Do you find the sustainable fashion movement confusing, and do you wonder why so many people are making a fuss about it? There are many questions about fast fashion, slow fashion, and eco-fashion, so we've created this guide that explains its effects.

What is fast fashion?

Fast fashion is clothing produced in mass quantities in cheap, poor quality, and disposable ways. To put things in perspective, the fashion industry creates over 80 billion garments a year, or over ten garments for every human on the planet.

Global production has risen by 400% higher over the last 20 years. A garment is likely to be worn only ten times before it is discarded, according to the clothes waste charity TRAID.

We are being sucked into this diabolical cycle of disposability:

• There has been a decrease in the price of clothes.

• With a price decline, their quality decreases.

• Fashion trends are on the rise even as prices are dropping.

• To keep up with the latest fashion, people are incentivized to purchase more clothes.

Seeing as the next fashion trend is right around the corner, people are not motivated to care for their clothes since they know they will soon become obsolete. They are therefore disposed of more quickly.

Fast fashion is flawed because there is very little recycling and very little reusing. In contrast, they either go to landfills or are incinerated.

There are substantial environmental and societal costs associated with fast fashion. Certain synthetic fabrics like polyester can pollute our planet for 200 years.

Why is fast fashion so bad? 

The production and disposal of fast fashion have a large environmental impact. In addition to requiring a substantial amount of energy and resources, clothing production uses toxic fabrics dyes and other chemicals that pollute fresh water supplies. The fashion industry accounts for ten percent of all carbon emissions.

Fast fashion is responsible for environmental destruction. There are many harmful effects of this industry on the environment.

Reasons to quit fast fashion:

Human Rights Violations

The conditions of workers in the fashion industry are another reason why fast fashion is unethical. Here we have focused on environmental factors. It's inhumane.

Among the issues garment workers face are lengthy working hours, low pay, and hazardous working conditions. It is not safe to work in this industry, as evidenced by the Rana Plaza disaster of 2013.

There is excellent information at Sustain Your Style about the humanitarian crisis in the fast fashion industry.

Most of these issues remain unreported in mainstream media because of the complexity of supply chains for massive fashion brands.

While fast fashion is responsible for many problems, including environmental damage and human rights abuses, it's not slowing down any time soon. To take on this industry, the first step is awareness.

Getting our voices heard and pushing for change will be easier if more people understand what's happening behind the scenes. In the next step, I encourage brands that actively resist fast fashion to advocate for them. The following are some of our favorites.

Water usage

Untreated toxic wastewater is a byproduct of textile factories in countries that manufacture fast fashion items.

What's the problem? In addition to lead and mercury, this type of waste is extremely harmful to aquatic life and human health.

Wastewater from clothing factories is dumped into rivers in large quantities. Every year, 22,000 tons of toxic waste from tanneries is discharged directly into the waterways in Bangladesh.

Wildlife and residents of the river bank are affected by toxic water in the river. Pollution from this eventually makes its way into the sea. The dyeing process and finishing one ton of fabric can require as much as 200 tons of freshwater.

The UN and Extinction Rebellion have also found that nearly half of the world's population is at risk of depleting their water supplies at some point during the year.

Microfibers

Micro-scale objects aren't big deals, so how can they be? Microfibers and microplastics are a crucial part of what's wrong with the fashion industry.

 Each time you wash your clothes, you wash away microplastics like microfibres from synthetic fabrics such as polyester and nylon. Seven hundred thousand microfibers are shed with each wash.

Water organisms consume this, which in turn feeds fish, which we in turn consume! This plastic gets into our food chain from these cheap clothes.

Greenhouse Gasses

We could have a carbon footprint of 26% by 2050, according to Greenpeace's 'Unearthed' journal and The Ethical Consumer.

The following reasons explain why:

 The production, manufacturing, and transportation of the millions of garments produced each year consume a large amount of energy.

Our clothes are mostly made of synthetic fibers that are obtained from fossil fuels.

The largest clothing producers are China, Bangladesh, and India, and almost all of them use coal to power themselves.

Deforestation

Having healthy soil and forests is necessary for the production of food on planet Earth. In addition to absorbing CO2, both help prevent global warming. In addition to harming soil, woodland, and our ecosystems, fast fashion also damages the environment

Overgrazing occurs in pastures of goats and sheep, which are raised for their wool. Land degradation due to overgrazing, loss of valuable plant species, food shortages, and famine result from overgrazing.

The chemical processes used to manufacture fabrics such as cotton also degrade the soil.

Viscose and rayon, fibers made from wood, are responsible for mass deforestation.

Forests are cut in thousands of hectares every year, including ancient and endangered rainforests. In their place, wood-based fabrics are made by planting trees. The Earth and indigenous communities suffer as a result.

Toxins

A great deal of chemicals is used throughout the textile manufacturing process:

When we buy clothes and wear them, they are very much present! Even garments that claim to be made of 100% natural fibers fall into this category.

These substances endanger our health because our skin absorbs them.

A Greenpeace campaign has identified 11 chemicals commonly found in clothes that are harmful to our health and disrupt our hormones.

Five days after wearing a pair of children's pajamas for just one night, chemicals found in the children's urine can be detected!

TRAID, an organization that eliminates clothing waste, reports the average garment is worn about ten times before being discarded

Conclusion

The term slow fashion refers to the opposite of fast fashion. The concept encompasses an awareness of the processes and resources needed to make clothing and an approach to style. Rather than buying cheap clothing that falls apart quickly, it promotes investing in higher-quality garments and treating people, animals, and the environment somewhat. 

Slow fashion and ethical fashion share a lot of similarities. In general, both movements adhere to the same principles. In slow fashion, reduction of consumption and production is the main focus. 

To become an ethical & sustainable shopper, find out what impact your favorite brands have on the environment by researching them. How is their manufacturing process being improved to be more sustainable? 

Adidas takes plastic waste and turns it into shoes, while Hugo Boss has developed a vegan sneaker collection made from a cellulose-based leaf material called Pinatex. Also, see if the retailer has received certification or a badge verifying their adherence to specific ethical standards.

FAUN makes a concerted effort to make their clothing ethically and sustainably. Marisa starts with picking fabrics, either recycled or eco-conscious. In the design process, not a lot of attention is paid to trends. Instead, Marisa focuses on long-term wearability and creating a timeless piece that will last beyond one or two seasons. Of course, the well-being of our garment workers is also at the forefront. FAUN works with a production facility in Vietnam that priorities worker safety and fair pay.