Fast Fashion's Ugly Side
Nowadays, majority of the world's population wants to remain trendy with the latest fashion but this is costing us our environment. As trends keep changing, so does clothes in our wardrobe, ditching our old clothes increasing wastage.
Fast Fashion refers to cheaply produced and priced garments that duplicate the latest high end fashion. These cheaply produced clothes are flooded into the market to capture the latest trends and fast fashion companies maximize on the profits. Business Insider reports that the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of the carbon emissions at the same time water in rivers and streams are polluted.
Since they are produced in masses and at a low cost, dumping of old fashioned clothes is also at a high rate. Annually, 85% of textiles end up in dumps. Washing of clothes also produce 500,000 tons of micro fiber (equals to 50 billion plastic bottles) that is released in the Ocean.
What can we do to save the situation and look trendy at the same time?
1. Consumers can opt to hire trendy clothes when they need to instead of purchasing clothes resulting to fewer clothes being bought and dumped.
2. Fast fashion producers like Patagonia can adopt new business models that enhances sustainability and is environmental friendly
3. We can all encourage recycling of fabric to reduce pollution
4. Governments need to make policy that will encourage sustainable fashion.
