In recent years, one of the biggest culprits in the fashion industry is “fast fashion,” or clothes made cheaply to meet demands for the hot new styles. However, fast fashion is putting our future planet at risk.

Sustainable fashion takes into account the entire supply chain and life cycle of a garment, from where and how it is made to when it ends up in our landfills. It is important for consumers to think about how their purchase affects the environment.

In the fashion world the trend of fast fashion is quickly providing a volume of textiles that are easily recyclable in a number of ways. The textiles can be reformed into new garments, they can be used as paper pulp, insulation, and discarded textiles can have a variety of industrial uses including stuffing and rags, or the garments themselves can be deconstructed and reconstructed into new garments. These processes save them from the incinerator and the landfill. Products that have been recycled and remade into new products need to be purchased in order for the whole cause of saving resources to make sense.

The fashion industry has a disastrous impact on the environment. In fact, it is the second largest polluter in the world, just after the oil industry. And the environmental damage is increasing as the industry grows. The impacts of the fashion industry are as follows;

·         Water pollution

·         Water consumption

·         Microbes in the oceans and rivers

·         Waste accumulation

·         Chemicals addiction

·         Green house gas emissions

·         Soil degradation and desertification

·         Rainforest destructions

Ø  20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile treatments and dying also 200000 tons of dyes are lost to effluents every year.

Ø  1.5 trillion liters of the water are required by the fashion industry every year.

Ø  85% of human made debris around the shore is microfibers and 190,000 tons of textile microfibers end up in the oceans every year.

Ø    Only 15% of the clothes are recycled or donated and the rest goes directly to the landfill or is incinerated. 

Ø  23% of the chemicals produced worldwide are used in the textile industry.

Ø  23 kg of greenhouse gases age generated for each kg of fabric produced.

Ø  400 % of more carbon emissions are produced if we wear the garments 5 times instead of 50 times.

Ø  70 million trees are cut down to make our clothes every year.

Ø  In total, up to 85% of textiles go into landfills each year.

– Sumana Lamichane