https://sputnikglobe.com/20240714/fast-fashion-continues-to-barrel-down-its-path-of-destruction-with-little-to-no-remedies-report-1119367640.html
Fast Fashion Continues to Barrel Down Its Path of Destruction With Little to No Remedies, Report
Fast Fashion Continues to Barrel Down Its Path of Destruction With Little to No Remedies, Report
Sputnik International
The overproduction of clothing in the fast fashion industry has fueled climate change and plastic pollution, said the international network Greenpeace. The industry is also known for its humanitarian misdeeds and is estimated to employ some 75 million people who are paid meager wages for their labor and are forced to work in dangerous conditions.
2024-07-14T05:26+0000
2024-07-14T05:26+0000
2024-07-14T05:28+0000
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Families in the Italian provinces of Vicenza, Verona and Padua are suffering from long-term health problems due to water contamination as the result of the global fashion industry, the Financial Times reported on Friday. It was in the 1960s that a textile group installed a research center in the town of Trissino in order to produce chemicals known colloquially as PFAS to make waterproof garments. But the negative side effects to peoples' health and the environment caused by the fashion industry are not contained to Italy alone.Fast fashion can be described as cheap, trendy clothing that takes ideas from high fashion brands or designers and gets those styles into the hands of consumers as quickly as possible.Fast fashion brands usually have hundreds to thousands of styles that are “trendy”, produce their clothes cheaply in manufacturing facilities where workers are paid severely low wages without labor rights to protect them, and create clothing that is made from cheap, low quality materials.The Financial Times report found that about 20% of global water pollution can be attributed to the dyeing and finishing processes of clothing garments in the fashion industry. Meanwhile, simply washing one’s own clothes made from polyester can discharge hundreds of thousands of microplastic fibers into our water systems, the report said, citing a European parliament study.And if water pollution isn’t bad enough, the global fashion industry is also reported to make up about 10% of all global carbon emissions which is more than international flights and shipping combined.Thanks to “fast fashion” global textile fiber production has nearly doubled between 2000 and 2020 - with clothes tossed in the bin after only being worn 7 to 10 times before the garment weakens and falls apart, or goes out of style. According to government statistics, China is the world’s largest textile producer and consumer, where more than 26 million tons of clothes are thrown away each year, with most of it ending up in landfills.But even as the European Union (EU) and the US attempt to put up roadblocks to stop the negative impacts of the fashion industry, it appears fast fashion that is produced outside of their jurisdiction is on an unstoppable route. By 2030, nearly 70% of global textile production will be based on polyester, nylon and other synthetic fibers, The Financial Times reported.According to a 2024 report by the private equity firm Ambienta, fast fashion’s biggest setback is the quality of the clothes - which induces a short life span for the garment - as well the pervasiveness of synthetic fibers which cannot easily be recycled. The firm explains that most available recycling processes require ‘high purity’ textile waste, which is not possible for a majority of the fibers and clothes being produced today.And mechanical recycling - which is the process of sorting, washing, grinding, re-granulating and compounding - is economically effective, but it only works well with wool items.Last year, the EU introduced a mechanism which makes brands responsible for the disposal of every item they introduce to the market. But the European Fashion Alliance (EFA), who have overall been supportive of the legislation, have highlighted some issues with these proposals.The group pointed out that in a position paper last year, the requirement to include recycled fibers in new garments could actually promote the production of more blended material which is actually harder to recycle. Frustration with consumers is also apparent in the industry, Friday’s report said. Those who buy cheap clothes need to do more to care for their garments rather then tossing them in a landfill, even if the clothes were affordable, fashion industry employees suggest.In a 2024 report, the fashion watchdog group Remake assessed major clothing companies and scored those brands on their environmental, human rights and equitability practices. The group gave Shein, which has about 6,000 Chinese factories under its label, 6 out of a possible 150 points. The US label Skims, co-founded by Kim Kardashian, Temu, and Fashion Nova scored 0. And the highest-scoring retailer was Everlane with a meager 40 points out of 150.
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fast fashion, clothes, clothing industry, shein, consumerism, manufacturing, pollution, climate change, fashion
Fast Fashion Continues to Barrel Down Its Path of Destruction With Little to No Remedies, Report
05:26 GMT 14.07.2024 (Updated: 05:28 GMT 14.07.2024) The overproduction of clothing in the fast fashion industry has fueled climate change and plastic pollution, said the international network Greenpeace. The industry is also known for its humanitarian misdeeds and is estimated to employ some 75 million people who are paid meager wages for their labor and are forced to work in dangerous conditions.
Families in the Italian provinces of Vicenza, Verona and Padua are suffering from long-term health problems due to water contamination as the result of the global fashion industry, the
Financial Times reported on Friday. It was in the 1960s that a textile group installed a research center in the town of Trissino in order to produce chemicals known colloquially as PFAS to make waterproof garments.
But the negative side effects to peoples' health and the environment caused by the fashion industry are not contained to Italy alone.
Fast fashion can be described as cheap, trendy clothing that takes ideas from high fashion brands or designers and gets those styles into the hands of consumers as quickly as possible.
Fast fashion brands usually have hundreds to thousands of styles that are “trendy”, produce their clothes cheaply in manufacturing facilities where workers are paid severely low wages without labor rights to protect them, and create clothing that is made from cheap, low quality materials.
“Today a Shein item costs even less than a sandwich... businesses can produce this fast and this cheap only because they use exploited labor and use cheap fossil fuel-based fibers,” says Eco-Age co-founder Livia Giuggioli Firth.
The Financial Times report found that about 20% of global water pollution can be attributed to the dyeing and finishing processes of clothing garments in the fashion industry. Meanwhile, simply washing one’s own clothes made from polyester can discharge hundreds of thousands of microplastic fibers into our water systems, the report said, citing a European parliament study.
And if water pollution isn’t bad enough, the global fashion industry is also reported to make up about 10% of all global carbon emissions which is more than international flights and shipping combined.
Thanks to “fast fashion” global textile fiber production has nearly doubled between 2000 and 2020 - with clothes tossed in the bin after only being worn 7 to 10 times before the garment weakens and falls apart, or goes out of style. According to government statistics, China is the world’s largest textile producer and consumer, where more than 26 million tons of clothes are thrown away each year, with most of it ending up in
landfills.
But even as the European Union (EU) and the US attempt to put up roadblocks to stop the negative impacts of the fashion industry, it appears fast fashion that is produced outside of their jurisdiction is on an unstoppable route. By 2030, nearly 70% of global textile production will be based on polyester, nylon and other synthetic fibers, The Financial Times reported.
“We aren’t doing enough to fix the problem,” says Veneto-based Matteo Ward, co-founder and chief executive of consulting studio WRÅD, and the co-author of the fast fashion documentary series Junk. “Social justice, which is a prerequisite for environmental transition, isn’t a real priority… there are ways to evolve but the fashion industry is yet to find the courage.”
According to a 2024 report by the private equity firm Ambienta, fast fashion’s biggest setback is the quality of the clothes - which induces a short life span for the garment - as well the pervasiveness of synthetic fibers which cannot easily be recycled. The firm explains that most available recycling processes require ‘high purity’ textile waste, which is not possible for a majority of the fibers and clothes being produced today.
And mechanical recycling - which is the process of sorting, washing, grinding, re-granulating and compounding - is economically effective, but it only works well with wool items.
Last year, the EU introduced a mechanism which makes brands responsible for the disposal of every item they introduce to the market. But the European Fashion Alliance (EFA), who have overall been supportive of the legislation, have highlighted some issues with these proposals.
The group pointed out that in a position paper last year, the requirement to include recycled fibers in new garments could actually promote the production of more blended material which is actually harder to recycle. Frustration with consumers is also apparent in the industry, Friday’s report said. Those who buy cheap clothes need to do more to care for their garments rather then tossing them in a landfill, even if the clothes were affordable, fashion industry employees suggest.
In a 2024 report, the fashion watchdog group Remake assessed major clothing companies and scored those brands on their environmental, human rights and equitability practices. The group gave Shein, which has about 6,000 Chinese factories under its label, 6 out of a possible 150 points. The US label Skims, co-founded by Kim Kardashian, Temu, and Fashion Nova scored 0. And the highest-scoring retailer was Everlane with a meager 40 points out of 150. 
