Introduction to Fast Fashion

   The sale, production, and dissemination of clothing has reached virtually every corner of the world. Thanks to new technological developments, anyone can purchase the latest trends for less money. A financially struggling college student in Ithaca can wear the same outfit as a model influencer in Milan – albeit at the cost of a manufacturing worker’s rights in a developing nation. It is impossible due to the model of fast fashion. Fast fashion prioritizes a rapid turnover rate for high revenue. For example, the production of shirts and shoes has doubled in under 25 years, and 73% of these items will be burned or buried in landfills. 

Effects of Fast Fashion on the World

   Areas that were once free of anthropogenic activity – like Mt. Everest and the Mariana Trench – have become contaminated with microplastics. Microplastics typically are dispersed into the environment from urban runoff, sewage waste, and laundry wastewater pipes. This unregulated phenomenon means the fashion industry contributes anywhere from 4% to 10% of global carbon emissions, playing a huge role in global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report Summary for Policymakers stated that an overall global temperature increase of 1.5°C would present high-level risks to various ecosystems and human populations. In North America alone, a 1.5°C rise in global temperature would cause significant biodiversity loss, reduce food security, raise sea levels, and increase human mortality and morbidity. Thus, recognizing fast fashion actors as a major climate action stakeholder group is imperative to mitigating climate change so that we can shift the current fashion paradigm toward ecological sustainability and adaptation to the climate crisis. 

Solutions to the Fast Fashion Crisis

   We can repurpose elements of society to survive the harrowing consequences of climate destabilization. The following four solutions call for institutional and private reform to completely rethink the fashion industry.

   The first solution is to promote brands with “green” practices like a high usage of recycled and ethically sourced natural fibers. There are existing fashion companies focused on ecological sustainability, like Reformation. However, “green” labels often have a high price tag, excluding a large demographic of working class individuals. So accessible apps like Good on You informs consumers about any brand’s environmental impact before guiding them to more eco-conscious alternatives. Although mass clothing distributors and advertisers still contribute to the overconsumption and textile waste problem; they are also actively reforming the fashion industry with environmentally conscious decisions. 

   The second solution is circular fashion. Online rental platforms like The RealReal and Rent the Runway rely on multi-use garments through customers renting and returning their clothes for profit. This reliance prolongs the lifetime of an article of clothing before its owner discards the garment, reducing waste while allowing consumers to participate in trends. 

   A third solution is a return to old paradigms. Slow fashion was born as a countermovement to the exploitative and wasteful nature of the fast fashion industry. It aligns with DIY culture and the maker movement, which locally operates with small vendors that craft their products from natural fibers like biodegradable cotton, silk, bamboo, wool, linen, alpaca, hemp, and cashmere.

   The fourth solution is legislative reform to combat climate change by regulating the fashion industry. Policymakers should price textiles’ production, transport, and waste management’s negative externalities. The government should tax carbon emissions, water pollution, and adverse health effects on life forms exposed to discarded garments. Doing so would discourage pollutive practices and lead to the adoption of natural fiber use combined with renewable energy. For example, the UK government recently proposed a tax on virgin plastic, including synthetic fibers. This reform would increase synthetics' price for the fashion industry, causing a shift towards natural material use. In California, laws require manufacturers to pay for their goods' disposal costs. In New York State, one proposed law mandates supply-chain mapping and emission limits for companies and fines violating companies that garner over $100 million in revenue with 2% of those earnings. 

   Reform in the fashion sphere can occur in numerous ways. It can begin with a shift in consumer behavior, such as individual choices to shop at a secondhand shop and starting a capsule wardrobe circulated among friends. The fashion industry can also adapt its fast fashion business model to increasingly eco-friendly practices. Nonetheless, collective action is the key to addressing the role of the textile sector on climate change. But change starts at the individual level of large groups. And it can all start with rethinking if you really need that extra T-shirt from the same brand in the same color.