The true cost of fast fashion: a struggle for style that’s killing our planet

If fashion was a country, it would have an economy bigger than France. But in another decade, it will be producing the same amount of CO2 every year as 230 million cars. In a world that demands fast fashion, can it ever be sustainable? Caitlin Jordan investigates.

▲ Fast fashion brands sell clothes that are "on trend". With trends constantly changing, fast fashion is damaging the planet as garments are often discarded and end up in landfills. Photograph: Daniel Von Appen/Unsplash

In the past decade, the fashion industry has grown by 5.5% annually. According to the McKinsey Global Fashion Index, the sector was worth an estimated £1.8tn in 2016. It would be the world’s seventh-largest economy if ranked alongside individual countries’ GDP. Fashion is booming, but there are now concerns about the cost.

When the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh collapsed in 2013, more than 1,100 casualties were plucked out of the rubble. For the first time, the world was exposed to the true cost of fast fashion: poverty, danger and destruction. But even in the aftermath, high street retailers and other fast fashion chains have continued to benefit from the same cheap labour which perished in the rubble, and the public has forgotten the bleak reality of what it takes to produce a catwalk look for a cheaper price.

The past year experienced a growing movement for fashion that is not just responsible but sustainable. The fashion industry is one of the most lucrative yet destructive sectors in the world and people are now recognising the disastrous impacts it has.

Latest figures from the UN have found that the global clothes industry is the second-biggest consumer of freshwater while producing 20% of wastewater. The industry is also responsible for generating more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

With the campaign for greener fashion continuing to gain momentum, the public is now opening its eyes. But this makes the future state of the fashion industry uncertain for both businesses and their consumers.

A survey I conducted found that 70% of shoppers do not want to continue buying from fast fashion retailers after knowing the negative impact it has on the environment. But despite becoming aware of the situation 50% would still prefer to spend money on fast fashion clothing compared to the sustainable alternatives which are more expensive.

In the current state of the industry, fast fashion could be considered a necessity for shoppers looking to save money. With 59% of respondents regularly purchasing clothes at high street retailers, it is a sure sign that consumers want to remain fashionable at a low cost.

▲ Customers would rather spend money on fast fashion clothes which are cheaper than the sustainable alternative. Photograph: Kevin Grieve/Unsplash

Tze Ching Yeung is the owner of Jake + Maya, a slow fashion kid’s clothing brand that strives to reduce textile waste by making children’s clothing adjustable and longer lasting. She says it is naïve to think that fast fashion can be discarded given the circumstances. “A large proportion of people buying fast fashion cannot afford high fashion, there is always going to be a market for fast fashion,” she says. To push for change, Yeung believes that consumers need to demand more transparency and better options, making brands and producers of fast fashion accountable for the damage they have caused.

Esther Knight is the founder of Fabric For Freedom, a London-based brand that prioritises the ethical and environmentally responsible production of their clothing. Knight explains that fast fashion was initially a positive movement which made clothing more affordable and accessible to the public, as department stores created their own versions of high-end garments.

The 1970s saw the rise of manmade fibres and offshore manufacturing in less developed countries, which further promoted low-cost production. “Rather than us investing into technology to create good quality clothes, we’ve just done the opposite and invested into making the cheapest product,” she says.

Brands like Fabric For Freedom are trying to fill that gap in the fashion industry but Knight acknowledges that having standards in place makes ethical manufacturing more expensive. Although the cost of sustainable clothing won’t be decreasing anytime soon, the move towards a greener future may see more awareness towards the negative impacts caused by fashion.

Knight adds that with a greater focus on the environment, companies will start investing in new technology to produce good quality products for less: “The fashion industry has just been incredibly stupid for a long time and it’s about getting that back and doing fashion the right way. It’s just bringing it back to a place of intelligence and respect, and you can manage to do that at an affordable price.”

▲ For London Fashion Week, over 20 brands were featured at the Lone Design Club. The brands all use a transparent and ethical approach, with sustainable fashion being a key focus. Video: Caitlin Jordan

Clare Farrell, a sustainable fashion lecturer at University of the Arts London says that compared to the increasing cost of services and amenities like healthcare, transport and energy, the cost of clothing has flat-lined. “It’s because the labour and the raw materials supply has been squeezed and we’ve watched this race to producing massive volumes on the high street. Savings have been made to offer people a £10 pair of jeans or a dress for £20 and you can’t make anything ethically at those prices, not right now at least,” she says.

The fast fashion phenomenon and demand for affordable clothing has ingrained itself into modern society. The value of clothing is perceived to be worthless compared to the amount of work that goes into them and Farrell sees this as a huge problem. “I hope that the price of ethical clothing doesn’t plummet because it usually means that somebody along the supply chain is not getting the deal that they should be getting. People need to have a whole reframing of the value of clothing and I’m not sure how we can bring that back now that it’s been eroded so much,” she says.

Farrell adds that the state of the economy also has an impact on consumers’ attitudes towards clothing: “The ethical products market nosedived when the financial crash happened in around 2008. There was growth before the crash and people were more engaged in sustainability issues, but a lot of that drops off once people’s living standards drop and they think ‘well I can’t afford to care so much.’”

One way to tackle this issue is through community building. According to Farrell, companies like Patagonia can maintain their brand through a dedicated customer base that appreciates the quality of products and what the label offers. “It’s a transparency, traceability and trust mission that these brands need to go on which isn’t very easy. It’s a lot of work compared to these fast fashion brands,” she says.

Knight also thinks that educating customers is the right path. With the previous year’s surging interest in sustainability issues, the public is only just starting to become aware of the bigger picture and the disastrous implications fashion can have. The 2017 Pulse Of The Fashion Industry report, carried out by the Global Fashion Agenda, found that fashion industry is responsible for generating 4% of the world’s waste each year, with 92 million tonnes of discarded clothing being dumped in landfills.

“People need to stop thinking that everything is disposable. Even if something costs £10, so much has gone into it and so many people have worked to create that garment. It’s about respecting the people that have made our products and not just throwing it away,” says Knight.

A crucial change in consumer outlook is needed and it starts with making people value their clothing more. For Knight, she’s learned to cherish the items that she has worked towards and saved up for: “I’m not going to throw something away that I’ve worked hard to get and it’s about bringing back that mentality of just not wasting products and realising that there’s just so much that goes into making it,” she says.

Fast fashion brands heavily rely on the latest trends to come out from the catwalk, allowing them to increasingly sell new products at mass scales, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Knight believes that buying high-quality clothes in small quantities is the right way to go: “It’s about buying less, choosing well and making it last. Anything can come back into fashion again and if you style it in different ways then you can make it relevant again. It’s about choosing your items well so that you can make a sustainable wardrobe that lasts a long time.”

Aubrea Ashe is a social media influencer on Instagram. She uses the platform to document her journey towards becoming more a sustainable shopper. Ashe only started her greener lifestyle in 2017 after learning about the fashion industry’s negative impacts. In the past, she would regularly shop at fast fashion brands, purchasing clothes that would be worn once or twice before being discarded.

▲ Ashe regularly posts photos of her sustainable outfits to Instagram. She also gives her followers tips on how they can develop a greener wardrobe. Photograph: Aubrea Ashe

She felt that it was her responsibility to change her ways. “When you think about the impact that we’ll all make, either positive or negative, regarding our fashion consumption choices over the course of our lives, you can really quantify how much all of our purchasing decisions really do matter,” she says.

Ashe feels that a big part of the issue is awareness. She finds it important to educate herself and others about fast fashion and the better alternatives out there. “An easy way to stay educated on this topic is to follow people on social media who discuss it. They post photos of their outfits and share links to their blogs which discuss fashion,” she says.

Ashe chooses her purchases carefully, picking items that can be easily styled up or down: “Classic pieces like a little black dress, I can turn into seven different looks depending on what shoes, jackets and accessories I pair with it. Basics like a pair of high-waisted jeans and a bodysuit can be just as versatile in the same way.”

For anyone looking to develop their own responsible wardrobe, Ashe advises not to throw away any clothing items that are already owned. “Discarding items that you already have and wear is counter-productive. Just try to purchase better items in the future. Something that is even better for the environment than purchasing sustainable items is always to shop second-hand,” she says.

According to a 2014 study by recycling charity Wrap, the disposing of clothing and household textiles costs the UK over £80m a year. The government-backed Sustainable Clothing Action Plan led by Wrap has committed nine major retailers such as M&S, Next, Primark, Ted Baker, and ASOS to decreasing their environmental impact. The plan aims to use collective action to reduce the carbon footprint, water use and waste being sent to landfills by 15% by 2020.

Although multiple brands are working towards a green reform, Knights adds that it is going to be very difficult for some retailers to become remotely sustainable. Fast Fashion brands like PrettyLittleThing and Boohoo will struggle to adapt whereas normal high street fashion has a better chance of becoming more ethical. “The smaller a company is the more likely it will be able to introduce these sustainable practices. I know that a lot of these high street brands have started to do that, and it’s in their 5 year plans to become more sustainable,” she says.

Recycling is a main focus for brands and Primark is set to launch a take-back scheme later this year, which will involve donating unwanted clothes to charity. Similar arrangements run by M&S, H&M and Zara have been in place for several years. The returned clothes are either donated or recycled into new fabrics, with customers receiving discount vouchers in return. According to the H&M group’s 2017 sustainability report, 35% of the company’s materials are sustainable or recycled.

Educating the industry about the importance of reusing fabrics has become a key topic. Last year, ASOS partnered with the Centre of Sustainable Fashion to launch a ‘circular fashion’ training course. It teaches designers how to re-use and recycle materials in their clothing lifecycle.

▲ Brands like H&M have adopted greener practices into their businesses, such as donating old clothing or recycling them into new products. Photograph: William Murphy/Unsplash

Brands incorporating sustainability into their practices is a positive movement, but Knight thinks that more needs to be done. “We have to be careful of greenwashing where brands like H&M have a sustainable range but then the rest of their brand is just really bad fast fashion which just counteracts it,” she says.

With climate change on the horizon and only 12 years to mitigate it, Knight believes that this is a crucial time to reduce the damage the fashion industry has caused: “I think we’ve reached a stage where it just can’t go on. So much destruction has occurred. There are facts like the fashion industry being the second biggest polluter after oil. There was the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013 that really shook people up and started the fashion revolution and it’s gotten momentum from all these different crises happening.”

The fashion industry is contributing more to climate change than both the aeronautical and shipping industries combined. If trends continue, the industry could account for a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. According to the Global Fashion Agenda’s 2017 report, the safe level of atmospheric CO2 is exceeded by about 20%, and by 2030 the fashion industry’s CO2 emissions are projected to rise by more than 60%. This would mean an increase of nearly 2.8bn tonnes per year, the equivalent of 230 million cars being driven for a year.

If a significant degree of climate change does occur, multiple industries around the world will be disrupted, and Farrell explains that agriculture will be greatly at risk: “If you imagine the hierarchy of what we need land for it is food, feed, fuel and fibre. Fibre is always quite low down on the list so as this crisis plays out the fashion industry will be in trouble because we rely so much on agriculture.”

Although traditional sources for textiles may struggle, Farrell adds that new innovations and manmade textiles being developed could be the future. “People are finding ways to make fibres out of food waste and how to engineer things in a laboratory like leather out of mushrooms. There are high-tech solutions to help us make new materials that come out clean, many of which are biodegradable,” she says.

Spiber is a biotech company based in Japan. They are one of the many organisations around the world that are researching new forms of sustainable textiles. Spiber is known for its artificial spider silk fibre which has been used in collaboration with The North Face. Displayed at select North Face stores across Japan, the special edition coat, known as the Moon Parka, serves as a prototype for the future of clothing. It’s the world’s first coat made with synthetic spider silk.

Spider silk is tougher than Kevlar and 340 times stronger than steel making it an ideal candidate for textile manufacturing, but harvesting it from actual spiders is incredibly difficult. Instead, Spiber makes its fibres using biotechnology, and the possibilities are endless.

The process starts with a team of scientists designing a protein polymer for the desired material. This step is essential in deciding the strength, elasticity and heat tolerance of the final product. Once the preferred gene has been synthesised, they are inserted into microbes that act as “factories” to produce the protein. The protein is extracted and it typically comes out as a white free-flowing powder which is spun into filament yarns. This can then be processed into a variety of textiles.

The Moon Parka

Producing the protein

Spinning the silk

The golden thread

▲ Slideshow. The Moon Parka and the production process behind it. Photograph: Spiber

Wei-ting Chen is a representative at Spiber. She believes that protein-based fibres will eventually help the industries that are contributing to issues like climate change and pollution. The use of nylon and polyester in fashion has drastically improved the quality of clothes, but they have had disastrous impacts on the environment.

Chen adds that these materials are plastics made from petroleum, making the natural degradation process a lot longer: “We’ve all heard about the floating plastic island and the microplastics in the ocean. This is partly due to the fact that the materials do not degrade, and if they are not properly recycled, they will persist for a long time. That is where the potential to use protein materials in clothing is enormous,” she says. Spiber’s goal is to provide high-quality materials that have a positive effect on the planet. As their protein-based materials can be naturally degraded, they are a step closer to improving the sector.

The inclusion of alternative textiles in the fashion industry may be the future but many things need to change before it becomes a reality. Given the industry’s current state, Chen explains that Spiber cannot compete with synthetic fibres like nylon when it comes to cost: “Low cost and high returns are what companies look for. Until a lot more research and development are done, sustainable materials will not dominate the market. Recycling will play a large role in pushing fashion towards a sustainable future, and later down the line, new alternative materials like Spiber’s will help us to achieve a completely circular fashion society.”

According to the survey, 73% of participants believe it is possible for a brand to be completely sustainable. Yeung thinks that sustainability is a very broad subject and the definition that can differ between people. For Yeung, it is impossible for fashion to be 100% sustainable. “In order to grow, manufacture and even to recycle materials, a lot of energy, land and water is required. I don’t think there is a perfect earth-positive solution to fashion but it is definitely possible to reduce our impact,” she says.

Knight agrees as any type of production will have an impact on the environment. “You can be a sustainable organisation but it’s impossible to be completely sustainable and have no carbon footprint,” she says. Knight adds that this should not dissuade people from living a greener lifestyle. It is better to buy from a company that is doing everything it can to be sustainable, and have minimal impacts on people and the environment, rather than doing nothing and continuing to shop at unethical brands.

Knight believes that the best outcome is to develop a cycle that will allow us to still manufacture products while living sustainably. “It should be a circular process. If we’re taking something from mother nature, we should pay it back whether it’s through an NGO or charity to reduce pollution or climate change. We need to be restoring the environment, just like when paper companies plant more trees,” she says.

For Farrell, the future of the fashion industry is uncertain: “Nobody knows what anything looks like if we take the steps that we need to, to avoid global catastrophe. So, what the fashion industry looks like, who the fuck knows?”

As it stands, fashion is slowly killing the planet and the cost is our future. Fast fashion thrives on the desire to own the newest and flashiest clothes and we have forgotten what it costs: resources, people and the environment. The world is learning the true cost of fashion and although the future of the industry looks uncertain, hopefully we can prevent future tragedies like Rana Plaza from ever happening again.

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