Environmental Impact Of Fast Fashion
Everyone knows that working conditions are bad and that excess clothes are not good but what is fast fashion doing to our planet?
The Biggest Issue Comes From The Way The Clothes Are Made
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Viscose Is A Fabric That Is Used In Many Clothes. 33% Of Viscose Is Made From Ancient Or Threatened Forests
The process of making viscose involves huge amounts of waste. 70% of the wood that is cut down to be made into this fabric is thrown out and only 30% of the wood is actually in the garments.
The Textile Industry Produces More Green House Gases Then International Flights & Maritime Shipping Combined (2015)
The Cotton To Make A Jacket Uses 10,330 Liters Of Water
(That is 24 years of drinking water for 1 person)
Most Clothes Are Made From Synthetic Fabrics (Polyester, Nylon, Spandex), Which Take 343 Million Barrels Of Oil Per Year
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What Happens Afterword?
To Make Clothes You Have To Use A Lot Of Dyes & Toxic Chemicals Which Are Often Dumped In The Rivers Used By Nearby Villages (Chemical Processing)
For example: The Chiteram River in Indonesia is used by million for drinking water but now that same river is poisoning them due to the large quantity of chemicals dumped in the water. This is causing many people, young and old, severe liver problems.
1 Salvation Center Creates 18 TONS Of Unwanted Clothes Every 3 DAYS
If the clothes aren't sold in a month, they are thrown out and burned in developing nations such as African And Kenya.
87% of fabric that is used to make clothes ends up incinerated or in a landfill.
How Did I Not Know About This?
Companies are discreetly covering up their carbon footprint. They use a method called "Greenwashing". Greenwashing is when companies market themselves as being more green than they actually are.
Annual Reports
Shouldn't these key pieces of information be in the annual reports?
Annual reports consist of hundreds of pages, in which companies bury important pieces of information.
For example: companies may claim to reuse/recycle 88% of their waste on the first page of the report. 50 pages later, you find out that the factory waste isn't included. (Where most of their waste comes from.) You may be thinking that at least they recycle waste from their stores. Then 100 pages later you will find that waste from their stores isn't included either.
Key Pieces Of Information Are Buried.
Recycling Bins
Well, what about the recycling bins that many stores have? At least that is being recycled? That is pretty green.
The recycling bins of most stores are just there to make you think that the company is green. Lets take a leading brand. They have recycling bins in their stores. Though, the problem is that about 80% of the clothes that are meant to be recycled, are thrown out or burned. Many times, for recycling clothes, you get a discount on your next purchase. Which makes you buy even more clothes. Leading to a detrimental endless loop.
The Clothes Are Not Actually Recycled.
Marketing
But So Many Companies Say That They Are Green. How Can They Say That, If It Is Not True?
You have probably heard many companies say that they are "green," "ethical", or better yet, their clothes are "responsibly made". The thing about all those terms is that there is no textbook definition to them. The words have no set meaning. "Eco-friendly" can mean different things. Companies use ambiguity to sell you the feeling of being responsible.
The Words They Use Have No Set Meaning.
