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Australian Business Case Studies | SBS Learn

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Interactive educational resources which bring to life the experiences of Australian entrepreneurs. Years 7-10: HASS, Sustainability.

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Fashion accounts for around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, but there are ways to reduce the impact your wardrobe has on the climate.

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Clothing retailers like Zara, Forever 21, and H&M make cheap and fashionable clothing to satisfy the needs of young consumers. Yet, fast fashion has a significant environmental impact. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the industry is the second-biggest consumer of water and is responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions - more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Unfortunately, fast fashion problems are often overlooked by consumers.
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What Is Fast Fashion?

The term ' fast fashion ' has become more prominent in conversations surrounding fashion, sustainability, and environmental consciousness. The term refers to 'cheaply produced and priced garments that copy the latest catwalk styles and get pumped quickly through stores in order to maximise on current trends'.

The fast fashion model is so-called because it involves the rapid design, production, distribution, and marketing of clothing, which means that retailers are able to pull large quantities of greater product variety and allow consumers to get more fashion and product differentiation at a low price.

The term was first used at the beginning of the 1990s, when when Zara landed in New York. "Fast fashion" was coined by the New York Times to describe Zara's mission to take only 15 days for a garment to go from the design stage to being sold in stores. The biggest players in the fast fashion world include Zara, UNIQLO, Forever 21 and H&M.

The Dark Side of Fast Fashion

According to an analysis by Business Insider, fashion production comprises 10% of total global carbon emissions, as much as the European Union. It dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams, while 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year. Even washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibres into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.

The Quantis International 2018 report found that the three main drivers of the industry's global pollution impacts are dyeing and finishing (36%), yarn preparation (28%) and fibre production (15%). The report also established that fibre production has the largest impact on freshwater withdrawal (water diverted or withdrawn from a surface water or groundwater source) and ecosystem quality due to cotton cultivation, while the dyeing and finishing, yarn preparation and fibre production stages have the highest impacts on resource depletion, due to the energy-intensive processes based on fossil fuel energy.

According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, emissions from textile manufacturing alone are projected to skyrocket by 60% by 2030.

The time it takes for a product to go through the supply chain, from design to purchase, is called a ' lead time '. In 2012, Zara was able to design, produce and deliver a new garment in two weeks; Forever 21 in six weeks and H&M in eight weeks. This results in the fashion industry producing obscene amounts of waste.

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Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact

1. Water

The environmental impact of fast fashion comprises the depletion of non-renewable sources, emission of greenhouse gases and the use of massive amounts of water and energy. The fashion industry is the second largest consumer industry of water, requiring about 700 gallons to produce one cotton shirt and 2 000 gallons of water to produce a pair of jeans. Business Insider also cautions that textile dyeing is the world's second-largest polluter of water, since the water leftover from the dyeing process is often dumped into ditches, streams or rivers.

2. Microplastics

Furthermore, brands use synthetic fibres like polyester, nylon and acrylic which take hundreds of years to biodegrade. A 2017 report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that 35% of all microplastics - tiny pieces of non-biodegradable plastic - in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles like polyester.

According to the documentary released in 2015, The True Cost, the world consumes around 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year, 400% more than the consumption twenty years ago. The average American now generates 82 pounds of textile waste each year. The production of leather requires large amounts of feed, land, water and fossil fuels to raise livestock, while the tanning process is among the most toxic in all of the fashion supply chain because the chemicals used to tan leather- including mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives and various oils and dyes- is not biodegradable and contaminates water sources.

3. Energy

The production of making plastic fibres into textiles is an energy-intensive process that requires large amounts of petroleum and releases volatile particulate matter and acids like hydrogen chloride. Additionally, cotton, which is in a large amount of fast fashion products, is also not environmentally friendly to manufacture. Pesticides deemed necessary for the growth of cotton presents health risks to farmers.

To counter this waste caused by fast fashion, more sustainable fabrics that can be used in clothing include wild silk, organic cotton, linen, hemp and lyocell.
You might Also Like: How to Recognise Fast Fashion Brands and Which Ones to Avoid
The Social Impacts of Fast Fashion

Fast fashion does not only have a huge environmental impact. In fact, the industry also poses societal problems, especially in developing economies. According to non-profit Remake, 80% of apparel is made by young women between the ages of 18 and 24. A 2018 US Department of Labor report found evidence of forced and child labour in the fashion industry in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Vietnam and others. Rapid production means that sales and profits supersede human welfare.

In 2013, an eight-floor factory building that housed several garment factories collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 workers and injuring more than 2,500. In her project An Analysis of the Fast Fashion Industry, Annie Radner Linden suggests that 'the garment industry has always been a low-capital and labour intensive industry'.

In her book No Logo, Naomi Klein argues that developing nations are viable for garment industries due to 'cheap labour, vast tax breaks, and lenient laws and regulations'. According to The True Cost, one in six people work in some part of the global fashion industry, making it the most labour-dependent industry. These developing nations also rarely follow environmental regulations; China, for example, is a major producer of fast fashion but is notorious for land degradation and air and water pollution.
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Is Slow Fashion the Solution?

Slow fashion is the widespread reaction to fast fashion and its environmental impact, the argument for hitting the brakes on excessive production, overcomplicated supply chains, and mindless consumption. It advocates for manufacturing that respects people, the environment and animals.

The World Resources Institute suggests that companies need to design, test and invest in business models that reuse clothes and maximise their useful life. The UN has launched the Alliance for Sustainable Fashion to address the damages caused by fast fashion. It is seeking to 'halt the environmentally and socially destructive practices of fashion'.
You might also like: What Is Slow Fashion and How Can You Join the Movement?
One way that shoppers are reducing their consumption of fast fashion is by buying from secondhand sellers like ThredUp Inc. and Poshmark, both based in California, USA; shoppers send their unwanted clothes to these websites and people buy those clothes at a lower price than the original. Another solution is renting clothes, like the US-based Rent the Runway and Gwynnie Bee, the UK based Girl Meets Dress, and the Dutch firm Mud Jeans that leases organic jeans which can be kept, swapped or returned.

Other retailers like Adidas are experimenting with personalised gear to cut down on returns, increase customer satisfaction and reduce inventory. Ralph Lauren has announced that it will use 100% sustainably-sourced key materials by 2025.

Governments need to be more actively involved in the fashion industry's damaging effects. UK ministers rejected a report by members of parliament to address the environmental effects of fast fashion. On the other hand, French president, Emmanuel Macron has made a pact with 150 brands to make the fashion industry more sustainable.
Featured image by EO Photographer Chin Leong Teo
The best advice on reducing the environmental impact of fast fashion comes from Patsy Perry, senior lecturer in fashion marketing at the University of Manchester, who says, "Less is always more."

This story is funded by readers like you

Our non-profit newsroom provides climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Your one-off or monthly donations play a crucial role in supporting our operations, expanding our reach, and maintaining our editorial independence.

About EO | Mission Statement | Impact & Reach | Write for us

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Fast Fashion: Its Detrimental Effect on the Environment

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Fast fashion has a massive environmental impact, it is the second-biggest consumer of water and is responsible for nearly 10% of global carbon emissions.

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Fast Fashion has revolutionized the textile industry but comes with a steep price tag, turning the fashion industry into one of the world's biggest polluters.
Getty

By Sin To, SAP
Have you ever noticed whenever there is a fashion show in Paris, New York, London or Milano, you are able to buy the cheaper knock-offs a few days later? It's called "Fast Fashion," a new way to produce fashion items in a shorter period and at lower costs (and often with lower quality). While Fast Fashion has revolutionized the textile industry, it's comes with a steep price in the form of negative impact on the environment and quality of life.

The environment pays a high price for cheaper clothes

Our hunger for new fashion items continues to increase. Unfortunately, this high demand for the latest and greatest has turned the fashion industry into one of the world's worst polluters. According to the World Wildlife Fund :

Cotton can be found in nearly 40% of all clothes. In addition to cotton, synthetic fiber like polyester or nylon are the second most used material for fashion, which is in almost 72% of all fashion items. The latter materials are also criticized for their negatively environmental impact.

The production process of garments - from farming cotton, to dyeing and washing - consumes a lot of water and pesticides. Moreover, recycling of these mix garments is often difficult and won't provide the satisfactory quality the fashion brands and consumers are requesting.

The environmental issues caused by the fast fashion industry has provoked the movement to Slow Fashion or Fashion4Climate.

Fashioning a new business model

There is increasing demand from consumers and manufacturers to change the supply chain to transformation to sustainable fashion

One way could be the idea of circular economy. Circular economy aims to redefine growth, focusing on positive society-wide benefits. It entails gradually decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resource, designing waste out of the system. This model employs reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed system and minimizing the resource consumption and waste production as well as pollution and emissions.

The study of the Ellen-MacArthur-Foundation indicates four phases:

1. High quality of the original material means stability and less environmental pollution.

2. Designing and producing to last.

3. Recycling should be considered right at the beginning and the recycling technology should be improved.

4. Reduction of the use of new resources but use of more renewable resources.

There are some fashion brands who has accepted to reach this goal and are busy to rework their sustainability strategy:

Dyecoo, the Dutch company, claims to be the world's first commercial supplier of water-free and process-chemical free-dyeing technology for textiles. It's C02-based dyeing process makes textiles dyeing clean, sustainable, efficient and profitable.

Re:newcell, the Swedish bioeconomic company has developed a new way of reusing clothes in a closed loop. The company indicates that it takes in garments that are too worn out to be sent to second-hand shops and shreds, de-colors and turns into a slurry with all the contaminants removed. The result is cellulose, a biodegradable, organic material that all plants on the planet are made from.

Alternative material

Changing a business model is one way, the other way could be to think of alternative materials for fashion items that are both sustainable and bio-degradable. A few examples include:

Organic Hemp has been used as a fabric for hundreds of years

Organic Linen is a natural fiber derived from the flax plant.

Tencel is a cellulose fabric created by dissolving wood pulp. It has moisture wicking properties desired in the manufacturing of activewear.

Pinatex is a vegan leather alternative material made from pineapple leaf fibers.

Econyl is a fiber created by using plastics, waste fabrics and fishing nets reclaimed from the ocean.

Supply Chain Transparency

As a consumer, I want to support brands that are doing something good for the world and am willing to pay a little more for sustainable goods.

As this consumer pressure mounts for fast fashion companies to be more proactive about environmental preservation, several companies started to offer their consumers a transparency of their supply chain. Several brands have already moved toward transparency in manufacturing: from the design phase to transport. For example, the Swedish fashion giant H&M Group provides its' supplier list online.

As most consumers are also price sensitive, brands are responding by trying to become more transparent when it comes to specify costs of materials, labor, transport, duties and mark up. Everlane, a US based company, offers its consumers insights to all these costs.

New Technology

Supply chain traceability becomes important when it comes to empower fashion companies to embrace transparency. This will enable fashion companies to improve their whole production process and to gain a sustainable supply chain.

Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain can help to enable fashion companies to adopt more sustainable end-to-end retail models because every step of the value chain can be traced and shown transparent: from raw material sourcing to manufacturing to shipping and reuse.

Offering our customers an optimized supply chain implicates to help our customers to run better, hence for a better world. For more information, visit SAP Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
To learn more, download the IDC report " Leveraging Your Intelligent Digital Supply Chain."

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SAP BrandVoice: Can 'Fast Fashion' Be Sustainable?

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By Sin To, SAP Have you ever noticed whenever there is a fashion show in Paris, New York, London or Milano, you are able to buy the cheaper knock-offs a few days later? It's called "Fast Fashion," a new way to produce fashion items in a shorter period and at lower costs (and often with lower quality).

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Rethinking Fast Fashion After Bangladesh | PBS LearningMedia

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This essay from Youth Radio is a self-reflection of one teenager's buying and shopping habits. She shares her experiences touring Bangladesh and hearing stories about the local factory conditions. She returns to the United States determined to not buy clothes made in sweatshops as well as raise awareness about fast fashion.

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An introduction to the concept at the heart of Doughnut Economics

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Search the Ethical Fashion Guide

Fashion Has A Big Problem

Millions of workers in the global fashion industry face injustice, abuse, low wages, and modern slavery. The way we produce clothes and shoes-and the endless demand for more-is having a detrimental impact on local communities, their lands and waterways, and even the air they breathe. With the industry is responsible for up to ten per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, it's a problem that affects us all. So we're lifting the lid on what's happening in the supply chains of the biggest fashion brands, to create momentum for change.

We conducted
research into brands

We assessed 12,600 data points covering 46 questions across three tiers of the supply chain.

We gave them
a score out of 100

Brands are scored out of 100, based on how they're going at protecting workers and the environment.

We ranked them
among their peers

Brands are ranked into five colours, ranging from the bottom scoring ones to the top scoring ones.

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Get The Latest Ethical Fashion Guide - Baptist World Aid

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Search the Ethical Fashion Guide Millions of workers in the global fashion industry face injustice, abuse, low wages, and modern slavery. The way we produce clothes and shoes-and the endless demand for more-is having a detrimental impact on local communities, their lands and waterways, and even the air they breathe.