the fast fashion project

informing you on the industry behind your everyday purchases, and guiding you to a sustainable and ethical approach to fashion

click on text for sources

what’s fast fashion?

“The term fast fashion refers to a large sector of the fashion industry whose business model relies on cheap and speedy production of low quality clothing, which gets pumped quickly through stores in order to meet the latest and newest trends.” – earth.org

“Fast fashion is a life-squashing manifestation of greed that has rendered all clothing waste.” – Liz Ricketts

“On the most basic level, fast fashion is quickly produced trends sold at low price points. But producing and consuming clothing at the current rate we are is taking a massive toll on both the planet and the people who work to make it.” – Vogue.com

“Fast Fashion to me means buying too much of what you don’t need, regardless of how expensive or disposable it is. I think of it like a mindset instead of a product.” – Katherine

“Fast fashion retailers move, well, faster than their traditional counterparts. This means that they compress production cycles and turn out up-to-the-minute designs, enabling shoppers to not only expand their wardrobes but also refresh them quickly—and cheaply.” – McKinsey.com

“Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly while demand is at its highest.” – Wikipedia.org

how do you define fast fashion?

global pollution

Fashion is the second largest polluter in the world. 70% of garments are made with synthetic fibres, 92 million tonnes of clothing waste is produced annually, and the cotton industry uses more insecticides and pesticides than any other crop in the world. 70% of textiles are dyed with azo dyes, which can contain cancer-causing cadmium, chromium, mercury, and lead.

unethical labour

The fast fashion industry is awash with underpaid, underage, and mistreated workers, unsafe working conditions, and more. Garment workers today are paid as little as absolutely nothing. Investigations have revealed people working 18-hour days with 1 day off per month. In 2013, the Rana Plaza collapse killed over 1,130 and injured more than 2,500 people.

poor quality

Clothing made in the fast fashion industry is mass-produced at the lowest cost and highest speed possible, without care for quality. The result is cheap, synthetic, low-quality garments that don’t last long, and hurt the environment when they’re thrown out. But by the time you’ve thrown out your garment, it’ll be out of style anyways. Time to go shopping again.

massive scale

The global fashion industry squeezes 1.7–2.5 trillion dollars out of consumers on a yearly basis, and in return exhausts incredible amounts of resources in order to produce 100-125 billion garments, of which roughly 80 billion are purchased. Overproduction is a major problem in the fashion industry; 40% more clothing is produced than could ever be worn.

the mindset [WIP]

Fast fashion is also a mindset, increasingly seen in Western countries.

A mindset that keeps us thinking we need more, we’re not enough, and keeps us detached from the reality of sweatshops, landfills, and climate change.

A mindset micromanaged by corporations, sown into our way of living through undertones in branding, marketing, architecture, and media.

A mindset built on insecurity, greed, jealousy, collecting, anxiety, status, and short-lived dopamine hits, instead of expression, community, creativity, freedom, fun, inspiration, and artistry.

watch my fast fashion youtube videos ↗

“Fast fashion is not free. Someone, somewhere is paying the price.”

Lucy Siegle

british journalist and writer

take action

the world (as well as us humans who live here) is at risk – anything helps

Not everything listed here is accessible for everyone.
Remember to…

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Arthur Ashe

the fast fashion project: digital art of a computer screen, a cursor clicking on a "buy now" button

before you buy…

Ask yourself:

Will this make me FEEL GOOD? Think about this one for a bit.

How long will I keep this?

Why am I buying this? Is it because of a trend that will soon be irrelevant?

Can I wear this all year long? Is it specific to a season?

How many clothes in my current wardrobe will it go with?

What do I know about the company who made this? Do they maintain ethical and sustainable practices?

brands to buy

brands to avoid

the fast fashion project: digital art of a computer screen, on an online fashion store, the search results for "cheap textiles"

be a mindful consumer

Purchase fewer, quality garments from sustainable brands instead of many cheap ones from not-so-sustainable brands.
This is one of the most powerful things you can do to fight fast fashion.

Purchase secondhand clothing from thrift stores, Poshmark, Kijiji, etc, shop locally, and attend (or host!) clothing swaps where you can trade clothing with others.

Look for brands that have certifications using tools like Good On You (see below).

Get to know your local wool mills, fashion designers, tailors, and small-scale retailers.

Avoid clothing made with polyester, nylon, spandex, rayon, and acrylic – check the tag. Go for cotton, linen, wool, and other natural materials.

Avoid fast fashion brands like H&M, Zara, SHEIN, TEMU, Forever 21, etc (see below). If it’s found in a conventional mall, it’s probably fast fashion.

be mindful of waste

Don’t buy clothes unnecessarily – every time you are about to buy a new piece of clothing, ask yourself: “Do I really need this?”

Use each garment as long as possible.

Don’t consider stained garments unusable. Paint over the stain, or dedicate the garment to yard work, painting, etc.

When you’re about to get rid of a garment, ask yourself:

Can I mend it?

Can I give it to a friend or family member?

Can I reinvent it? (put a patch on it, paint something on it, or upcycle it in some other way)

Am I only getting rid of this so I can get something new?

Can I donate it to a thrift store instead of throwing it away?

waste statistics

live waste counter

the fast fashion project: digital art of a magnifying glass

inform yourself

Read articles, listen to podcasts, watch documentaries and short films. Talk to others, ask them if they know about fast fashion.

Follow organizations like Fashion Revolution on social media.

Read a fast fashion zine!

resources

the fast fashion project: digital art of the earth covered in clothing

groups & organizations

Join or donate to an environmental activism group.

Join or donate to a fast fashion group or organization (see more under resources)

Ask your boss to support climate action through an earth.org company membership

environmental groups near you

organizations

on a political level…

like this one

Attend peaceful protests against fast fashion, unethical labour, and corporate and government corruption.

Sign petitions (see below) that fight for fashion and climate action.

Sign Fashion Revolution Canada’s #NoMorePolyester pledge (see below)

Vote (if you can) for politicians who speak out for climate action, or even better, fast fashion specifically.

Hold those politicians to their promises through social media, protesting, letters, emails – refuse to be silent.

change.org petition

greatergood.com petition

greenpeace.org.nz petition

#NoMorePolyester pledge

#ConsciousFashion Pledge [WIP]

by velichor

velichor.co/fastfashion/pledge

#ConsciousFashion

SIGN THE PLEDGE. MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Play your part in the fight against fast fashion by signing the pledge. Make a custom pledge that is accessible for you. The goal is 1,000 pledges. Spread the word!

I am affiliated with but not sponsored by myself

↗

#NoMorePolyester Pledge

by Fashion Revolution Canada

mailchi.mp/fashionrevolution/no-more-polyester

#NoMorePolyester

“In 2024 join the pledge to buy #NoMorePolyester! It’s a tough challenge – polyester is everywhere – but the era of plastic clothing needs to end. Together we can help reduce polyester consumption and production!”

I am not affiliated with or sponsored by Fashion Revolution

↗

#NoNewClothes Challenge

by velichor

remake.world/no-new-clothes-2024

#NoNewClothes

“The purpose of this challenge is to stop and consider the values we want to wear, and the role we can play in addressing overconsumption to change the fashion industry going forward. By taking on the challenge to buy no new clothes — whether that’s buying nothing at all or only secondhand — for 90 days, you will reduce your carbon footprint, limit the waste you send to landfill, and keep your hard-earned money out of the pockets of companies that hurt people and the planet.”

I am not affiliated with or sponsored by Remake

↗

send feedback ↗

if i can do it, you can too.

my commitments

“75% of consumers believe that sustainability is important and one-third are willing to choose brands that help environmental and social improvement.”

Ellen MacArthur Foundation

It’s time to take action.
For real this time.

stats

click ↗ for source

fashion is the world’s second largest polluter

the average party top is worn 1.7 times ↗

textile production has doubled over last 15 years but the time clothing is worn has dropped 40%

fashion is a multi-trillion-dollar industry, while workers are paid as little as 2 cents for each garment they make

1.2 Empire State Buildings worth of clothing waste is generated every day

of new textiles are made with synthetic fibres ↗

litres of water saved for every kg of cotton that’s recycled instead of thrown away ↗

of clothes are never worn ↗

garments in the average person’s closet ↗

average amount of times a party top is worn ↗

more clothing bought by the average consumer than in 2000 ↗

textiles produced annually ↗ ↗

* varies from 100-150 billion depending on source

lbs

of textile waste produced annually

(that’s more than the Great Wall of China weighs)

send feedback ↗

“Fast fashion is like fast food. After the sugar rush, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

Livia Firth

italian activist

brands

support brands that don’t harm people, animals, and the planet

Legend

What do all the icons mean?

Great Sustainability Rating ^{^(GOY)}

Good Sustainability Rating ^{^(GOY)}

Average Sustainability Rating ^{^(GOY)}

Poor Sustainability Rating ^{^(GOY)}

Awful Sustainability Rating ^{^(GOY)}

Environmental Practices • 1 = Worst • 5 = Best ^{^(GOY)}

Labour Practices • 1 = Worst • 5 = Best ^(GOY)

Transparency • 0 = Worst • 100 = Best ^(FTI)

Animal Welfare Practices • 1 = Worst • 5 = Best ^{^(GOY)}

Size Inclusive • ?XL = Largest Size

Brands

Ethical Brands

brands to look for

Yes Friends

Editor’s Choice

5/5

4XL

Outland Denim

5/5

3XL

Monsoon Blooms

5/5

The Standard Stitch

5/5

4/5

5/5

5XL

Subset

5/5

4/5

N/A

3XL

STANLEY/STELLA

5/5

4/5

5/5

Infantium Victoria

5/5

4/5

5/5

ReCreate

5/5

4/5

MUD Jeans

5/5

4/5

5/5

Quazi Design

5/5

N/A

non

5/5

4/5

5/5

DAWN Denim

4/5

5/5

Mila.Vert

5/5

4/5

LA Relaxed

5/5

4/5

5/5

The R Collective

5/5

4/5

ARMEDANGELS

5/5

4/5

The Classic T-Shirt Company

4/5

3XL

tentree

4/5

3/5

4/5

BEEN London

5/5

4/5

Swedish Stockings

5/5

4/5

Kuyichi

5/5

4/5

2/5

Puma

4/5

3/5

66%

3/5

Patagonia

4/5

2/5

40%

4/5

Unethical Brands

brands to avoid

TOM FORD

1/5

TEMU

1/5

0/5

SHEIN

1/5

2/5

Fashion Nova

1/5

2/5

CIDER

1/5

3/5

Forever 21

1/5

2/5

New Yorker

1/5

0/5

Romwe

1/5

2/5

REVOLVE

1/5

2/5

Hot Topic

1/5

0/5

Skechers

1/5

18%

2/5

Reebok

2/5

23%

2/5

Zara

2/5

50%

2/5

Amazon

2/5

26%

2/5

Walmart

2/5

23%

2/5

Urban Outfitters

2/5

36%

2/5

Victoria’s Secret

2/5

19%

N/A

Abercrombie & Fitch

2/5

33%

2/5

H&M

2/5

71%

2/5

Old Navy

2/5

48%

2/5

American Eagle

2/5

21%

2/5

Blundstone

2/5

These lists are not exhaustive! It is highly recommended to look up brands you don’t find here in Good On You‘s extensive database.

don’t see the brand you’re looking for?

find the sustainability of a specific brand ↗

Good On You

goodonyou.eco

“Ethical brand ratings. There’s an app for that.”

Good On You is a web and mobile app that rates fashion brands based on sustainability in three areas: Planet, People, and Animals, allowing you to check to see if a brand is sustainable before supporting them.

I am not affiliated with or sponsored by Good On You

↗

♡ powered by GoodOnYou and Fashion Transparency Index
? how their ratings work
✓ no affiliate links were used

get included in these lists

send feedback ↗

“Fast fashion is like fast food. After the sugar rush, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

Livia Firth

italian activist

my projects

projects i’ve made or am working on

pledge

make a difference.

join

writing

articles

read

satirical art

spoof ads, comics, more

see the gallery

zine [WIP]

a zine about fast fashion

read

send feedback ↗

quiz

do you contribute to fast fashion?

visit

short films [WIP]

visit my youtube channel for now

“Demand quality, not just in the products you buy, but in the life of the person who made it.”

Orsola de Castro

co-founder of fashion revolution

the life of a garment [WIP]

learn about the journey of a single piece of clothing – from farm to landfill

interactive flowchart

This is the most detailed version of the Life of a Garment project, attempting to portray all possible stages of a garment’s life – specifically a cotton t-shirt, but most of it applies to most garments.

open interactive version

Note: Miro can be slow to load, it’s not just you.

from the interactive flowchart, found here

artistic lifecycle [WIP]

from the Muckraker zine about fast fashion, found here

step-by-step details

Find a detailed description of each step along the way. Note that no garment visits all steps; each one has a unique journey from farm to landfill. Also note that this is a linear list, simply meant to display more information about each step of the way.

Step-by-Step Details

cotton farm

The beginning of the garment’s life is on a farm; usually in China, India, or the US. There, cotton is grown, then harvested by automated machines. This process uses massive amounts of water and pesticides. The average t-shirt takes 2,700 litres of water, and cotton uses more insecticides and pesticides than any other crop. This is terrible for the environment, nearby wildlife, and workers on the farm.

cotton gin

An industrial cotton gin separates the seeds from the boles.
The boles are then pressed into 225kg bales.

spinning facility

The bales leave the farm, and head for a spinning facility, usually in China or India. There, machines blend, card, comb, pull, stretch, and twist cotton into ropes of yarn called slivers (in that order).

mill

Huge circular knitting machines weave the yarn into rough sheets of greyish fabric.

treated

The fabric is treated with heat and chemicals, making it soft and white.

bleached and dyed

The fabric is soaked in commercial bleaches and/or azo dyes, which make up the bright colouring in roughly 70% of textiles. Some azo dyes contain cancer-causing elements such as cadmium, chromium, mercury, and lead.

garment factory

The fabric is shipped to garment factories, often in Bangladesh, China, India, or Turkey. Although the process is often almost completely untouched by human hands up until this point, human labour is required to turn the fabric into actual clothing.

shipped to point of sale

The garments are shipped to high-income countries where the clothing is sold.

retail

The garments are sold in stores like H&M, Zara, Forever 21, etc., or…

online shopping

…or, the garments are sold by online-only stores like SHEIN or TEMU.

consumer

The garments have now arrived at you, the consumer. This is where they have some of the biggest impact yet. Washing clothes uses massive amounts of water and electricity, as well as often harmful detergents and bleaches. The average American household does 400 loads of laundry per year. A study suggested that over 700,000 micro-plastics fibres could be released with every clothes wash. That’s 280 million per household.

Then, it’s up to the consumer to use the garments for as long as possible, and deal with them in a sustainable manner when they’re done with them.

returned to retail

It may not seem like a significant step, but companies often simply mark returned clothing as deadstock, and send it to brokers, sorters, graders, recyclers, incineration plants, or landfills. Some companies even slash clothing, intentionally making it unusable. In the US, the average return rate for clothing ordered online is 24.4%.

thrift store

Thrift stores: the ultimate solution? Not quite. Donating is a million times better than throwing away, but there’s a catch: only about 20% of donated clothes are actually sold. The rest go to brokers, sorters, graders, recyclers, incineration plants, or landfills.

donation bins

Items from clothing donation bins usually go to local thrift stores… but a lot of the clothes that are donated aren’t of good enough quality to sell. About half, according to this 2018 article. And clothing quality is only getting worse as fast fashion picks up its pace. So thrift stores sell unsold items to used clothing brokers, like Bank & Vogue.

used clothing broker

For-profit used clothing brokers like Bank & Vogue receive garments via donations and take-back bins, and buy what charities can’t sell. They then export them as bales to foreign countries such as Ghana, for profit.

textile recycler

Textile recyclers like Soex sort garments from retailers and other sort secondhand garments by quality, sell the best items secondhand, and turn the rest into things like wash cloths and insulation. Some of the clothing is sold to foreign countries like Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

kantamanto market

Every week, roughly 15 million items flow through Kantamanto Market, one of the world’s largest secondhand clothing markets, which resides in Accra, Ghana. Garments come from for-profit companies like Bank & Vogue, which get their garments from donations, take-back bins, and excess from thrift stores, which get their garments from you and me. Let’s try to wear our clothes a little longer this time around.

Learn more about this here.

incineration plant

87% of all fabric used for clothing is either incinerated, or landfilled. Some countries, such as Bulgaria, laws require that textile remnants that can’t be recycled have to be incinerated at cost in specially equipped plants. Some plants cut these costs by selling the remnants to locals who are in need of fuel to burn for heat.

This is one step that I have very little information on. Contribute.

landfill

Ultimately, most clothing ends up here. It comes from almost every other step of the way (see the flowchart). The world produces more clothing waste in weight than the great wall of china—92 million tonnes—in a single year. It took over 2,000 years for the Great Wall to be constructed. To put that into perspective, enough textile waste to fill a garbage truck is either landfilled or incinerated every second, and enough to fill an entire Empire State Building each day.

sources ・ 1・2・ 3・4・5・6・7・8・9・10

missing information

In the flowchart version, there are some nodes that look like this:

Question mark nodes refer to missing information. Unfortunately, the fashion industry isn’t very transparent, which results in many of these nodes scattered throughout the flowchart.

If you have knowledge in the area of a missing node, please provide feedback below.

feedback

Quick Note: I’m just one person, and I’m doing the best I can. The Life of a Garment project is not and cannot be perfect.

There are many, many variables. This project attempts to capture the journey of the average garment, and includes many but not all different paths it may take.

That being said, I am always open to feedback, suggestions, constructive criticism, collaboration requests, etc!

Please send feedback if you find inaccuracies, missing information, or simply have an idea for the page!

send feedback ↗

“Abundance and excess are not the same thing.”

Dead White Man’s Clothes Organization

deadwhitemansclothes.org/intro

see the team behind it all

dead white man’s clothes

what are “dead white man’s clothes”?

Dead White Man’s Clothes

Articles Fast Fashion News

Photo: velichor Where does clothing go after you’re done with it? A lot of it ends up in Kantamanto Market, one of the largest secondhand clothing markets in the world where over 30,000 vendors attempt to sell the ~15,000,000 garments that pass through it every week. The Journey A stained t-shirt is tossed onto an…
continue reading

learn more

deadwhitemansclothes.org

Dead White Mans Clothes

“Dead White Man’s Clothes is a multimedia research project exploring the secondhand clothing trade in the context of Accra, Ghana. This project is coordinated by The OR Foundation, a USA-based non-profit co-founded by us – Liz Ricketts and Branson Skinner.”

I am not affiliated with or sponsored by Dead White Man’s Clothes or The OR Foundation

↗

theor.org

The OR Foundation

“The Or Foundation (pronounced “or”) stands for choice. Choice is agency – agency to escape the predominant violent socio-economic system of corporate colonialism and to change it from within. We are a 501(C)(3) public charity in the USA and a registered charity in Ghana that has been operating in both countries since 2011.”

“Too much clothing. Not enough Justice.
Too often a consumer. So rarely a human.
It is time to recover. You are invited.”

I am not affiliated with or sponsored by Dead White Man’s Clothes or The OR Foundation

↗

send feedback ↗

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it”

Robert Swan

history

the history of fast fashion, starting in the 1700s

1700s

1700-1760

early-mid 1700s

Before the industrial revolution, clothes were made by practiced tailors, and were a labour-intensive process. Only higher classes of society were able to purchase new clothing. The rest relied on second hand clothing, or made their own.

1760-1840

industrial revolution

As technology advanced and production increased rapidly through the industrial revolution, clothing became more accessible.

1790

invention of the sewing machine

In 1790, the Englishman Thomas Saint invented the first sewing machine.

1800s

early-mid 1800s

Thanks to an army of eager inventors, local tailors were working in the looming shadows of corporate factories by the end of the industrial revolution.

1846

sewing machine is patented

In 1846, Elias Howe received the first patent for a sewing machine.

late 1800s

demand for cheap garments rises

Nearing the end of the 1800s, small- and large-scale operations were spurred to cut costs by their growing lower- and middle-class audience. They did so by introducing simpler, sleeker, clothing styles, and outsourcing parts of production to sweatshops. By the end of the 1800s, garment factories were growing in numbers and the world had its first department store.

1900s

early 1900s

sweatshops & child labour gain recognition

Starting in the late 1800s and moving into the early 1900s, garment companies became well known for their exploitation of workers and the use of sweatshops. At the time, workers could be as young as a few years old, and worked 15-20 hour shifts in awful conditions.

March 25, 1911

triangle shirtwaist factory fire

In 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory killed 146 people. Garment workers, ages 14-23. Locked in the building by their employers, who wanted to prevent workers from taking breaks, or stealing garments. After an insurance claim and some rather unscrupulous court room moves, the factory owners ended up profiting $400 per victim.

1947

H&M’s beginning

In 1947, a fashion company known as Hennes (Swedish for “Hers”) opened in Sweden. It would later merge with Mauritz, and rebrand to Hennes & Mauritz, or as it’s known today, H&M.

1960s

cultural revolution

In the 1960s, the cultural revolution turned fashion into a means of protest, expression, and experimentation. The demand for affordable clothing rose. As of 1965, the US made 95% of the clothing they consumed.

1970s-1990

production is outsourced

Companies began to outsource production to countries with cheaper and less regulated labour and materials in the 1970s, and by 1990 the US made only 51% of their clothing.

1989

“fast fashion” is named

The term “fast fashion” was coined by the New York Times in 1989 after a Zara store opened in New York City. Fashion started getting fast.

2000s

1990-2011

more (massive) outsourcing

Between 1990 and 2011, the US lost ~750,000 apparel manufacturing jobs as companies outsourced production to lower-income countries.

2000

H&M reaches the US

In 2000, Hennes & Mauritz expanded to the US.

2005

textile consumption spike

In the UK, textile consumption spiked by 37% from 2000 to 2005 alone.

2007

China makes up 30% of apparel exports

As of 2007, China accounted for 30% of the world’s apparel exports, and the US purchased over 1 billion Chinese-made garments annually.

2008

SHEIN’S beginning

In 2008, ZZKKO was conceptualized by Chris Xu, as a wedding dress business. It was renamed to SheInside sometime in 2009-2011, later to be rebranded to SHEIN.

2000-2010

low worker wages

Workers at the time were sometimes paid as little as 12-18 cents per hour, and often worked in poor conditions. Today, the wages are worse.

2010s

2013

textile waste reaches dangerous levels

With the accessibility of cheap clothing, growing jealousy and influencer culture promoted by social media, people held onto their clothes for less and less time before throwing them out. In 2013, it was estimated that UK households collectively owned 46.7 billion US dollars worth of unworn clothing.

2013

social media spurs fashion to an even faster pace

With the rise of social media, #OOTDs, and consumer culture, fast fashion picked up its pace even more, reaching a global annual revenue of 1.2 trillion US dollars in 2013.

2016

US generates 25 billion lbs of annual textile waste

As of 2016, the average person in the US threw away 70 pounds of textiles, and the country itself generated 25 billion pounds of textiles, not including imports; all annually.

2019

<1% of clothing is recycled

Clothing was ending up in landfills far more often (and still is). By 2019, less than 1% of clothing was recycled into new clothing.

2019

increased micro-plastics usage

Clothing was being produced with enough synthetic material that every wash could release up to 700,000 micro-plastics fibres.

2019-Present

SHEIN is propelled to unethical success

SheInside was renamed to SHEIN in 2015, and propelled to success by the massive spike in online shopping and social media use that was brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than tripling their revenue between 2019 and 2020 to a total of 9.81 billion US dollars. SHEIN now dominates online fashion, making almost twice as much from online sales as the next highest, Nike.

2020 – Present

2020s – Present Day

see present day stats

Present Day

synthetic plastics

70% of clothes manufactured today are made with synthetic fibre.

Present Day

water footprint

Clothing also has a tremendous water footprint. Approximately 8,100 litres of water is used to grow the cotton for a single pair of jeans. After being manufactured, there’s transportation, distribution, laundry, and disposal, all of which use either water or fossil fuels.

Present Day

pesticides

Water isn’t the only consideration around growing cotton; the textile sector represents 10-20% of the world’s pesticide use.

Present Day

toxic dyes

And on top of all that, 70% of colourful clothing is dyed with azo dyes, which can sometimes contain cancer-causing chemical elements, such as cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury.

Present Day

carbon emmissions

A T-shirt contributes 0.01 kilograms of carbon dioxide per wear. All in all, the the fashion industry is one of the largest contributors to global pollution, emitting more greenhouse gas emissions than international shipping and aviation combined.

Present Day

oil consumption

The fashion industry accounts for 1.35% of the world’s oil consumption, exceeding the oil consumption of the entire country of Spain.

Present Day

waste

In the US, roughly 2,150 pieces of clothing are thrown away every second. A lot of that is because people like you and me make the decision to A) buy cheap clothing, and subsequently B) that throw it out prematurely, instead of donating it to a friend, family member, or thrift store. The average US consumer throws out 81.5 pounds of clothing annually. And if you gathered up a single year’s textile waste from across the world, it would weigh more than the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall took around 2,500 years to construct, and weighs 37,629,868 metric tonnes, while the global fashion industry generates over 92,000,000 metric tonnes of waste in a single year.

Present Day

unethical labour

Some garment workers are paid as little as 2 cents per hour, working shifts as long as 18 hours, and sometimes with only one day off per month. From unsafe conditions and collapsing, burning, and locked factories to underpaid, underage and overworked factory workers, labour is an urgent and terrible issue in the fashion industry—and most other industries, for that matter.

Present Day

the industry

Unfortunately, even though there are many organizations fighting fast fashion, this isn’t going to change anytime soon—unless consumers across the world like me and you make a cohesive attempt at change. Why? Because the industry doesn’t only generate waste—it generates almost $300 billion more annual revenue than the combined money of the top ten richest people on earth, for a total of $1,700,000,000,000 USD. That’s $1.7 trillion (CA $2.329 trillion). And it’s only getting more profitable for the people in power. Textile production has doubled over the past 15 years.

Present Day

the consumers (you)

On top of all this, consumers (people who buy things, like me and you) aren’t helping. If garment workers are the mechanics and fixers of the fast fashion machine, we are the oil that keeps it running smoothly. The average consumer buys 60% more than they did in 2000. In the last 15 years, textile production has doubled, but the time clothing is worn for has dropped down to an average of 7 days. Refraining from buying excess clothing is one of the most powerful things you can do on an everyday basis to fight fast fashion. The mega-corporations that are running the industry control us through advertising and the media, but we still have choice; they can’t operate without us.

send feedback ↗

“Decades ago, people saved for months to buy one garment. Now, we spend upwards of $100/month on cheap clothing in a desperate attempt to keep up with trends.”