It is by studying fashion and its history that I realized that today’s fashion is on an accelerated cycle compared to its beginnings. Indeed, while we can make out general trends by century between the years 1200 and the 1800s, we speak in decade for the years 1900 and in the beginning, middle and end of decades from the years 2000. What it means concretely for the current average consumer is that there is a new trend to follow each season, and seasons are getting shorter. We are in the era of fast fashion, in which clothing producers dictate what to wear and change their assortments every two weeks to encourage us to buy at this rate. Collectively, we buy 80 billion pounds of clothing each year. It is way too much! We need to revisit the way we consume fashion for several reasons.
The environmental impact
The clothes we buy are cheaper, to encourage us to buy more, but are also low quality and far less durable than 20 years ago. So, a huge part of what you buy ends up in a landfill in less than a year. Many of these clothes are made of synthetic materials, such as polyester and spandex, because they are cheaper than natural fibers like cotton or wool. Because they are derived from petroleum, synthetic fibers consume a lot of water and energy at the time of their production, and even when they are recycled. When discarded, these materials can take several centuries to decompose, and plastic particles are released into the process, polluting the land and water bodies around the dump. Moreover, whenever we wash our clothes made from synthetic fibers, microfibers get released into the sewage system and can’t be filtered out. Up to 700,000 of these microfibers can be produced each wash, and if we take into account that a majority of fast fashion clothing is made from polyester, it is really alarming. These microfibers contribute to the 12 millions tons of plastic litter that pollute the oceans every year.
Since fast fashion companies are more interested in making profit than intaking care of the environment, they use chemical processes to dye clothing and do not remove chemicals from wastewater before they are discharged into water bodies nearby. For example, dyeing polyester requires dyes that are toxic to the environment and the humans who use them, and are non-decomposable. In the dyeing process, about 20% of the dye does not penetrate the textile and ends up in the water sheets. Obviously, these companies have their textiles produced in countries where environmental laws are not yet restrictive to the point of increasing their production costs. So there is no effort to decontaminate the water before releasing it into the environment.
The human impact
In addition to being one of the most polluting industries on the planet (with the oil and the mining industry!), The fast fashion industry is dependent on countries where there is little or no regulation for workers. For example, a garment produced in Bangladesh costs about 10% of the price of a piece of clothing made in Canada because there is no minimum wage, building standards or worker safety requirements. Profit margins can be much greater, even if the garments are sold at a much lower price. Therefore, trying to sell clothes as cheap as possible endangers the lives of many workers in those countries where no standard is established.
Thus, almost five years ago, a large factory collapsed, killing more than a thousand people and seriously injuring more than 3,000. The causes of this collapse were established: poor building materials, a building with too many floors for the soil on which it was built (an old lake filled with soil and waste) and heavy industrial machinery. The workers had noticed cracks in the walls, but instead of emptying the building, which could have saved a thousand lives, the foremen prevented the employees from leaving their workstations. All this in the name of fast and profitable production.
In Cambodia, textile workers are demanding wage increases to earn a living wage. An adequate living wage allows you to feed a small family with nutritious meals, place them in an acceptable apartment, dress them properly and keep them healthy. The salary recommended by the Asian Floor Wage Alliance is US $ 490 per month, while the current minimum wage for textile workers has been set at US $ 170 per month since January 2018. Hundreds of workers organized many demonstrations in the last few years, and 5 of them died during a protest in Phnom Penh, in 2014. That workers can die for asking for a minimum wage to live is incredibly unfair and we should not encourage that.
Several fast fashion companies have announced that they want to offer workers a living wage, but are not very transparent about the methods used both to calculate this decent wage and to ensure that the wages really go to the workers (most of them are paying subcontrators who then pay the workers). According to an October 2017 Oxfam Australia study, a t-shirt that was produced in Bangladesh and costing 10$USD, only 20 cents is used to pay the worker who sewed it.
What we can do
There are several actions that can be taken against the growing damage of fast fashion. As consumers, we have the right to refuse to buy this type of product. The less we buy products with the idea of paying the lowest possible price, the more we have control over the origin and quality of the garment, as well as the values of the company to which we give our money. The important thing is to find the solution that suits us the most, whether through a capsule wardrobe, thrift stores, local produce stores, etc.
This blog will be a place to explore ideas to minimize our impact on the environment and the workers of the fashion industry. As what many know about this area is often based on hearsay, I will do extensive research to uncover the facts. Which companies are guilty of mistreatment of their workers? Which ones are greenwashing? How can we stay on top of trends, while making ethics and the environment our priority?
Accompany me in this discovery, one article at a time and above all, do not be afraid to send me your comments, suggestions and questions!
See you soon,
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