Here's Why You Shouldn't Buy Fast Fashion
Fast fashion is unavoidable nowadays. There are advertisements for it everywhere and its circulation in the closets of millions worldwide eventually ends up....you guessed it - in our external environment. We've spent a lot of time talking about the environmental impact fast fashion has on our planet. From affecting our rivers and oceans, to the air we breathe, as well as the harm it brings to wildlife through micro plastics and chemical pollutants. However, fast fashion doesn't only impact plants, animals, oceans, and air through pollutive factors - it also impacts human rights through labour code violations.
According to non-profit Remake, 80% of apparel is made by young women between the ages of 18 and 24. Forced and child labour is a common occurrence predominant in countries such as China, India, Argentina, Turkey, Philippines, Bangladesh - and more. The pandemic worsened this situation as wages lowered, yet workloads and hostile workplace environments increased. According to data collected in 2015, approximately one in six people work in the fashion industry. The fashion industry may be identified as one of the most labour dependent industries in the world. Fixing this issue has slowly began amongst governments instituting labor laws to hold corporations accountable as well as setting limits for yearly pollution and disposal practices for large clothing manufacturers.
The problem fast fashion has brought upon the earth is extremely important to address with agencies such as the UN launching the Alliance for Sustainable Fashion to address the damages caused by fast fashion, seeking to ‘halt the environmentally and socially destructive practices of fashion’. If companies alongside the global population can place themselves in a mindset of reusing and accepting worn clothes for repurposing and maximization of their life in peoples closet then we can begin to head in the direction of turning industry production and practices around.
Sources:
Earth.org, E. B.-. (2021, November 10). Fast fashion's detrimental effect on the environment. Impakter. Retrieved September 17, 2022, from https://impakter.com/fast-fashion-effect-on-the-environment/