The Fast Fashion Epidemic

Abstract

The clothing industry is sneaky, polluting our world as we know it without batting an eye. When we think about pollution, our first thoughts go to burning coal and fossil fuels, not to what we put on our bodies every day. Therefore, environmental movements have not targeted the fashion industry directly.

The Fast Fashion Epidemic is a global issue—not only does it affect our planet’s environment, through means of being the second-biggest consumer of water, responsible for the production of 20% of global wastewater and 10% of global carbon emissions while also filling our landfills with disregarded textiles and clothes that aren’t accepted at donation sites, but also the lives of everyday people. These fast fashion companies are producing clothing at an alarming rate, faster than the general fashion industry had ever seen before. To be able to make and sell clothes at such low prices can only mean the labor they are using to make said garments are getting unpaid, and are usually in unhealthy conditions. The purpose of this project is to explore why, currently, young adults who can (more specifically, high school/college students) consume fast fashion are consuming it at such an alarming rate, and what solutions can be made to solve this world crisis.