https://earth.

org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/x
https://edition.cnn.com/style/what-is-fast-fashion-sustainable-fashion/index.html
https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fast-fashion.asp#:~:text=Fast%20fashion
%20describes%20low%2Dpriced,look%20at%20an%20affordable%20price.
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/sustainability/
fast_fashion#:~:text=The%20pollution%20introduced%20by%20the,change%20from
%20anthropogenic%20greenhouse%20gas
https://sustainability.decathlon.com/why-does-it-take-so-much-water-to-make-a-cloth

Introduction:

As far as I am concerned, fashion wasn’t always a destructive industry. In the old

times, it was seen as a form of art, taking time through the process of its making.
Clothes shopping used to be an occasional thing, something that happens a few
times a year, or when seasons change or when we outgrew our clothes, but recently,
times have changed. Clothes became cheaper, quality was lower, more fashion
trends were created than usual, and shopping became a weekly hobby for many of
us. Enter fast fashion that now dominates our fashion districts and online shopping.
What is fast fashion? Why is it so bad? And how does it impact us?

Fast fashion is a cheap, trendy clothing that is inspired from catwalks, celebrities,
and influencers and turns them into garments at an insane speed. The time it takes
for a product to go through the supply chain, from design to purchase, is called a
‘lead time’. In 2012, Zara was able to design, produce and deliver a new garment in
two weeks; Forever 21 in six weeks and H&M in eight weeks. This results in the
fashion industry producing obscene amounts of waste. It forms a major role in the
toxic system of overproduction and consumption that has made fashion one of the
largest polluters in the world.

Let’s start by talking about its impact in the environment. The fashion industry
accounts for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, according to statistics from a
March 2023 report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The
report also found that the amount of garments produced today has doubled since
2000 — with consumers buying an estimated 60% more clothes today, but only
wearing them for half as long.

Another reason is that the fashion industry is the second largest consumer of water.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, it gulps down 93 billion cubic metres of
water per year. That is about 4% of the planet's drinking water resources. Hard to
visualise? That is about 37 million Olympic swimming pools each year. The volumes
of fresh water needed to manufacture our clothes are a little daunting don’t you
think? Especially when compared to the number of items sold each year around the
world which is over 1 billion. Not only these but the leftover water is dumped into
ditches, streams, and rivers. According to the French Environment and Energy
Management Agency (ADEME), the textile industry is responsible for 20% of water
pollution worldwide. It’s also said that textile waste is to increase by around 60%
between 2015 and 2030, and once again, the impact is distributed throughout the life
cycle of the garment. The list goes on, which of course, Avril will talk about later.

- Avi’s Notes
For avril, You can talk about :
● Impact on consumers
● Harming animals
● Exploiting workers
● Then Conclusion

You can use this website https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/ it is very helpful

and covers your points.

- Then in 2013, much of the world had a reality check when the Rana Plaza
clothing manufacturing complex in Bangladesh collapsed, killing over 1,000
workers. That’s when many consumers really started questioning fast fashion
and wondering at the true cost of those $5 t-shirts. If you’re reading this
article, you might already be aware of fast fashion’s dark side, but it’s worth
exploring how the industry got to this point—and how we can help to change
it.
- This puts textiles among the sectors that consume the most "blue gold", this
natural (and limited) resource that is so precious to life on earth: it comes
third, just behind wheat and rice cultivation
- During the extraction of the raw material, the pollution is mainly linked to the
chemicals used by the growers. Cotton, for example, is traditionally heavily
treated with pesticides and heavily fertilised. These products penetrate the
water cycle, contaminating groundwater and rivers.
- The fast fashion industry is a significant contributor to the climate crisis,
responsible for as much as 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
- The fast fashion business model relies on the exploitation of resources and
human labour to deliver garments following the latest trends to its consumers
at an unprecedented rate. This quick output of garments demands a sizeable
volume of raw materials fed into the fast fashion industry, creating a
significant amount of waste, pollution and degradation to air, water and
wildlife habitat.
Fast fashion encourages people to buy lots of clothes, leading to huge amounts of
waste.Take this report for example McKinsey & Company has documented around an 60%
increase in clothing purchases since 2000, yet garments are kept for only half as long. This
disposable approach leads to massive textile waste, equivalent to one garbage truck per
second globally, as researched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Moreover, Fast fashion
ads often promote unrealistic beauty standards, causing people to feel bad about their
bodies, as evidenced in a study published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services. Thus, fast fashion's emphasis on speed and affordability fuels a distressing cycle
of overconsumption, waste, and psychological harm.

This rampant consumerism isn't the only troubling aspect of fast fashion. Its reliance on Fast
fashion uses materials from animals, contributing to their suffering and exploitation.
Documented by organisations like PETA have reported a widespread animal abuse in the fur
industry, including horrifying practices such as skinning animals alive and keeping them in
deplorable conditions on fur farms. Similarly, the leather industry is associated with
environmental degradation and the slaughter of millions of animals annually for their
industry. The availability of cheap faux alternatives in fast fashion further normalises the use
of animal-derived materials, perpetuating the cycle of animal exploitation. This blatant
disregard for animal welfare underscores the ethical concerns inherent in the industry's
practices, emphasising the urgent need for cruelty-free and sustainable alternatives.

Furthermore, fast fashion brands exploit workers in garment factories, primarily in developing
countries, through low wages, unsafe working conditions, and long hours. Reports and
investigations have revealed widespread abuses, including overcrowded facilities, verbal
and physical abuse, and inadequate access to healthcare. The tragic 2013 Rana Plaza
factory collapse in Bangladesh, which claimed the lives of over 1,100 workers, serves as a
stark reminder of the devastating consequences of prioritising profit over worker safety. Fast
fashion's relentless pursuit of cost-cutting measures perpetuates poverty and exploitation,
exacerbating systemic inequalities in global supply chains.

In conclusion, the rampant growth of fast fashion has unleashed a cascade of environmental
degradation, consumer exploitation, and human rights violations. Its unsustainable practices,
including significant carbon emissions, water consumption, overconsumption, reliance on
animal-derived materials, and exploitation of garment workers, pose a dire threat to our
planet and society.

This constant pressure to keep up with trends and constantly purchase new items leads to a
lack of satisfaction and fulfilment in one's life.