The Danger of Fast Fashion

Let's take a hot second to slow down. What exactly is fast fashion?

Well, it's a term used to relate to a current business model where cheap (and dangerous) materials coupled with cheap (and atrocious) labor are used to churn out tons of new "fashionable" clothes for the ever-hungry consumerism mindset that plagues so much of the world.

Fashion, a $2.5 trillion sector, is actually the 2nd most polluting industry on earth - right behind oil. The environmental and humanitarian impacts are atrocious. Fast fashion incorporates the use of cheap, toxic textile dyes. Additionally, those working in fashion factories are being exposed daily to these harmful chemicals and pollutants, with neighbors of these factories also suffering from the air and water pollution the factories release into the surrounding environment.

Only 2% of those working in the fashion industry actually earn a living wage.

The environmental impact is numbing as well. Over 11 million TONS of textiles are wasted each year in the US alone. These textiles are worn maybe only a few times, being being thrown away and dumped into landfills where it takes clothes 80 years to breakdown in the landfills, releasing the toxic dyes from the materials into our water supply and soil, eventually finding their ways back into our bodies as we drink water and consume food. Additionally, 700 gallons of water are used to make ONE cotton shirt.

So, what can we do? SLOW DOWN.

Buy less - do you really "need" that new outfit?
Shop thrift - stop feeding into the harmful fast fashion industry and buy what's already been made.
Make your voice heard with your dollars - use consumerism for good! Show companies that you prioritize human rights and environmental health.
Buy eco-friendly - research companies who are mindful of their environmental and humanitarian impacts, and buy from them if you "need" something "new."
Donate or upcycle - tired of wearing the same outfits for the past several years? Donate to shelters and/or upcycle your textiles - make something new with them!

For more information, watch the sobering film, The True Cost on WaterBear Network.

Be fashionable. Be thrifty. Be environmentally- and human-friendly.

Featured in this post's picture: shirt and denim found at the local thrift shop.

How about you? Do you like thrifting? What's your favorite sustainable brands? Comment below!

for the love of the world + all on it.

x o , rachel

Sources:

https://truecostmovie.com/learn-more/environmental-impact/

https://www.bwss.org/fastfashion/