The fashion Industry to the Environment
We have more and more clothes and they are cheaper and cheaper, but at what cost ?
Since two decades we have increase our consumption of clothes by around 400%. We went from 4 collections a year to a new collection every week. Now clothes are cheap enough that we can throw them away without thinking. This is what we call Fast Fashion. So what are the consequences of those increase in such a short time.
Zara can create a new design and have the finished product shipped to all 2,213 stores in just two weeks… In 2016, H&M opened 427 new stores. Four hundred and twenty-seven stores! That’s almost 1.17 stores a day.(cf here)
How did the industry manage to cope with all these demands and price
Fast fashion brands need to keep the price as so low as possible to be able to stay in market, so they need to reduce cost at least at one part of the supply chain. This part is the production and man capital, found in developing countries.
But in the first place how was this demand created ?
Capitalism, and the current economy is a materialist economy. It means the more you own, the better it is. Consequently, your happiness and values are centered around material possession. We will see and judge a person wealthiness, happiness and success by his possession. Therefore, it became one personal goals to own, more and more.
First, In a world where most of our vital needs values have increased (food, insurance etc), but clothes have gone cheaper and cheaper, we then find a new comfort in buying and owning them. Besides, we have always think that propaganda can only happen in dictatorial, communism country, far away from us. Which is not true, since advertisement and marketing are the biggest propaganda of all times. They will make you feel that you really need this new skirt, and that if you want to look as good as this model, you should buy it. After you bought it, oh what a shame that it is not trendy anymore, gotta buy the new one etc. Propaganda is the scariest when it happens without us noticing it.
Raw materials and environmental impact of clothes production
- Cotton is the world most used natural fibers, it occupies around 3% of the world’s agricultural land. China, USA, India, Pakistan and Brazil are the biggest producer of cotton. Most of this cotton are using GMO seeds. Monsanto promised that with his GMO seeds it will ease the life of farmer, help them produce more, fight pest etc. It didn’t happen. Instead, it created superpest and superweed, and farmers had to use more and more pesticides. Once the soil was contaminated, there was no turning back for the farmers that became dependent on Monsanto patented seeds. He became the “Life Lord” of the planet, having the monopoly on the seeds. Farmers became indebted, mass suicide is currently happening in the farmers community in developing countries etc.
- Polyester is the most popular artificial fibre used for fashion. But when polyester garments are washed in domestic washing machines they shed microfibers that add to the increasing levels of plastic in our oceans. These microfibers are minute and can easily pass through sewage and wastewater treatment plants into our waterways, but because they do not biodegrade, they represent a serious threat to aquatic life. Small creatures such as plankton eat the microfibres, which then make their way up the food chain to fish and shellfish eaten by humans.
- Chemical dye: The textile dyeing and finishing industry has created a huge pollution problem as it is one of the most chemically intensive industries on earth. Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture. The industry is using more than 8000 chemicals in various processes of textile manufacture including dyeing and printing. Large quantities of water are required for textile processing, dyeing and printing. The daily water consumption of an average sized textile mill having a production of about 8000 kg of fabric per day is about 1.6 million liters. 16% of this is consumed in dyeing and 8% in printing. Most of the chemicals are then found in the water and rejected in the open ocean, rivers etc. Really informative article about the dying practices and his consequences.
- Stock destruction : It is a common practice for brand to burn all the unsold stocks instead of selling for cheap price, in order to keep the brand image. This year, report came out that Burberry burnt 40m$ worth of clothes.
The clothing industry in general is the second polluter after the oil industry.
Social impact on local communities
When we think more about the environmental and social impact that our shopping has, we would think twice before buying new clothes (the same will go with our eating habit, water consumption, waste creation, transportation habit etc)
Big corporations take advantage of developing countries that have really low minimum wage, so lot of man capital for cheap price, not strict regulation on human and workers right. They really make the most of it knowing that those local communities needs jobs, and that they would do what it takes to survive. If one local garment factory does not accept the price set by the corporation, they will just move on and work with the next one.
Consequently, factory workers work under really hard situation, for long hours, in factories that doesn’t respect the minimum safety condition and the environment.
Rana Plaza in Bangladesh’s Dhaka District on April 24, 2013. A garment factory building collapse killing 1,100 people and thousands more were injured.
While fashion chains continue to get wealthier, people at the very bottom are not getting their fair share. … In some instances, real wages in the garment industry have actually gone down (cf here)
But I can donate the clothes that I don’t use anymore, it is not a waste
The majority of used clothes we donate to charity are traditionally re-sold abroad, but even now, that demand is in decline. First it destroy the local clothing market. Second, so much clothes are already present that authorities are already trying to stop the new clothes shipment from coming, local population are already submerged with used clothes, that at the end also end up in landfills.
Besides, like one third of the global food production that doesn’t even arrive in our market and are thrown away, 73% of the world’s clothing eventually end up in landfills or being incinerated.
Currently, less than 1% of the material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing, and less than 15% of clothes are collected for recycling (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017)
Moving forward
Consumer will always dictate how the producer work. If we raise public awareness about the fast fashion industry, people might buy a shirt that cost 15$ instead of 5$ if the latter is more ethical and environmental friendly. And again, I am quite confident that most of us already own enough clothes for 3 more life, so maybe we don’t need that shirt right ?
After big accident like the one in Rana plaza five years ago. People and media became more aware of this low end of the fashion industry supply chain. More accord and organization have risen for the sake of the workers and putting pressure on the big corporation so that they change their practice. Last but not least, consumer education about the fast fashion industry play a big part in improving the life of the workers and improving our practice toward the environment.
