In this essay I am going to explain to you why the apparel industry is affecting the local and global environments,

society and economies and why the current system isn’t sustainable. We the humans are the largest consumer in the
world and we spend 10% of our salary on apparel. Our buying habits are leading to 2000 trees in the amazon being
destroyed every minute. Now let me explain to you why this is a bad thing…

We as consumers love buying clothing but not many people realise that this affecting our society. Have you ever
wondered where your clothes are coming from? I think not. Most clothes are made in “Lower income countries” or
LIC’s. Factories in LIC’s are bad, they aren’t clean and they pay minimum wage. The people there work in horrible
conditions and are treated unethically. They work long hours, despite the law stating that they shouldn’t be working
more than 7 hours or 8 hours. They can’t complain because there are many people waiting in line for the same job. The
people are so desperate for money that they would work long and harsh hours for minimum wage. Large fashion
companies are exploiting the cheap labour and materials in overseas countries, that is why most clothes are made in
LIC’s. Many fashion companies think they are doing good by giving jobs to people in LIC’s but if they would go to a
factory and see the conditions I think they would think differently. This is also bad for “Higher Income Country”
citizens because that will mean there are less jobs for them. If you think this is bad, let me tell you this. People who
don’t work in factories are affected as well. The most used clothing material in the world is Polyester. Polyester is a
non-breathable material which means that when you are wearing polyester, heat gets trapped in your clothes so it is
much harder to breathe. This also causes heavy sweating. The clothing industry is hypnotising us. According to the
video “Story of Stuff” while people are busy buying stuff they are neglecting more important things like; Education,
Health Care and Justice. Not only that happiness levels are dropping. I think the effect of apparel on humans speaks for
itself.

The clothing industry not only affects the society as well. ⅓ of the world’s natural resources has already been used. If
we continue creating and buying stuff like we do now, we are going to need 3-5 planet earths. This is incredibly bad.
Polyester, which is the most used clothing garment is incredibly polluting. This means that is putting gases into our
world which can eventually lead to temperature rising. Not only that, Polyester is made out of Fossil fuels and uses up
so much energy. In fact the clothing industry right now is creating 5 times more carbon emissions than all airline
companies in the world. The clothing industry also contributes towards 10% of the world’s carbon footprint. This
wouldn’t be so bad if overseas factories knew how to dispose properly of unwanted materials. But the factories chuck
all the dye, chemicals and materials into the ocean. The fish in the ocean then eat all the microplastic and materials.
Then we eat the fish. We are in a way killing ourselves. Our actions are causing the environment to go haywire. And to
think that the environment is keeping us alive we are repaying it buy destroying it. This is really bad.

The apparel industry also affects the economy. Large companies are exploiting “LIC’s” because of how cheap the
labour and materials are. We then buy the clothes because we think that the clothes are really cheap. But in reality
companies are making a lot of profit. They are being smart, by making for as little as possible and then selling for as
much as possible. This is smart because the cheaper they sell it for the less money they lose from taxes but in reality
they are still making a large profit. Large fashion companies are basically cheating the government by paying much
less taxes than they should be paying while still making about the same amount of money.

The best way to change the system is by making sure that we know where our clothes are coming from and whether or
not they have produced in a sustainable way. Also asking others to ask questions about where were the clothes made
and what materials were used. Also checking the seam of the clothes, to see how durable they look can decrease the
amount of clothing waster. Remember that polyester is non-biodegradable so it will never leave this planet, it will only
go to a landfill. Also try to buy less. Don’t buy everything you see, only buy things that you need. This will help you to
create less clothing waste and help stop pollution in the world. Finally don’t buy clothing made out of Polyester, buy
clothing made out of linen and cotton, which is much better for the environment.

To conclude in this essay we have talked about the effect of the clothing industry on the environment, society, economy
and how we can buy clothing and apparel much more sustainably. Remember to always be aware of your products,
never take any clothing for advantage and always buy clothes that doesn’t hurt our environment.