Environmental Issues In The Fashion Industry Essay

The primary purpose of this essay uses persuasive writing to get her point across. Informing the reader about the eco dangers of buying outsourced clothing material. Most people often want the cheaper alternative without going to the flea market or charity clothing banks. But all the clothes get worn down, shrink, fade or just deteriorate in the end because the fabric is unsustainable. Resulting in the t-shirts and jeans to be tossed away and put into a landfill. Where they have been found to transmite “more than three million tons of carbon dioxide emissions”. (Siegle, 7)

This papers purpose is to teach fashion heavy consumers on the real price of fast fashion and how buying it affects the environment. This type of audience can be anyone who partakes in the buying of well-known cheap retail stores that have a large audience of being fast and obtainable. These consumers should have the information on how fast fashion effects are environment so it could possibly alter their buying habits to be eco-friendlier but buying either less or more sustainable clothing instead of the cheap alternatives. This audience should care about this purpose because this will affect the world now and for future generations as their environment is being mistreated because of these fast

Credibility statement: A university of Georgia professor gave an hour-long ted talk talking about her experiences of working and traveling to different countries seeing the fast fashion industry at first hands. She now teaches about fashion sustainability and the cycles of the fast fashion market.

TenTree has created a product with the positioning to give customers clothing options that are environmentally and socially responsible. They promise to plant ten trees for every item purchased and only use factories that are approved by WRAP. (TenTree, n.d.) They also have a large selection of t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, tanks, hats, and toques, in a variety of different colours and sizes. (TenTree, n.d.) Satisfying the customer wants for a wide variety of socially and environmentally responsible clothing has created functional-instrumental value for their customers.

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.

The True Cost, by Andrew Morgan, was a truly eye opening documentary on what price workers who make our clothes have to pay in regards to their health, finances, and sacrifices they have to make. Most of us purchase clothes and do not think twice about where they came from, who made them, and impact it is having on our society. Stores such as H&M and Forever 21 sales clothes for very cheap prices; however, the more the prices are reduced, the more the environmental costs are raised. Our society revolves are materialism and most believe our clothing portrays who a person is, to a certain extent. If this is the case, our clothes may be saying more about ourselves than we think, if we are wearing clothes that workers in other countries are paying a price for.

In the book, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth Cline, a journalist and the author, writes about the lack of ability of disposal we currently possess for the massive amounts of textile waste. She wrote, “The rate of disposal is not keeping up with the availability of places to put everything that we're getting rid of and that's the problem." Millions of tons of textile waste are generated globally per year. There are many efforts to cut down the amount of waste by recycling, shredding, and exporting to developing nations. According to the United Nations, The US is the leading exporter of second-hand clothes. Very poor nations like India benefit greatly from imported second-hand clothing. These methods to cut back on textile waste are proven to work, but they don’t solve the problem, they just lessen it. Part of the problem with fast fashion and textile waste is that many of the clothes being mass produced are made out of cheap petroleum-based fibers. H&M received a lot of backlash for this, spurring them to release a more eco-friendly line of clothing, using organic cotton.

There will always be that one or two patrons that are looking to save the environment and if the company can look to incorporate environmentally friendly designer clothing and accessories into the business, the business will be leading the future in clothing retail sales. For example, designer blue jeans become a designer purse; a designer silk shirt becomes a new designer pajama top. Reusing material is not a new idea however, creating new items from high-end designer clothing to create environmentally friendlier clothing or recycled designer clothing from the designer is, and if it is made exclusively for Christina’s Unique Clothing Store the company’s future is secured.

I watched the documentary, The True Cost which explores the communities around the fast fashion industry and follow a few workers to share their stories. In the film there is similar pollution in the community because of the factories similar to what you mention happens outside the Zara factory with the river changing colors based on the colors they are using in the factory. I am glad you brought up donating your clothes and how even though you think you are doing something good by donating them they do not always end up going to someone who needs them but sometimes in landfills which harm the environment since they do not decompose. About twice a year I will go through my closet and make a clothing donation, its upsetting to

Textiles are an intrinsic foundation of clothing, and moreover, the invention, development and manipulation of fabrics play a vital role in fashion (Black, 2006; p.6). A key segment of constructed textiles is knitted fabrics, which provide endless creative outcomes, enabling an independent and experimental approach to design (Sissons, 2010; p.6). Knitwear can be found at all levels of the fashion market, from the industrial mass production of hosiery, underwear and sportswear to the use of its sculptural qualities in high fashion and accessories, such as bags, shoes and jewellery (Sissons, 2010; p.6). Nowadays, many different types of companies are involved in the production of knitted textiles and knitwear worldwide due to the wide use of knitted fabrics (Wilson, 2001; p.1). Among these companies, family dynasty Missoni has undoubtedly become the most well-known designer company for knits over the course of their 50-year history (Black, 2006; p.17). Through their vibrant and colourful work, the industry began to see knitwear in a new, more fashionable light, and

Finding an exact definition for the terms “sustainable fashion”. “Green”, “Eco fashion” to a name a few, is close to impossible. We all have the impression everyone understands it the same way but it is false, it has different meanings for all of us.

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.

The fashion industry too, is influenced by external forces be they social, political, economic, technological or even competitive, which