Here’s some bad news for all the clothes horses out there. The fast fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, after oil. It seems hard to believe that a store full of affordable sheath dresses and slouchy tees could be almost as bad for the planet as an oil rig in the gulf, but here we are.
The Environmental Impact of a “Closet Purge”
The average American throws away 70 pounds of clothes each year. The problem doesn’t lie solely with the fact that textiles are a material that we’re still working towards large scale recycling, the production of clothing in and of itself is far from environmentally friendly. For example, to make one cotton t-shirt, it takes 1,083 gallons of water.
Given the negative environmental impact of the fast fashion industry, it’s great to see brands launching ostensibly eco-friendly collections like H&M’s “Conscious” right? Well, it’s not quite that simple.
What Is H&M’s Conscious?
H&M’s Conscious collection is a line of clothing within H&M’s other offerings that uses only sustainable materials, including a synthetic material that H&M touts as being made from plastic recycled from shoreline waste.
On their website, H&M states, “H&M’s Conscious Exclusive collection shows how the best style can be mindful of the planet, to help protect it for the future. It’s such a desirable collection, with pieces made from sustainable materials that you want to wear for seasons to come.”
Green initiatives are wonderful, and at Swell, we
In this essay written by Lucy Siegle she explains the dangers of fast cheap fashion. She how seasonal fashion that is bought is thrown away and how it is bad for the ecosystem. Then she goes over what the consumer can do to fix the problem using facts and alternatives. Although the thesis is not given it is implied that the more we buy fast fashion the worse the ecosystem will get.
H&M’s vision is that all their operations are run economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. They believe that affordable fashion with high quality can be produced and sold in a way that is both fair and sustainable to the
Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra
Accordingly, we have researched that the sustainable fashion is a growing trend in recent years and growing number of millennials are interested in the sustainable fashion market. More importantly, we anticipated that there are already big fast fashion brands like Zara, H&M, or Topshop that it is hard for J.Crew to recapture the lost customers in the fast fashion market.
How fast fashion is affecting the environment is a very serious topic since this type of consumerism in the United States is heavy on supply and demand, and because of that shoppers want it all and want it now which is basically fast fashions motto. The way to make these pieces of clothing heavily rely on cheap materials that can be made quickly, so that is polyester and cotton being made in big factories that emit out toxins into our earth. Cotton being one of the most used fabrics takes a lot to be made into a single garment. Uzbekistan which is the 6th biggest producer of cotton had faced many conflicts during production since cotton uses so much water to be made it has dried up the 4th largest lake the Aral Sea because of how much we need to produce cotton fashion. (Prospectjournalucsd) Buying these cheap garments that become unwearable after 5 times (Forbes) of wearing it usually gets thrown out after and producing more waste that gets put into our waterways since theses garments shed easy and through washing them can “find their way into oceans and on the shores everywhere.” (Sweeny) So with the help of shoppers, being able to cut down on the purchase of fast fashion can help aid in keeping the ecosystem in order.
Central idea: Our environment is being destroyed by the fashions business models and several organizations are revolting against this.
* Inbound logistic: One of the core values of H&M is the sustainability, and, thus, sustainability in production. The aim of H&M is to offer good quality fashion at the best price and to achieve it, H&M tries to avoid the waste. In this purpose, all the waste coming from the manufacturing, the transport and other sources are planned to be reused, recycled and reduced.(H&M, 2012)
Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a
In this article, Barenblat outlines some of the key reasons as to why fast fashion is detrimental for women and the environment. The author supports her claim by suggesting fast fashion is expensive for the planet, encourages young women in poverty to work in sweatshops, and leads to million tons of landfill each year. This information in the article is useful because it provides relevant statistics on the damages caused by the clothing industry.
H&M promises the best articles, trying to produce fashion clothes in a sustainable way and selling quality clothes
Accessories are a very important part of fashion and should be considered so a good example for this definition of sustainable would be the Hermes’ Birkin bag.
The fact that there is so much competition in the clothing industry forces companies to seek the cheapest labor and material. To get products that are the least environmentally harmful will cost the company more money. That can lead future CEO’s to look for less expensive resources that may not meet their current standards. For example, because Patagonia makes synthetic clothing, plastics used to make the clothing release micro-plastics into the water when washed. These micro-plastics cannot be completely filtered by waste water filtering plants. (Martinko, Katherine)
Generations ahead of us only had a tiny wardrobe, where clothes were not washed every day. In our generation, fast fashion is in. It’s ok to have multiple shirts or shoes of the same color. It’s actually ok to throw away unwanted apparel. Apparel companies are beginning to focus on sustainable fashion, also known as eco fashion. Apparel, fashion, and textiles is the most polluting industry in the world. Every stage, that a garment goes through, uses up and threatens our resources.
People are taking more and more consideration on environmental stuff. H&M has done quite well in sustainable improvements. (Activities about this are shown in the appendix.)
ity wears and undergarments for men. This helps to increase another streams of revenue for the company as more customers are targeted.