Fast fashion: What is it and how can we avoid it?

Did you know that the fashion industry’s textile production has a bigger carbon footprint than all international flights and shipping combined?

Clothes shopping used to be an occasional event - something that happened a few times a year when the seasons changed, or when we outgrew what we had. But about 20 years ago, something changed. Clothes became cheaper, trend cycles sped up, and shopping became a hobby. Enter fast fashion, and the global chains that now dominate our high streets and online shopping.

Fast fashion is a multi-billion pound industry which can be defined as cheap, trendy clothing, that takes ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at speed to meet consumer demand. The idea is to get the newest styles on the market as fast as possible, so shoppers can snap them up while they are still at the height of fashion, and then, discard them after only a few wears or once the trend has passed. This relentless insistence on keeping up with the latest trends has created a constantly running conveyor belt producing items intended to be discarded, with the vast majority ending up in landfills or an incinerator. Christmas 2020 saw the epitome of fast fashion, with popular fashion brand Pretty Little Thing holding a 99% off sale, with thousands of garments being sold for less than £1. 

What does this mean for our planet?

Fast fashion’s impact on the planet is huge. The pressure to reduce costs and speed up production time means that environmental corners are inevitably going to be cut. Cheap clothes means cheap material, and polyester is one of the most popular fabrics used in fast fashion. It is derived from fossil fuels, contributes to global warming, and can shed microfibres that add to the increasing levels of plastic in our oceans when it’s put through the wash. But even ‘natural fabrics’ can be a problem. Conventional cotton requires enormous quantities of water and pesticides - it takes 10,000 to 20,000 litres of water to produce just 1kg of cotton. This results in risks of drought and creates huge amounts of stress on water basins, as well as competition for resources between companies and local communities.

Not only that, the speed at which garments are produced also means that increasing amounts of clothes are disposed of by consumers, creating a huge amount of textile waste. £140 million worth of clothing is sent to landfill every year in the UK, and more than half of clothing given to charity shops or textile recyclers ends up in landfills or is incinerated.

How can we avoid contributing to the fast fashion culture?

Start by buying less clothing. As much as we all want new clothes, most of the time we don’t actually need them. Creating a capsule wardrobe is something worth considering and thinking twice before you purchase your next item of clothing is already a step in the right direction.

Choose well. There are a number of factors to consider when shopping sustainably. Firstly, have a research into sustainable brands - looking on sites such as Good on You is a great place to start. Buying from these trusted brands means your garments will have far less of an impact on the environment. Secondly, try to source clothing which is of a higher quality - the brand, price and material type is usually a good indicator of this. In doing so, your clothes are likely to last far longer. 

Re-consider what you do with your old clothes. As I mentioned previously, more than half of clothing given to charity shops or textile recyclers ends up in landfills or is incinerated. So whilst this may seem like the best option for getting rid of our unwanted clothing, it perhaps isn’t as sustainable as we think. Instead, consider upcycling them or passing them on - could you repair old garments at your local tailors? Or perhaps hand down unwanted clothing to family or friends? A recent Swedish study suggests extending the life of our clothes is the single best thing we can do for the planet.

Interested to know more about what is happening in the textile world, how to act climate-smart and other news and deep stories on how we can change the way we view clothes? Check out our newsletter at Polygiene for regular updates.