Fast Fashion: Understanding the Environmental Impacts and Solutions

Written by Tiamhock Chua, Ida Chin, Chloe Kang, Yang Yuhao

Introduction

Fast fashion has taken the world, especially in developed countries, by storm. Bick et al. (2018) estimate that 80 billion pieces of new clothing are sold each year, which translates to a whopping 1.2 trillion US dollars generated by the global fashion industry annually (Bick et al., 2018).

The flourishing fast fashion industry has led to a drastic increase in the consumption of fast fashion and the mass production of clothes. This pattern of consumption is largely fuelled by the rapid emergence of new trends, trend-chasing behaviour of the consumers and the low price tags marked by fast fashion retailers. However, the environmental impacts of textile manufacturing have been largely neglected. The fast fashion industry generates around 8-10% of the world’s total carbon emissions and approximately 20% of industrial water pollution, which subsequently causes soil pollution. Furthermore, fast turnover rates in the fashion industry are responsible for more than 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually, most of which are discarded in landfills or burnt – including unsold brand new clothes known as ‘deadstock’ (Niinimaki et al., 2020). 

Donella Meadows once said, “since the Earth is finite, and we will have to stop expanding sometimes, should we do it before or after nature's diversity is gone?” (de Graaf et al., 2014). This quote highlights the limited amount of resources that the Earth has and the need for us to take a step back and slow down our consumption of nature's resources before it is too late to do so. Therefore, this paper seeks to utilise the tools of Systems Thinking to identify points of leverage that can be used to improve the system through our proposed solutions. We believe that it is not too late to reduce fast fashion consumption and build a more sustainable business model for the fashion industry. Through our proposed solutions, we hope to inspire changes that can lead to the fulfilment of our vision of living in a world where fashion is consumed sustainably.

Figure 1: Textile waste in landfills (Image adapted from: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/07/fast-fashion-speeding-toward-environmental-disaster-report-warns)

Background & Problems

Causes of Fast Fashion

Fast fashion is perpetuated by the phenomenon of trend-chasing. Consumers have been observed to hop onto the latest fashion trends, which creates a highly competitive fashion market (Bhardwaj & Fairhurst, 2010). The competitive nature of the industry shortens the production cycles as fashion retailers compete amongst themselves to be the first to release the latest line of clothing (Bhardwaj & Fairhurst, 2010). This fuels the rapid emergence of new trends which, in turn, prompts fashion retailers to churn out trend specific products inspired by the latest fashion shows (Taplin, 1999), which consequently, leads to an increase in the number of ‘fashion seasons’ (refers to the frequency of which the entire clothing line is replaced) of a clothing store (Bhardwaj & Fairhurst, 2010). In pursuit of sales and profit, the fast fashion industry is directly responsible for the worsening of various problems such as textile wastage and environmental degradation (Niinimäki et al., 2020). 

Existing Solutions and Their Problems

1. Consumer Activism and Green Washing

Fast fashion is perpetuated by the phenomenon of greenwashing by fast fashion companies. In recent years we see the rise of waves of environmental activism. Consumers are more aware of the consequences of consumption, hence resulting in a greater demand for environmentally friendly products, and by extension, creating a burgeoning market for more sustainable products (Shaw et al., 2007). A study conducted by Nielsen Media Research concluded that 66% of consumers have a higher inclination to purchase products from firms that practice environmentally sustainable habits as they recognise that firms, in general, are inherently responsible for the various environmental problems that we face (de Freitas Netto et al., 2020). However, as a result of consumer activism, many companies began to utilise greenwashing to attract customers. Greenwashing refers to the act of making untrue or misleading claims about the environmental sustainability of a product (Thomas, 2019). Companies that practice greenwashing deliberately exploit this rising “green market” by making false claims about their products from material sourcing to the manufacturing process. The lack of transparency with regard to product information and fair-trade alternatives forms the basis of greenwashing as consumers fall for the traps set by these companies (Shaw et al., 2007). 

Figure 2: Environmental activists protesting during the London Fashion Week (Image adapted from: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/06/fashion/extinction-rebellion-fashion-protest.html)

2) Thrifting and their Increase in Prices

As more consumers are educated about the negative impacts of fast fashion on the environment, some of them have turned to thrifting as an alternative. Thrifting refers to the act of purchasing second-hand clothes (Lestari & Asmarani, 2021). The popularity of thrifting has driven down the demand for new clothes, hence directly reducing fast fashion consumption (Lestari & Asmarani, 2021). However, the price of clothes in thrift stores has been increasing, hence reducing the affordability of used clothes. This deters consumers from purchasing from thrift shops (Atkinson, 2020) – which are traditionally known for their low prices of clothes (Park et al., 2019). This limits the usefulness of thrift stores in reducing fast fashion consumption.

Figure 3: Man in a thrift shop with reduce reuse and recycle signs in the background (Image adapted from: https://www.statepress.com/article/2021/03/specho-thrifting-secondhand-clothing-through-the-age)

3) Recycling and its Inefficiencies

Although large amounts of fashion waste have led to an increase in awareness of textile recycling, current technology has its limitations. Globally, 92 million tonnes of textile are wasted each year, and it is projected that this amount will continue to increase to 134 million tonnes by the end of 2030 (Kerr & Landry, 2017). Many countries have taken a stance to ramp up their recycling efforts, in hope of reducing the amount of waste generated (Xie et al., 2021). However, the complicated mixture of different fabric materials such as cotton, nylon, and polyester within a piece of clothing makes it difficult to fully recycle or decompose (Pensupa, 2020). 

Figure 4: Recycling process taking place at a recycling factory (Image adapted from: https://global-recycling.info/archives/3228)

Causal Loop Diagram (CLD)

The various components of our CLD above will be explained in the subsequent sections.

Perpetuation of Fast Fashion

R1: When consumption of fast fashion increases, it increases the turnover of clothes. Fast turnover of clothes increases the emergence of new trends which increases trend-chasing behaviours by consumers, hence increasing fast fashion consumption again.

R2: With the emergence of new trends, more fashion hauls are done by influencers. This could further perpetuate the trend-chasing behaviours of consumers as they may be attracted to the pieces showcased in the hauls and go on to purchase them, hence increasing the consumption of fast fashion again.

Figure 5: Screen capture of a Youtuber presenting a clothing haul (Image adapted from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E45U2irMjPs)

R3: An increase in fast fashion consumption increases the mass production of clothes which decreases the cost of production due to economies of scale. These cost savings are passed on to consumers. The cheaper cost of clothes increases the demand for new clothes by consumers which increases fast fashion consumption again. 

Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion

B1: Fast fashion consumption leads to an increase in waste generated. This wastage will spur consumers to decrease their consumption as they start to become more environmentally conscious of their actions.

B2: As the amount of waste increases, recycling efforts will also increase. The heightened recycling efforts will in turn decrease the amount of waste generated.

B4: The increase in mass production of fast fashion goods leads to more water consumption and more wastewater being generated, causing more pollution. Regulatory controls like taxes have been used to curb such behaviour. This increases the cost of fast fashion goods which decreases their demand. Ultimately, the mass production of fast fashion goods will decrease.

B5: The increase in mass production of fast fashion goods requires more extraction of synthetic fibre. Since such processes require large amounts of energy, this increases the consumption of fossil fuels and can lead to higher carbon emissions. Regulatory controls such as the implementation of carbon taxes increase the cost of fast fashion goods and decrease the demand and mass production of these goods. 

B6: As more people consume fast fashion goods, the turnover of goods increases. Consumers then expect a shorter waiting time which spurs firms to use air transportation and in turn, increases carbon emissions. With the existing carbon taxes, prices of fast fashion goods will increase. Subsequently, the demand and mass production of these goods decreases. 

B7: When mass production increases, the usage of chemicals in the manufacturing process will increase. These chemicals are subsequently discarded or seeped into the soil which can cause environmental degradation. The mass production of fast fashion goods will then decrease.

B8 & B10: Similar to B7, carbon emissions and water pollution generated by mass production lead to environmental degradation, which reduces the environmental capacity to support more production activities. Hence, mass production of clothes decreases.

Systems Archetypes 

We have identified “Fixes that Fail” to be an existing system archetype in the CLD.

From our CLD, it can be seen that fast fashion consumption results in wastage (B1). The ‘fix’ to this problem is recycling (B2), but the act of recycling also unintentionally reduces the sense of guilt in consumers who recycle their clothes, as they feel that they are doing their part to save the environment. There is a delay observed between recycling and reduction in guilt as it involves a change in mindset which takes time. The reduction in sense of guilt generates a false sense of security among consumers who feel that their recycled clothes will be used to produce new clothes, hence minimising their impact on the environment. This mentality encourages fast fashion consumption again (R4), illustrating how recycling is a fix that fails. 

Another “Fixes that Fail” can be observed in the loops depicting greenwashing efforts by various companies. Various emissions and pollution produced by the process of mass production (B7, B8 and B10) result in environmental degradation. Serious environmental degradation will inspire various forms of environmental activism (‘fix’), which will ultimately influence consumers to reduce their consumption of fast fashion products (B9). However, fashion companies quickly caught on to the trend of “green fashion” and started falsely marketing their brands as sustainable and environmentally conscious (unintended consequence). This generates a positive image of the fast fashion companies increasing fast fashion consumption (R5).

Solutions

After analysing the problems and existing solutions of Fast Fashion, we have discovered 3 points of leverage represented by the green arrows in the complete CLD.

1. Tighter Regulations & Introduction of the Green Label

Greenwashing by fast fashion companies was chosen as a point of leverage that can be mitigated with effective policies. The highly unregulated fashion industry has allowed companies to use sustainable fashion as a marketing strategy without meeting any set industry standards causing R5. Given the global scale of the fashion industry, the policies have to be created and enforced by an international organisation such as the United Nations. Currently, the United Nations has a Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action with eight working groups to help the fashion industry achieve its climate targets (United Nations Climate Change, 2022). In particular, Working Group 8 is involved in Brands and Retailers; coming up with targeted initiatives and providing them with guidance to produce more sustainably. As an incentive, this group could work to implement an internationally recognised green label (as shown in Figure 6), similar to the blue MSC label for sustainable fishing, which certifies the sustainable practices of a fashion brand or retailer. The group can come up with a set of realistic and environmentally sustainable emission goals. Brands are granted the right to promote themselves as a green label fashion company if they have achieved the preset goals. To minimise foul play, external audits should be carried out for verification purposes. To market this initiative, local governments can be enlisted to help advertise this label to consumers. Although this is a lofty goal that requires cooperation between different international and commercial bodies, it would be a great step towards an environmentally sustainable fashion industry. 

Figure 6: Mock-up of the Green Label

2. Government Grants to increase Accessibility of Thrifting

Another point of leverage identified was thrifting in B3. While B3 is expected to decrease demand for new clothes through thrifting, the increase in prices of second-hand clothes has made them less appealing to consumers. Most people do not expect high prices when purchasing second-hand goods, hence limiting the effectiveness of B3. This is especially true if new clothes have similar pricing to thrifted ones. To target this, government grants can be provided to help lower the cost of setting up and running thrift stores. As second-hand clothing becomes more affordable for consumers, thrifting will increase, further decreasing demand for new clothes and, subsequently, fast fashion consumption.

3. Government Grants to improve the Technology of Recycling 

While recycling is expected to reduce waste through B2, there are many problems with recycling textiles. Estimates state that only 15% of textiles are recycled with the rest filling up landfills and incinerated (Shirvanimoghaddam et al., 2020). The main problem with recycling textiles is the difficulty in separating them into their individual components (Beall, 2020). This is a problem that would be best solved through technological advancements to reduce the labour involved with breaking down clothes. This way, recycling can be a sustainable way to reuse the materials of old clothes. Currently, researchers have been looking into imaging technology to help identify the component materials of textiles to help the recycling industry (Blanch-Perez-del-Notario et al., 2019). This can be further improved by developing technology that can be used alongside imaging to physically carry out the separation; increasing the final yield and overall efficiency. As the research for the imaging camera was financed by the EU’s research and innovation program, governments could also help drive and support similar research by providing grants to researchers. Ultimately, this improves recycling within their own country, reducing the space taken up by landfills and pollution from the incineration of textile waste. Once the technology has been invented within a country, it can be adopted by other countries as well, improving the recycling of textiles globally. Even though recycling has been identified as a “fixes-that-fail” previously, it also holds tremendous potential as a prominent solution to resolve the issue of textile wastage. With the advancement of technology, efficient recycling will allow a significantly higher percentage of disposed textiles to be reused, achieving an input-output balance in the textile recycling process. 

Conclusion

Overall, fast fashion continues to be a menace to our environment, reinforced by multiple factors and unresolved by existing solutions. While the solutions we proposed are unlikely to cause an immediate improvement in the fashion industry’s environmental impact, they form the foundation for the revolutionary change we need to consume fashion sustainably. While we work within our means, we hold on to our vision of a world where everyone can enjoy the thrill of dynamic and expressive fashion without having to worry about the waste generated from fast fashion. A world where consumers are conscious of their trend-chasing habits and their environmental consequences. A world where fashion is valued as a tool for individual expression rather than a fleeting marker of social acceptance. Our solutions, if implemented, will represent the dedication and commitment the industry has toward better environmental practices and mark the beginning of an era of trendy sustainability. 

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