Identifying the Problem
The Environmental and Ethical Issues of Fast Fashion
As one could imagine, fast fashion is a rather multifaceted problem. There are obviously the environmental concerns, as fast fashion is one of the lead contributors to climate change, creating 10 percent of all carbon emissions, projecting to jump to 26% by 2050 if changes are not made.[1] Along with the contribution to climate change, fast fashion has many other negative environmental impacts. There are also very serious social justice concerns regarding fast fashion and labor exploitation, specifically in developing countries where working conditions and wages are inhumane.
Due heavily to the combustion of fossil fuels, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are at a level that has not been seen in over 400,000 years. The abundance of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases in the atmosphere has exacerbated the natural greenhouse effect, as a result, more of the sun’s heat is being trapped causing a steady temperature rise. These temperature increases have unforeseeable consequences that could have profound ramifications for humanity and all life that inhabits earth. If the increase in greenhouse gas emissions continues, global temperatures will likely increase 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, potentially causing irreversible damage to the climate. As a result, water supplies could diminish, seal levels will rise causing threat to coastal populations, droughts and floods will become more frequent and the intensity of storms and hurricanes will increase.[2] The detrimental effects of climate change are one of the most pressing matters of our current generation. While there are many causes for the warming of the planet, one of the lead contributors of climate change is the fashion industry, particularly fast fashion. This is due to the immense greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and extreme resource usage necessary for high intensity fashion production. According to research done by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation in 2015, greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production totalled 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.[3] Fast fashion is also very resource intensive, using an abundance of water, land for growing fibers, and fossil fuels to produce synthetic materials. Along with the resource intensity, we must also consider the waste and pollution produced as a result of the fashion industry, where people are wearing their clothes less and less before throwing it away.
In the last 15 years, clothing production has almost doubled as a result of a growing population, with this increased clothing production, clothing utilization has decreased 36 percent in the same 15 years.2 This creates an abundance of waste, where NPR reports, from the Environmental Protection Agency, that 15.1 million tons of textile waste was generated in 2013, of which 12.8 million tons were discarded.[4] As you can imagine with the growing fashion production, annual generated waste has increased significantly as well. Not only does fast fashion generate landfill waste, it is also responsible for 20 percent of global wastewater produced. [5] In combination with the 93 billion cubic meters of water used annually by the textile industry and the 98 million tonnes of non-renewable resources used per year,2 the fashion industry is extremely resource intensive. Lastly, the fashion industry is not known for treating their “sweat shop” employees very well, a very serious ethical issues facing many companies. Overall, the fashion industry has an abundance of room for development.
As previously mentioned, fast fashion also has a major social justice component. Since many developing nations do not have adequate labor laws, many fashion companies move their manufacturing and production facilities overseas to reduce unit costs. There are many ways in which this becomes a social justice issue. For many workers, this is there only way to get income and despite the fact the wages are unlivable, people have no choice but to work grueling hours to provide for themselves and their families. Sweatshop workers are paid as little as 3 cents per hour and work over 100-hour weeks.[6] Children working in sweatshops make even less money than previously mentioned. There are 250 million children aged 5-14 working in sweatshops in developing countries, some making less than 20 cents per day or 1 cent per hour, for a 16 hour day.6 This is not only a problem in developing countries, the United State is guilty of sweatshop labor as well. Major fast fashion company Fashion Nova, was recently caught for paying their workers as low as $2.77-$4.66/hour in their L.A based sweatshops.[7] Additionally, working conditions for their laborers often don’t meet requirements or standards we are used to, poor air quality being one of the biggest challenges. This creates many safety hazards and people have died as a result of this negligence. For example, in 2013 when Ranza Plaza, a garment industry building, collapsed, more than 1,100 workers were killed and at least 2,000 injured.[8] This has drawn a lot of attention to fair trade and ethically sourced clothing that is not produced by forced labor in sweatshops or by child labor.
Since the fashion industry is so large, there are many potential stakeholders at risk. The largest group being the fast fashion businesses, who will have to alter most aspects of their supply chain and manufacturing process to be more sustainable. This will then in turn affect the workers, who may be get laid off from these businesses if they cannot afford higher production costs. Additionally, consumers are at stake as well, as more sustainably produced clothing has higher production costs which in turn will increase retail ticket price. However, to look at everything more broadly, the potential stakeholder most at risk is the human population who will suffer extreme environmental consequences if we do not come up with sustainable solutions to problems like fast fashion as soon as possible.
Over the next three months my objective is to explore possible solutions for the problem of sustainable fashion based off the criteria listed in our sustainability definition. I have included the definition for reference here:
Something is sustainable if its initiatives, actions or impacts serve to meet the social and economic needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs through:
- reducing resource use, encouraging re-use, finding renewable alternatives and minimizing waste and pollution while protecting and restoring the health of natural systems and biodiversity, and addressing global climate change.
- equitable economic development that does not exploit humans.
- an elevated and dignified standard of human well-being that ensures basic human rights and needs that include universal access to healthcare, food and water, housing, economic dignity, fair wages and safe working conditions.
Best practices for meeting these objectives include an inclusive, transparent process; that employs systems thinking; encourages individual action and innovation; and assessment using measurable indicators.
I am hopeful that I will be able to come up with creative solutions that will have both positive results in turns of the environment as well as economically for businesses.
[1] McFall-Johnsen, Morgan. “The Fashion Industry Emits More Carbon than International Flights and Maritime Shipping Combined. Here Are the Biggest Ways It Impacts the Planet.,” October 21, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10
[2] “Climate Change Facts.” Climate Action Reserve iCal. Accessed September 13, 2020. https://www.climateactionreserve.org/resources/climate-change-facts/
[3] Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future, (2017, http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications ).
[4] Tan, Zhai Yun. “What Happens When Fashion Becomes Fast, Disposable And Cheap?,” April 10, 2016. https://www.npr.org/2016/04/08/473513620/what-happens-when-fashion-becomes-fast-disposable-and-cheap.
[5] “Fashion Industry Waste Statistics.” E D G E, September 11, 2020. https://edgexpo.com/fashion-industry-waste-statistics/ .
[6] “The World Counts.” Accessed October 5, 2020. https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/people-and-poverty/slavery-and-sweatshops/sweatshop-workers-conditions/story.
[7] Kitroeff, Natalie. “Fashion Nova’s Secret: Underpaid Workers in Los Angeles Factories.” The New York Times. The New York Times, December 16, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/business/fashion-nova-underpaid-workers.html?curator=FashionREDEF.
[8] Hepburn, Stephanie. “The Truth Behind Fast Fashion & Forced Labor.” February 14, 2015. Retrieved from https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/fast-fashion.
