June Top Tips | Fast Fashion and Consumerism

Happy June everyone!

This month you'll get introduced to the topic of fast fashion. It is a big thing, not only because of environmental reasons but also touches on topics such as child labour and exploitation. We know this sounds pretty grave once again, but here is some good news (surprise, surprise!): You can do something! Read on to learn about what fast fashion is, where the problems are and what you can do better.

1) What is fast fashion?!

Fast fashion is a term for the ever-changing demand and supply loop of the clothing industry. Every season people want to wear different things, and different clothes are in style. That leads to people buying clothes, wearing them as long as everyone else thinks they're great and then jumping to the next wave of clothes. The demand of the masses changes quickly and the clothing industry has to react just a step ahead of them to make money. The goal is to produce the wanted clothes as quickly, as cheaply and as many as possible to make the most money. The result: Cheaply made and extremely unsustainable clothes that are destined to only last one season and be thrown away directly.

2) Where is the problem?

The problem with fast fashion is that it is fast, a lot and cheap. Producing many clothes cheaply and in a short period of time comes with a super heavy toll on the environment and the workers. For the clothes to be cheap places with really low minimum wage etc. are chosen and the people are systematically exploited so you can buy clothing that looks the same as the thing your favourite celebrity wore 10 days ago, only for a quarter of the price. (I made the quarter-thing up, that is not a fact or something, more a figure of speech to get my idea over.) This tends to violate human rights as the working conditions usually aren't safe, or children have to work and breathe in the toxic chemicals the clothes are dyed with.

That brings us to the next point: waste. I'm not going to throw around numbers now because most people can't picture that anyway, however, the fast fashion industry has this rather unhealthy habit of dumping their unfiltered wastewater right into the nearby rivers which (as you can imagine) is REALLY unhealthy! The chemicals in the dye are very toxic and kill marine life and pollute the water so people and other animals living near the rivers also suffer. That toxic-gross-death-colourful-stinky water now follows the river which naturally leads into the ocean!

Additionally, society has made a habit of only wearing their clothing a couple of times before throwing it away because it is either out of trend, they didn't actually like it and just bought it because it was there, or it breaks or looks faded quickly due to poor quality. This produces thousands of kilograms of waste yearly!

Apart from the water simply being dirty the making of clothes requires a lot of water which, as we have discussed in some of our previous articles, isn't great for the environment either. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much text, but you need to know the main things so I'll keep it short for now.

Obviously, the material also plays a role, as many clothes are made from the same or similar types of plastic bottles are made from. The most common ones include polyester and nylon. Not unlike microplastic, clothes wear out and release small parts of the fabric. These are called microfibres and spread around the world, in our bodies and our surroundings etc. Not that great either. However, cotton is not amazing either because it needs TONS of water to grow in such masses as the public demands (not requires) it. This may lead to desertification. Plus cotton needs to grow in a warm place and be transported all over the globe.

3) What can I do?

Here are a few tips:

Trends don't last long so don't always buy clothes that are part of the newest trend. This will save you money and help the environment.
Buy from trusted sources. Fairtrade is very important. Often the production of fast fashion clothes violates human rights.
The cheapest clothes are not always the best. Consider who makes them and how much work that is when you buy a really cheap garment. How much do the actual workers get? It can't be much when that dress is only a couple of euros.
Don't just throw your clothes away when they have a hole! They still work and it even is a trend to wear trousers with holes. You can also get them fixed. I wore my shoes till the soles nearly fell off and it was fine!
When you buy clothes, only buy what you truly like and need. We know it can sometimes be hard to choose from all the stuff, but if it will only land in the trash because you end up not really liking it that's a waste of time, work, money, earth and respect.

We hope this was an interesting read and see you soon in the next post!

Your Green World Blog Team💚

Sources:
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/fashion-clothing/what-fast-fashion-why-it-problem
https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/en/whats-wrong-with-the-fashion-industry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLfNUD0-8ts

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