The effects of fast fashion on

people
By Amy Fahy
What is fast fashion?

 Fast fasion is a business model that provides

clothes cheaply and quickly to the
consumer. It has been said that the
production of clothing has been almost
doubled in the past 15 years. The industry
mainly employs young women in poor
working conditions for extremely poor pay.
The cost of your clothes may be cheaper
but what cost can we place on people's
lives and the environment?
The workers

• The majority of workers only earn $1-$2 a day!

• The safety measures in the buildings are
generally disregarded which leads to disasters such as buildings
collapsing.
• More than 85% of the workers in the fashion industry are female.
• They work extremely long hours and many women have to bring
their children with them.
• There are many dangerous chemicals in the factories that are
affecting the healt of the women and children.

This Phot o by U nknow n aut hor is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

How Does This
Happen?

 The big corporations will approach

these factories with work for a very
meager price. These companies are so
desperate for work that they will bend
to the prices of the corporations. This
leads to the factories having to cut
corners with wages and maintaining
safety standards.

This Phot o by U nknow n aut hor is licensed under CC BY-ND.

The Horrific Effects
 On the 24th of April 2013 an 8 story
factory collapsed killing 1000
people and injuring many more.
The previous day massive cracks in
the structure had been found but
the workers were still ordered to
work the next day. All it took was
one generator being turned on
and the building came crashing
down.

This Phot o by U nknow n aut hor is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC.

The Workers Retaliation

 There has been many protests, but none have proved very
effective. In Dhaka 5,000 workers were protesting when police
started firing rubber bullets and tear gas at them. Killing one and
leaving about 50 others injured.
 In another protest some workers in factories slipped little letters and
notes into Zara clothing pleading for help.
Effects on the environment

It is now said that we consume 80 billion new pieces of

clothing every year and it is said we only wear 70% of
what is in our wardrobes. Because of the amount of
clothing we are consuming the companies work harder to
produce more and more clothes and in the process
emitting huge quantities of Greenhouse gases and using
massive amounts of energy and chemicals.
What are your
clothes made
from?

 The fast fashion brands are

turning to cheaper
alternative synthetic
materials such as polyester
and nylon. These plastics are
made from petroleum which
even makes them
dangerous to wash!
 Every time you was synthetic
fibers it is said up to
1900 micro plastic fibers are
generated.
But how does it affect us?

 These factories dump all there toxic waste water into rivers which
contaminates the water effecting all the people who live along the
river as the water contains chemicals such as: Lead, mercury and
arsenic. This water will reach the sea and will eventually spread
all around the globe.
But how does it
affect us?
 The cotton farms drain up
so much water as they
need massive amounts of
water and heat to grow. This
has drastic impacts on the
environment take for
example the desertification
of the Arial sea. Which was
completely drained by the
cotton farms.

This Phot o by U nknow n aut hor is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

 But how does it
affect us?
 You see not only is the fast
fashion industry putting the
lives of its workers in danger
and placing them under
horrible conditions . It is also
effecting us the
environmental impacts are
effecting our earth and
contributing to climate
change. Industries like the
fast fashion industry are
slowly poisoning our earth
and, in the process,
poisoning us.
Thank you for watching
my presentation