how fast fashion dangerous for our society, health and environment ?

Fast fashion impacts on our society , health and environment:

We never think second time while purchasing clothes. Rapidly changing trends and fashion lure us to buy more. We never realize the habit of updating our wardrobe results in unwanted clothing in the wardrobe. Fashion revolution and shopping give us thrills as we enter those malls, we are overwhelmed by bright lights,  decors and all kind of scale tags printed in bold because we all wanted to look expensive and trendy. It feels crime to repeat clothes but with every piece we buy the plant pays the price.

Few of the effects fast fashion creates are:

1) Fashion & microfibers in oceans :

When we wash clothes some of the microfibers release in to the water. We release around 1900 ton microfiber in to the ocean every year. This introduces fiber into the food chain through sea foods & creates health issues. 85% human made fibers are thrown on our shores includes 1,90,000 tons of textile plastic. 

Solution :

This problem can be reduced by using the clothing range which are made from natural or semi synthetic fibers. This decreases the damage to the environment. 

2) Fashion & water pollution :

Fashion industry uses huge amount of water from the manufacturing to dyeing process of clothing. This results into untreated toxic water waste. These water waste  consist of life threatening toxic like lead, mercury & arsenic. This polluted water are the result of many harmful diseases such as dysentery, cholera, hepatitis A & many more diseases when it mixed with drinking water. 20% of industries waste are thrown in to the rivers and ocean  which includes 2,00,000 tons of dyes are thrown in to the waters. 

Solution :

There should be regulations for the clothing & dyeing factories. It should be acted strictly without any lou faults. We should buy the product which are natural & organic. 

3) Fast fashion & waste accumulation :

Fast fashion leads to mass production which results in cheap clothing that increases the shopping capacity of buyers. With every purchase of clothing, waste of old clothing increases. Only 15% of cloths are recycled or donated. Fibers such as polyester, plastic fibers & non biodegradable can takes up to 200 years to decompose & 72% of synthetic fibers are used in our clothing. 

Solution :

We should make us promise to wear clothes at least 30 times before throwing in to the waste bin. 

4) Fashion & chemicals :

Chemicals are the main components in the process of making garments such as dyeing, bleaching, wet process of each of our garments. Chemicals also used in the farming process as fertilizers, causing diseases & premature death of farmers. 23% of all chemicals produced worldwide are used for the textile industry. 

Solution :

Before wearing new clothes wash them. Go for the organic & sustainable brands.  Look for the label which control chemicals such as OEKO-TEX®, GOTS or BLUE SIGN®.

5) Fashion & greenhouse emissions :

Fashion & textile industry accounts 10% of world carbon emissions. Industry also generates lots of greenhouse gases due to use of energy which used during production, manufacturing & transportation of millions of garments purchase each year. Synthetic  fibers are used majority in our cloths & are made from fossil fuel. 70 millions of oil barrels are used to produce polyester. Our country which are mostly powered by coal. This is the dirtiest type of energy in terms of CO2 emissions, where as cheap synthetic fibers also emits gases like N2O which is 300 times more damaging then CO2. 

Solution :

Choose the clothing which are organic. Buy clothing as we needed & quality should be maintained. Purchase from the production house which are using renewable energy. 

6) Fashion & soil degradation :

Fashion industry plays major role in degrading the soil in different ways. Overgrazing of pasture through cashmere goats & sheep raised for their wool are degrading the soil in different ways. Overgrazing of pasture through cashmere goats raised for their wool. Degrading the soil through massive use of chemicals used for growing cotton. 90% Mongolia’s surface is facing the thread of deforestation, principally due to cashmere goats which leads to degrading of soil. Degraded soil will lead to a decrease of 30% in food production in 20-50 years if nothing change. 

Solution :

We should choose the recycled cloths & environment friendly clothing which are less harmful to the soil.

7) Fashion & rainforest destruction :

Cutting of ancient forest & damage to hectares of forest land with the replacement for the plantation of trees used to make wood-base fabric such as rayon, viscose & modal. This loss of forest is threatening the ecosystem & indigenous communities as in Indonesia, where large scale deforestation of rain forest has taken place over the decade. 70 millions of trees are cut down each year for making of our cloths. 30% of rayon, viscose & modal clothing comes from endangered & ancient forest. 5% appeal industry used the forest based fabrics. 

Solution :

We should buy the Lyocel / Tencel®  instead of rayon, viscose & modal fabrics. 

8) Fashion & Human Rights :

The condition of fashion industry workers is another reason why fast fashion is unethical & unbearable. Long working hours, terribly low pay & extremely hazardous working conditions are just some of the issues garment workers are facing. The 2015 Rana Plaza disaster is just one example of how unsafe it is to work in this industry. 

Solution :

Measurements should be taken by textile committee act to be austere.

9) Fashion & lean body concept :

A lot of fuss follows what fashion industry qualifies as perfect beauty, which favors of lean figure & white skin. Fashion companies project body image, spreading negative perception of other body types. Such standards are killing the models too. 

Solution :

New laws should be checking on you this sickening trend. A parallel trends of normal bodied & multi ethic models walking the ramp & appearing in the fashion campaigns is also helping. 

As customer around the world we became more conscious about what we are doing to people, environment, health and our earth. Recycling and sustainable fashion brand or fashion nay is almost a revolution that demands a shift from fast fashion & fashion that harms the nature and society. Sustainable fashion is such a school of though that supports Eco fashion and keeps in mind two needful things _the environment & social responsibility.