Fast Fashion in Correlation to Climate Change

The research that will be presented in this paper, will reiterate how humans are still in fact having detrimental effects on the environment. Moreover, how humans do play a huge role, even unknowingly, in the ascending increase of global warming. This paper will directly look at the world straight through the lens of fast fashion clothing waste and its negative correlation to climate change.

Globally, fast fashion is not something that today's modern day society can run away from overtly. Fast fashion has become highly normalized in the 21st century. The United States alone are amongst the lead for carrying the retail purchasing market, spending $17 billion dollars on retail clothing as of the year 2020. I found it only just to expand my knowledge on this issue, especially considering the fact that I one day would love to own my own clothing brand. As I am aware that it is important for fashion brands to be more environmentally cautious of their materials being used to create their clothing, which is considered environmentally sustainable clothing. To which I personally have seen with my own eyes, different retail stores selling sustainable clothing items stores like H&m, Forever21, Zara, etc. To which this is definitely a major push in the right direction. However, I do believe that fast fashion waste is just as important of an issue to dissect and combat, which needs to be added to the environmental fast fashion conversation just as frequently.

Fast fashion waste and its negative connection to climate change can be found located globally because this is inherently a global issue. Fast fashion waste is said to have “92 million tons of clothes-related waste each year” (Mawgoud, Fast Fashion Statistics and Trends in 2023), which then produces half a million in microplastics dispersed around the world. Even more concerning, discarded fabric material in production of fast fashion items is credited for 15% of what is wasted and “57% of all discarded clothes end up in landfills” (Mawgoud, Fast Fashion Statistics and Trends in 2023). Fast fashion is fast because it keeps up with the “trends” and what's “most popular”, which means consumers are quickly throwing away a variety of said clothing pieces, and like stated earlier, eventually clothing will end up in landfills. Unfortunately, it can take clothes “200+ years to fully decompose” (Brown, The Environmental Crisis Caused by textile Waste). Meaning, fast fashion waste rotting overtime produces greenhouse emission, specifically methane gas, into the air and leaches toxic chemicals into the groundwater and earth's soil, which contributes to “10% of all global carbon emissions” (Environment America, Fashion Industry Waste is Drastically Contributing to Climate Change) alone.

The significance of fast fashion waste and the environment is because there needs to be a notable decrease in global warming rapidly. A way in which to stop that is by reducing fast fashion waste. By reducing fast fashion waste it will eventually reduce some carbon emissions, microplastics being created by the ton, deduce the amount of chemicals in the world's groundwater and soil. Which us people in society and the environment will reap the benefits of doing so by creating a healthier world to live in.

To understand this environmental justice issue, one has to understand the history of the fast fashion industry to fully understand the severity of fast fashion waste concerning global warming. Fast fashion takes homage in being derived from the British industrial revolution where “consumer class emerged and preference for ready made clothing began” (Marcketti & Karpova, pg 3), making the typical every-day person not want to hand make their own clothes, but rather buy clothes already made. To further this along, raw cotton production from slavery being exported and the increase in new technologies made it easier for the “lower economic class to purchase cheaper clothing” (Marcketti & Karpova, pg 3). The transcending act of this happening only propelled the United States able to make itself a strong clothing manufacturing industry, post industrialization era in the 21st century. This is the reason why the United States holds fast fashion on such a leash because fast fashion is one of a few critical factors in upholding the American economy, even in this current economy right now. To expand on social class and fashion, fashion only used to be for wealthy people. Once social-class started to breed into society, fast fashion companies were able to obtain high fashion piece replicas at a fraction of the cost because of the “low quality and disposable” (Marcketti & Karpova, pg 7) material it is made from.

Furthermore, research has indicated that global warming did not truly start until the 1950s in the tropical ocean and continued on from there. Nonetheless, I would like to emphasize the historical aspect of seeing the incline of greenhouse gasses as it correlated to fast fashion. As stated earlier, fast fashion is one of the biggest contributors to fast fashion, specifically 10% of greenhouse emissions. Historically, it has been known for years that when in balance “greenhouse gasses are what makes earth livable” (Arrigo, Collaborative consumption in the fashion industry: A systematic literature review and conceptual framework ). But, due to the continuation of harmful human activity to the environment, surface and ocean temperatures are at dangerous levels. Over the years it can be seen from a historical point of view that the fashion industry has not slowed down but continued to move forward. There has been even more diversity within clothing, especially within recent years. Which continues to perpetuate that idea that in the 21st century fast fashion has become a hallmark in the fashion realm. Only creating even more havoc than there already is to climate change increasing over the years.

One idea that I think would be a great plan on implementing to combat global warming in its ties to fast fashion waste is to essentially start popularizing the idea of “renting clothes”. This idea is called collaborative consumption, which essentially is all about changing “the concept of ownership” (Arrigo, Collaborative consumption in the fashion industry: A systematic literature review and conceptual framework). This idea basically allows brands to not produce as many clothes and for clothing to not be eventually thrown away by the consumer because it will be rented instead. I do believe that with the proper advertisement and marketing of the idea it can in fact be normalized. Furthermore, I plan on implementing this reform by including laws that will make renting clothes a clothing business necessity. Additionally, stricter landfill laws on tackling how to male current landfill items recyclable and later usable again in a faster manner, especially when it comes to clothes found in landfills.

What challenges I would be facing implementing renting clothes as a reform to stop fast fashion waste, is being met with our current world leaders who truly seem to have a lack of urgency when it comes to the global warming environmental crisis happening right now, all over the world. It has been indicated that most fashion companies are led by the “take-make-waste business model…and produce several clothes that end up in landfills” (Arrigo, Collaborative consumption in the fashion industry: A systematic literature review and conceptual framework). This only has produced “clothing fibers 5 times the moon's circumference” (Arrigo, Collaborative consumption in the fashion industry: A systematic literature review and conceptual framework). Continuing to showcase just how bad fast fashion is affecting climate change. To continue, fast fashion has truly gripped big nations of fashion such as America, China, Italy, etc in a chokehold. Most likely being due to societal climate and economic necessity, such factors will only continue to make it that much harder for fast fashion to die off and my reform idea to come to pass adequately. Therefore, lack of proper advertisement of how society should see fast fashion in terms of renting, is essential in transforming the fast fashion for what it is seen as today. However, I do believe that most fast fashion companies would be apprehensive of doing so and take time on that shift because of fear that the general public would not be on board with the idea causing fast fashion industries significantly to lose money, adding to economic downfall.

Despite that, there are benefits of implementing the renting clothes reform. By renting clothes being the new standard, it will cut fast fashion gas emissions by a long shot. It will do so in light of decreasing overall manufacturing production of clothes, slowing down consumer production, and most importantly reducing fast fashion waste. Overtime, hopefully in the long run, fast fashion will no longer exist and they’re will be stricter environmental laws to uphold that. But if I'm being realistic, I know it will take a while for that to happen.

APA Style Citations :

Mawgoud, N. A. (2023, March 20). Fast Fashion Statistics and Trends in 2023 • GITNUX. Gitnux Blog. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://blog.gitnux.com/fast-fashion-statistics/

Brown, R. (2021, January 8). The Environmental Crisis Caused by Textile Waste. RoadRunner Recycling. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/textile-waste-environmental-crisis

Marcketti, S. B., & Karpova, E. E. (2020). The Dangers of Fashion. Bloomsbury Publishing.

A brief history of climate – the northern seas from the Last Glacial Maximum to global warming. (2014). Quaternary Science Reviews, 106, 225–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.06.028

Arrigo, E. (2021). Collaborative consumption in the fashion industry: A systematic literature review and conceptual framework. Journal of Cleaner Production, 325(129261), 129261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129261