Fashion has become part of people’s daily lives as they strive to look well in their surroundings. Until our garments were a major contributor to the environment catastrophe, keeping up with societal change was OK. According to the UN, the fashion business produces 8-10% of global emissions, surpassing international aviation and marine commerce.
Fast fashion—what’s wrong?
In the early 21st century, the fashion business boomed, employing over 75 million people worldwide. Fast fashion is shaped by mass manufacture of cheap items with high turnover to keep up with the current fashion trends, which encourages overconsumption. Market progress costs the world.
Fast fashion is obsessed with because people think they have to follow the latest trends and buy new clothes to look chic and fashionable, even though they could do it sustainably without considering their personal fashion needs and durability.
Mass manufacturing will continue as customers unwittingly buy new clothing that will eventually wind up in landfills and harm the environment.
Responsible clothing use
A visual depiction of apparel production’s materials. The fashion business generates 20% of the world’s wastewater since a single T-shirt takes 2,700 litres of water, equivalent to two-and-a-half years of drinking water. The fashion business is linked to poverty, labor, and gender concerns, and textiles cause 9% of yearly microplastic losses to the ocean.
Given these realities, we should not buy garments irresponsibly since our conscious ignorance will endanger the earth. Fashion footprint reduction requires a shift in mindset from “looking good” to “feeling good” about what we wear daily.
However, most customers may assume garments are recyclable, as fashion businesses have long stressed their negative implications. Due to expensive prices and inadequate infrastructure, just 1% of clothing are recycled for new outfits.
Less is enough
Sustainable fashion no longer promotes overconsumption to seem stylish, therefore consumers should take responsibility by avoiding quick fashion. To limit their environmental effect, people should reuse clothing and buy new goods only when necessary.
Throw-away Culture should no longer prevent fashion from turning green. Because outfit repetition was/is not a fancy notion in civilizations, it should be quickly accepted in the age of “more”—more designs, more collections.
Consumers, who propelled the trend with increasing demand, are in the best position to eliminate fast fashion, which is harmful to the environment, and transform the fashion sector to be sustainable. Fashion brands should also show they care and win consumers’ trust by doing so.
Important to highlight that change will not come suddenly, nor will a few of people urgently pushing for it, but the strong resolve and collaborative efforts of consumers and fashion corporations will lead to sustainable fashion.