but that’s before considering how our Earth and people are sacrificed. Garment manufacturers often experience unsafe conditions and unfair wages amongst others, and while labour rights are a major problem in the world of fast-fashion, my focus lies on the environmental impact of the industry.
Fashion in general is the third largest contaminating industry, emitting 10 per cent of global greenhouse gases. That’s more than the aviation and shipping industry together, which introduce 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into our air every year. Fashion production produces 10 per cent of global carbon emissions, and 85 per cent of that is textiles just going to the dump which pollute our rivers and streams. Make no mistake, I love fashion, but I don’t want to harm the Earth by contributing to its pollution. It’s hard because we all need clothes on our backs if we’re fortunate enough to have access to them, but I’m stunned at how big of a problem that has become.
Besides our water, microplastics are another element that significantly impact our world through fast fashion. Microplastics are pieces of non-biodegradable plastic that are found in our oceans and 35 per cent of them come from materials like polyester and nylon. Those are two materials you likely see clothes made from the most in your regular shopping mall brands. The bigger problem is that each year the world consumes 80 billion new pieces of clothing. That’s a lot of waste.
I believe fashion has become such an integral part of our culture and society that I have my doubts people are going to stop shopping at fast fashion stores. For many, clothes are a way to express oneself socially, artistically, and career-wise, making the choice to stop consuming fast fashion a challenging one for consumers. To put it bluntly, I don’t think that sacrifice is nearly as detrimental as killing our Earth though. I mean, we would literally need to live in our birthday suits to really achieve a solution to this problem, but one step in the right direction is thrifting. It’s become quite a popular activity instead of shopping till you drop at busy malls. If we look at the lifetime impact of buying second hand, the difference we can make is insane.
If every single one of us bought just one second hand item, it would save 8.41 pounds of carbon dioxide, 16.48 kilowatthours of energy, and 88.89 gallons of water. If 100 people do that, we’re saving 841 pounds of carbon dioxide, 1,648 kilowatthours of energy, and 8,889 gallons of water.
Even though thrifting can be beneficial, it’s far from the best option. I was shocked to learn that 700,000 tons of used clothing are exported overseas on average and 2.5 million tons are recycled. Out of all that, 10 million tons are sent to landfills. So even if we donate clothes to thrift stores or buy from them, there’s still items that get thrown away. It feels like a hopeless situation, but perhaps slow fashion could be our saving grace.
Slow fashion is a manufacturing process based on quality, where designers spend more time on each step of the design process to ensure the clothes are made sustainable for the environment, people, and animals. Essentially, it’s about input not a trend or design, and in prioritizing that, the output will come. Slow fashion clothing isn’t necessarily cheap because of this quality, but it will last you much longer than a fast fashion piece. I can already hear the environment thanking us. Some Vancouver-based brands that are committed to maintaining a slow-fashion –– and their clothes still look cute –– are Anián, Beaton Linen, Decade Studio, and Buo Jewelry amongst (to my surprise) many others.
Other ways to avoid investing in fast fashion is to repair and upcycle! Don’t throw away damaged clothing, instead make old jeans into an art project or turn that shirt into a towel. I suggest getting your friends together and swapping clothes which actually sounds really fun. Most importantly, take care of your clothes and find new ways to style your pieces.
Whether it’s thrifting, slow fashion, upcycling, or donating clothes that you don’t need anymore instead of throwing them away, avoiding fast fashion is possible. What I’ve learned is that the impact of what we do and how we live has a big negative effect on the world, but the impact of what we can do to help the world is even bigger.
Veronica is a Staff Writer at The Cascade. She loves to travel and explore new places, no matter how big or small. She is in her second year at UFV, pursuing the study of Creative
Writing.