Fast Fashion refers to a clothing sector that produces low quality clothes at super reduced prices and that launches new collections continuously and in a very short time, (yes, we are talking about the large chains that you can find in every city and in every shopping center).
You might think: “how cool, new clothes every time I want and at reduced prices”, but we should wonder: how is it possible?
These companies’s priority is to make a profit and to make money they don’t give importance to many aspects of production.
They have no respect for the people who produce the clothes, they do not care about the impact of their production on the environment. There is no attention to the fabrics chosen, to the production techniques and to the use of pesticides or aggressive chemicals.
The lack of attention to these details makes the fashion industry a source of pollution, just like oil.
It is in fact responsible for 20% of the global waste of water and 10% of carbon dioxide emissions, as well as of the production of greenhouse gases.
The rivers and land near the factories are polluted, due to the pesticides, toxic dyes or harmful and aggressive substances used for coloring or bleaching fabrics.
“Fast” production, in addition to creating all the unpleasant situations, is also responsible for an enormous amount of waste.
Rejection is mainly of two types:
UNSOLD GOODS
Producing so much also carries the risk that not everything will be sold and this unsold merchandise is burned. Since most of these clothes are made of synthetic fabrics, the type of substances that they release are really dangerous
UNWANTED GOODS
This type of waste is what consumers generate directly.
When we get tired of a suit, when it is ruined, when we have accumulated too many clothes and we have to empty the wardrobe, when we buy something that does not fit us and we throw it away, we pollute. In fact, we sometimes donate our clothes to people in need but very often these clothes end up in landfills.
The responsibility we have as consumers, but especially as human beings, is to make sure our money ends up in the pockets of those who share our values.
The exploitation of people (workers and consumers) and the pollution of the planet are not our values but if the production of clothes has doubled in recent years it is also partly a consequence of our choices, as we are the ones who buy more and more and increase the demand.
To stop or limit this damage, we must stop buying clothes for every special occasion, we must give more value to what we already have and buy better quality clothes.
And now an advive for you: watch The True Cost: a documentary (available for some time on Netflix) that offers a complete and exhaustive picture of the world of fast fashion and all that it entails.
This is the documentary that made me definitively stop buying from these companies and that made me reflect on the choice of buying products made in an ethical and sustainable way!
(+3 rating, 3 votes)
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