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This infographic list many facts and cons about clothing waste, and gives numbers to show how truly harmful and tolling it is on our planet and economy. 

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This image shows the abundant amount of clothing messily piled up in a clothing factory.

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Clothing washed up on a beach in Ghana showing the effect of fast fashion 

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This infographic helps demonstrate how much waste and pollution is causes by clothing 

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With all of the dark sides of fast fashion, there are a few good ways to do your part and try to undo all of these issues. Starting simple you can recycle and reuse old clothes so it gets more use instead of going straight to a landfill. Avoiding Fast fashion overall, and instead only buying a few higher quality products every few months, instead of many cheap products weekly or monthly would lower the rate, and effects of fast fashion. Also giving clothes to charity/stores like Goodwill can be better for the environment because it is purchased by others instead of sitting in a landfill polluting the earth more. There are many organizations already protesting and trying to undo fast fashion but hardly enough to make a difference. To make an impact you could join one of these organizations or even create your own. One example of something a powerful organization did was “Extinction Rebellion activists disrupted this week's London Fashion Week in protest at the harm the industry causes to the environment.” This is just one example of many strong protests against fast fashion proving to more people the harsh impacts that it has. Along with all of this, the government has considered passing the Fabric Act which would enforce higher quality clothes and fair pay and treatment for workers. If this act was more known and proven it is wanted/needed then the government would most likely pass it, slightly improving fast fashion overall. In conclusion, fast fashion has many harmful effects on the earth, people, and the economy and if everyone did their part together we could start to right all of the wrongs fast fashion has caused.

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What are the economic or political impacts?

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What are the economic or political impacts?

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Along with fast fashion having a strong negative impact on the environment, there are also economic and political impacts. First of all, fast fashion is something many people have strong opinions on that can become very political. Due to this, it creates many arguments and disagreements between many people. Fast fashion also causes excessive consumerism. Not only does overconsumption drain your wallet over time, but it also wastes valuable natural resources like water, and trees, while shipping increases pollution rates. One of the biggest political impacts is the horrible labor condition and treatment of workers. This is a huge concern within the government and many others who are against fast fashion. Fast fashion employs more than 300 million people around the world (most commonly people in the poorest countries). As well as having wild hours for the dreadfully low pay, they are also working in unsafe conditions, where there have been many stories of workers getting abused/assaulted. Most of the records of this horrible treatment have been in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. This is most likely because these places have some of the best, quickest fast fashion. This Unfortunately means that the workers are treated worse by being painfully forced to make clothes at an unachievable rate.

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Fast Fashion has an unfortunately big part in the world's pollution, climate change, and global warming. Most clothes after use, end up in the ocean, landfills, or the dump. Clothes aren't known for decomposing and although they still do it takes from 20-200 years. In this process of decomposition, the clothes release many harmful greenhouse gasses and harmful chemicals into the ocean and air badly, quickly polluting the earth. Fast fashion companies also cause a lot of pollution in the process of producing these products. Since they have to produce products very quickly, the machines rapidly produce chemicals and greenhouse gasses, therefore highly contributing to air pollution. 66% of clothing ends up in landfills. Since these clothes are used and discarded so quickly they rapidly pile up in these landfills. The landfills just sit there getting more and more clothes, which causes more and more pollution. This pollution doesn't just affect the air it also has a huge toll on water/ocean pollution. When clothes are washed it releases 500,000 tons of microfibres into the ocean each year, the same as 50 billion plastic bottles. Along with this, it takes about 2,000 bottles of water to make a normal pair of jeans which is a huge waste of perfectly fine water.

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Although Fast fashion sounds like the better, cheaper, easier option it has many harmful causes and downsides. One effect it has on humans is that even though it is cheap it adds up over time. This is because, since the clothes are quickly made and there is no time or care put into them they are very low quality. This means that they will have to be replaced constantly and the cost will quickly grow. The main impact that fast fashion has on humans is the horrible work community. The workers in these companies are paid very low wages for unreasonably long hours. Most work days for the most popular companies (like Shein) are 18-hour days with the pay of three cents an hour, and they get paid per every item that they make. Along with this horrible system they also only have one day off a month and aren't even close to being paid living wages. With all of this, the working conditions are very dangerous and harmful. The machinery is cheap and dangerous, with bad chemicals, horrible treatment, and even child labor. These are only a few problems with fast fashion but are important reasons to try and stay away far from it.

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It all began in the 1900s when the idea of mass-producing clothing was introduced. At first, it started with fast-working machines, but people quickly realized that these machines were very unreliable so they moved on to a vast labor force. Even though fast fashion was discovered in the early 1900s it really sparked in the 1990s. Retailers began to introduce trendy, cheaply-priced, poorly-made clothes on a weekly basis that kept up with trends. This became a big hit because many consumers at the time believed that being able to buy a lot of clothes for a low price was convenient and efficient. The first brands to discover and introduce the concept of fast fashion were H&M and Zara. These brands have continued to thrive off of popularity but have had some trouble and have been overshadowed by other companies. For example During the pandemic, as stores closed, e-commerce (only online clothing stores) like Shein became more and more popular. Because e-commerce was easier and safer at the time, Zara and H&M (which were the top fashion staples before covid) became overshadowed by Shein and Asos. Shein is now worth 100 billion, more than H&M and Zara combined. With all of these big brands and having more knowledge about fast fashion the fashion industry has been growing at a 4.78% yearly rate since 2011. It is expected to grow by 5.91% during the next three years, and around the world, sales could grow by 65% by 2023 (this year).