What is Fast Fashion?
We hear the term “fast fashion” often, but what does it actually mean and what are the environmental implications?
In the fight for climate action, we can find relief that it’s not all doom and gloom. Many actions are being taken daily and we can even see changes being implemented in the political sphere. With typical consumer habits changing daily, and with the rising popularity of e-commerce, fast fashion has continued to grow at exponential rates.
Though we know of many evils behind the fast fashion industry and how it impacts our mental health, our resources, and our environment, there are impactful actions we can take such as textile recycling.
But what actually is “Fast Fashion,” anyway?
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast fashion, defined simply as cheap clothes made at rapid rates for consumers in response to trends, can only serve to benefit corporations. The average Canadian household spends $285 on clothes per month; levelling out to approximately 70 new clothing items per year. Annually, Canadians send about 12 million tonnes of textiles to disposal each year whereas about 95% (or 11.4 million tons) can actually be reused or recycled.
The average person is estimated to dispose of about 81 pounds of clothing per year. Globally, this is estimated to approximate 92 million tons of waste in our landfills per year. Moreover, the average consumer buys 60% more clothing than they did 15 years ago, yet the average amount of times that an article of clothing can be worn before it stops being used has decreased by over 35% compared to that of the same time frame.
Landfill filled with discarded clothing. From Calprig.
The Impact on Resources
Industry stats suggest that it takes approximately 2,700L, or 2.5 years worth, of drinking water to produce a basic cotton t-shirt, and 3,781L of water is required to make a pair of basic jeans, or 3.5 years worth of drinking water for one person.
Globally, it’s proven that we use approximately 5 trillion litres of water to dye fabric each year. That equates to approximately 2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools; 4,629,629.6 years worth of drinking water for one person, or enough drinking water for 57,870 people from birth to 80 on an annual basis.
Furthermore, the fashion industry is speculated to be liable for about 20% of wastewater across the globe, as well as responsible for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Despite being a normalized consumer habit in the twenty-first century, fast fashion is not a sustainable industry and places a huge strain on our resources.
Inside a fast fashion factory. From the LA Times.
It is mildly horrifying that statistics like these are a normal part of our daily life. Many of these issues are at a larger scale than the average household could ever solely be responsible for. Despite this, we can fight fast fashion through textile recycling, voting with our dollars, and consuming responsibly.
To reduce your personal textile waste, try to adopt more sustainable fashion habits such as:
Take care of the clothing you already own - wash cold, line dry, wear often, and mend.
Saving your money for sustainably made pieces you truly love.
Buy second-hand clothing
Rent fancy clothing items for special occasions
Avoid buying from companies that don't prioritize their workers or the environment.
You can also learn more about textile waste through our Action Guide.
