Fast Fashion

SHOP SUSTAINABLY, SAVE THE EARTH

Article by Eva Lane Infographic by Emma Kim

The average American throws away 70 pounds of clothing a year. According to the Association of Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles, more than 95 percent of all textiles can be recycled or reused in some way. The difference between recycling a piece of clothing and throwing it away is just a matter of knowing how to shop sustainably. Many companies, such as Shein, Zara, Zaful, and Hollister, engage in “fast fashion”, and sometimes create up to 100 new clothing items a week.

“The whole goal behind fast fashion is to keep up with trends as quickly as possible,” Fashion Club President, Hayden Lehr said. “However, the whole ‘quickly as possible’ part makes a negative impact on our environment.”

Fast fashion clothing production uses a large amount of resources and energy. According to TheConsciousChallenge.org, a website about ecological footprints, electricity is needed to run machinery such as sewing machines and air pumps in textile factories. Significant amounts of heat are needed for washing, drying, and dying the cloth. Brands use toxic fabric dyes that can contaminate fresh water, so around 20% of industrial water pollution comes from there. Around 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used to

ONE SHIRT IS WORTH 713 GALLONS OF WATER

dye clothes. Many of these chemicals end up in rivers, lakes, and oceans. They can be very toxic for both animals and humans. Instead, you can buy from sustainable companies.

“Sustainable fashion is basically the opposite of fast fashion,” Lehr said. “For example, it doesn’t misuse textiles. Think about it like this. Basically you have to do the math. If you buy a skirt or a shirt that’s $10, think about where that money is going. And how and where it’s coming from. Usually that means cheap materials and cheap labor are being used.”

There are multiple ways consumers can help the environment through shopping. They can shop at ethical stores, reuse their clothes, and shop second hand here and there. Reusing clothes can mean multiple things, including giving them to friends and family members, rewearing them a different way, donating them, or turning them into something new. Ethical brands are brands that don’t use cheap materials, don’t have bad labor conditions, use fair trade, have higher wages, and don’t use animal cruelty. Some ethical clothing brands are Boden, Levi’s and Athleta.

According to sustainyourstyle.org, bad labor conditions are when employees work with little to no ventilation, while breathing in toxic substances and fiber dust in unsafe buildings. Accidents, fires, injuries, and disease are common as well. Along with that, clothing workers regularly face verbal and physical abuse. While the US may not have this, we outsource to developing countries that do this, so American brands are profiting off of this.

Fair trade is when workers get paid a reasonable amount for the work they do. This also means they have good labor conditions and no forced or child labor.

Animals including rabbits, minks, goats, foxes, crocodiles, alpacas, and llamas are used in the fashion industry. Their fur and skins are used to make a variety of what’s considered to be “luxurious clothing”. Fur farmers usually suffocate, poison, hang, electrocute, and beat the animals to get their fur.

You can also shop at your local thrift store or use secondhand apps, such as Depop and Poshmark where you can search for what you want.

So the biggest thing that I think that people can do is educate themselves on sustainable

2% of garment workers earn a living wage The lowest-paid clothing makers are paid $3 a day

fashion. If they educate themselves about certain brands and about which brands are sustainable or not, and actually take action into buying more clothes from sustainable brands.” Lehr said. “Also, I believe thinking out of the box [could help], try restyling something in your closet. Try repurposing something. Maybe try DIY here and there. There’s so many options. Just think differently. Educate yourselves.”

And you may be thinking that not everyone can afford most ethical brands. And you’re right, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other options.

“That’s the part where research comes in. Research is a major part of sustainable fashion. There are definitely affordable brands out there. In fact, I recently found a website called ‘good on you.’ You can search up any brand, and it will give you ratings about its impact on the environment. Like the labor conditions they have and if the brand isn’t ethical. It’ll give you alternatives for more ethical brands.” Lehr said.

“I really suggest that you know yourself, know what you love, and buy something that you’ll wear for a long time.”