Fashion is one area where we often overlook sustainability. With each new trend comes a mass of garments put into landfill. Shoppers will buy new outfits for every event, and keeping up with the latest styles can be difficult to do on a budget.

With a rise in fast fashion outlets, we manufacture clothes at rapid speeds in factories worldwide. The process of pumping out new garments has a harmful effect on the environment at multiple levels. From greenhouse emissions to microplastic pollution, there are many reasons why we need sustainable fashion now more than ever.

Environmental Effects of Fast Fashion

1. Non-renewable Fabric Sources

Most fast fashion clothing is made from plastic, with over 60% of garments containing polyester. These fabric materials use fossil fuels for production. Fossil fuels are not only a finite resource, but burning these fuels can lead to air pollution and emit harmful gasses that contribute to global warming.

The fashion industry is responsible for an estimated 10% of all carbon emissions. This is not only through the burning of fossil fuels in production, but also transporting goods. Manufacturers ship garments by boat and plane round the clock to meet consumer demand without thinking about fashion sustainability.

2. Water Consumption and Pollution

The fashion industry uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water each year. Growing natural fibers and dyeing fabrics use the most water. Where these processes need to be fast to keep up with demand, little consideration is given to water consumption.

What's more, fabric dye uses chemicals that are toxic to the environment, and factories dump these into surrounding water sources. As companies make most clothes in India and Asia, the local governments overlook environmental damage in favor of bringing income to the area.

Even in the US, washing synthetic clothes causes them to shed microplastics which contaminate water sources.

3. Textile Waste

Around 85% of textiles end up in landfill. As fast fashion pumps out cheap garments, these clothes damage easily. Torn or stained clothes lead people to throw them away as the garments are no longer suitable for donation. It doesn’t even cross the minds of many consumers to recycle fabrics.

Synthetic fabrics can take thousands of years to decompose in landfill and, even then, they degrade into microplastics that often end up in the ocean. Landfill will burn a lot of fabric waste, leading to more harmful carbon emissions.

How to Drive Fashion Sustainability

Whilst we need change most at the manufacturing level, consumers and clothing brands can also help drive fashion sustainability in the following ways:

1. Buy fewer, higher-quality garments

Higher quality clothes last longer, which means less waste in landfill. Instead of following cheap trends, consumers can purchase timeless garments that will last for years.

2. Recycle clothing that cannot be donated

If an item of clothing is too damaged to be donated, it should be recycled. Many large stores now offer recycling programmes for textiles.

3. Use sustainable packaging

Clothing brands and stores can increase sustainability in the fashion industry by packaging their garments in sustainable materials such as paper or recycled plastics. Using seed paper for clothes tags is a great environmentally friendly option. Stores should also offer reusable eco-friendly shopping bags at checkout for customers to carry their clothes home in.