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The Dark side of Fashion- Fast Fashion
Textile industry in India has a significant role in the economy. It provides employment to the largest number of people, especially in the rural areas, second only to the agriculture sector. Fashion industry that comprises of textile as well as clothing is a very dynamic industry. no other industry churns out as many designs as the fashion industry. It brings out new designs by the hour and even the creative professionals admire the designs for their ingenuity and originality. The fashion business has achieved customer delight by not only meeting their requirements for apparel, accessories, and other items for various occasions and events, but also by providing them with fresh collections for all the occasions, big or small. The young as well as the grown-ups are spoilt for choices when it comes to fashion. Many researches have revealed the stark truth about our fashion behavior. Majority of the consumers have cupboards full of garments and accessories, many of which they wear once or twice. Moreover, there are a few other such articles which are still waiting to be used! Lesser said about this preoccupation of ours with the latest fashion, better! Despite the vibrant energy that comes with fashion products, one of the most critical issues created by the textile industry is the pollution it has been generating, year after year, which is causing large scale damages to the environment, some of them are irreparable. The textile and clothing sector is the world's second largest polluter after oil. Every year, 13 million tonnes of textile waste is generated, 95% of which might have been repurposed or recycled. Not only does the fashion industry generates waste, the manufacturing of the fashion product poses a huge drain on a lot of natural resources, resources like water, land, air, etc. In addition to this, the waste generated by the fashion industry then pollutes the same natural resources – water, land, air and other resources in the form of water pollution, the landfills, air pollution, and so on. Approximately 3,000 liters of water is needed to manufacture one cotton shirt which we buy and love to wear, ignorant to the fact that one shirt has taken away one and a half years of water from a person in the village already facing shortage of water. The textile dyeing process leads to creation of toxic chemicals that are not treated by majority of dyeing and printing mills. These chemicals are simply drained out into the open and these chemicals subsequently end up in the oceans playing a havoc with the equilibrium of the plant and aquatic life. Every year, an estimated 79 billion cubic metres of fresh water is used in everything from fibre production to dyeing, finishing, and washing garments. (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/7-ways-to-break-the-fast-fashion-habit-and-save-the-planet/) Some of these processes consume very high amounts of energy and thereby have the highest impact on resource depletion since the source of energy is fossil fuel. Fast fashion Fast fashion is every fashion loving person’s dream. Fast fashion is very cheap, the consumers buy them in hordes and wear it for a very short period of time before discarding it. This behavior is very close to the concept of ‘use and throw’. Today, fast fashion has become the biggest culprit as it casts the most negative impact on the environment. If numbers are anything to go by, it is estimated that fast fashion generates about US$500 billion value in garbage each year due to clothing that's barely worn and rarely recycled. Fashion consumption period has shortened alarmingly, thanks in part to the social influencer marketing. Discarded materials, under-utilized garments, and a lack of recycling techniques contribute to the ever increasing waste. The number of time we wear clothes before discarding them has decreased dramatically. Today, fast fashion goods are generally worn less than five times and stored for 35 days. On an average, consumers trash 60% of their items in the first year, which leads to massive waste of useable apparel and results in approximately 400 percent greater carbon emissions per item per year, all for the purpose of 'looking beautiful.' Landfill A truckload of textiles is thrown into a landfill every second that passes. 7.6 to 10 cubic metres of discarded textiles and fabric waste are thrown every second. (https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/8736/fashion-waste-is-rubbish-yes-but-this-is-not-the-issue). According to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, if current trends continue, over 150 million tonnes of garment waste would swamp landfills by 2050. As a matter of practice, when landfills become overloaded, the trash is usually transferred to a site where it is incinerated, releasing hazardous compounds or large amounts of poisonous gases into the atmosphere. (https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/7/20/the-impact-of-fast-fashion-on-the-environment) Polyester – the ‘SIN’thetic fiber One of the most commonly used textiles in fast fashion is Polyester because of its low cost, adaptability, and wrinkle-free characteristics. It is, however, a petroleum-based synthetic fibre. Each year, more than 70 million barrels of oil are consumed to produce polyester. Polyester manufacturing has a tremendous detrimental effect on the environment. Polyester manufacturing involves very high levels of energy and the polyester fabric is not biodegradable. In other words, when it is discarded, it winds up in landfills and does not decompose before few centuries. Each time polyester garments are washed, hundreds of thousands of plastic microfibers are released. For each 13 pound load of laundry, washing garments made of these fabrics releases 7,00,000 microscopic plastic fibres that drains out into the environment. On an average, every year, clothing releases half a million tonnes of microfibers into the ocean, the equivalent of around 50 billion plastic bottles, which enters the water system affecting everything from our food to the marine life. Conclusion The fashion industry emits 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases each year, which is more than all international flights and marine transportation combined. If this continues, the greenhouse gas emissions itself would increase drastically in a few years with horrifying repercussions. The need of the hour is that the governments must impose strict measures on the industry to the effect that the textile and clothing industry are forced to adopt more sustainable methods and are made accountable for its impact on the environment. The consumers role begin with first becoming conscious of their choices and realizing the impact their obsession with the latest fashion is having on the environment. If the consumers start disposing their textile waste in a more conscious manner, a total of 12 million tonnes of post-consumer waste could be made available globally as a feedstock for the textile recycling industry. If we all become more proactive and consciously adopt slow fashion and sustainable fashion, we will be able to have a positive impact on the environment and the planet. ...
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The biggest enemy of sustainability
Sustainability. The term has become a buzzword in every industry. Each and every person in the world...
