Ethics of Fast Fashion

Diya Lail

Low-priced stylish clothing that moves quickly from design to retail to keep up with new fashion trends. This is fast fashion in a nutshell, but is it ethical?

The short answer is no. According to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation a garment is worn, on average, seven to ten times before being discarded. Seven to ten times the number of times a new “trend” is worn before it is no longer seen as fashionable. For economists, the severe lack of recycling and utilizing of clothing results in more than $500 billion of value being lost every year.

For environmentalists, the constant waste of good quality clothes has led to 92 million tonnes of clothing ending up in landfills yearly. The environmental statistics of fast fashion are considerably larger than you may think, fast fashion generates more CO2 than aviation and shipping combined making it the second largest industrial polluter. Fast fashion drains water sources and pollutes rivers, washing your clothes results in 500,000 tonnes of microfibres being released into the ocean annually. A cotton shirt needs 700 gallons of water, and a pair of jeans needs 2000. A study from the International Union for Conservation of Nature showed that 35% of microplastics were produced by the laundering of clothes. 85% of textiles end up in landfills, which degrades and destroys the land as well as the decomposition of the clothes releasing further harmful gases. The environmental statistics and studies show that fast fashion is an energy-intensive and environmentally damaging trend.

But fast fashion does not just affect the environment, who do you think made your clothes? Studies show that 80% of workers consisted of young women aged between 18 and 24. However, the fast fashion industry has always been about low costs for low prices; and evidence gathered by the US Department of Labour proved that there was the use of forced and child labour in developing countries, such as Bangladesh and Indonesia. In 2013, an eight-story building in Dhaka, which contained several garment factories, collapsed killing 1,134 workers and injuring a further 2500. The shirt on your back may have a story of its own, one that defies ethics laws and regulations.

When it comes to ethics your favourite brand probably should not be your favourite, whether you’re shopping for shoes at Adidas and Nike or the next fashion trend in Zara or Forever 21, in the ethics of fast fashion no brand is innocent.

So, the solution, I’m not saying that you have to stop buying clothes from every brand altogether but think about what your money may be funding, it isn’t necessary to buy something new every time you go out.

30 degrees Celsius, the recommended temperature to wash your clothes at so they can last even longer than the seven to ten times they may otherwise have been worn. Buy second-hand clothes, charity shops, thrifting, Vinted, and Depop, by doing so you can save the environment and your bank account from the impacts of fast fashion. There are many simple changes that you can make to ensure that you are not becoming a contributor to the consequences that fast fashion brings.