With regards to the broader issue of pollution, the introduction sparks off the conversation with the question:
“What are the roles and responsibility of individuals in this broad and prevalent issue?”
Unbeknownst to many, fashion, or most specifically Fast-fashion, contributes an alarmingly large percentage towards individual consumer waste – which often leads to pollution in many countries. And by pollution, we do not just only categorise it to landfill pollution – but more specifically, water pollution.
Fast-fashion is termed as the inexpensive use of clothing produced by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends in fashion, most commonly influenced by pop culture and sudden inspirations from celebrities.
Fast-fashion waste do end up in landfills, with 300,000 tonnes of clothing waste ending up in the UK dumpsters each year, making clothing the largest growing category of waste in the UK (Smithers, 2017). However, water pollution does prove to be a more striking issue. Known to many, and backed by the FreshWaterWatch, Only 2.5% of all the water on Earth is freshwater and more than 97% is saltwater (Water: A Limited Resource?, 2015). This makes water all the more precious. However, with fast-fashion and its water pollution ails, our already reducing source of freshwater gets reduced even further. According to the Environmental Audit Committee, 3781 litres of water is used to wash a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans in its full lifetime (CBBC Newsround, n.d.). That alone is just a single pair of jeans – imagine multiplying this to the millions of jeans produced each year!
To give a more relatable picture to the fashion enthusiasts, ZARA and H&M are said to be one of the very first fast-fashion retailers. But both fashion giants have come a long way ever since. H&M in particular have already started with their own sustainability campaign to address the negative consequences of what they presumably started. In 2011, H&M started the Conscious Campaign to help curb its fast-fashion waste contribution (RecycleNation, 2011). However, it only started gaining more attention in recent years. Below is an excerpt of what their 2019 goal was :
H&M Conscious Exclusive 2019 : “ Throughout the month of April, H&M will not only celebrate their sustainability actions and goals as a company, but also highlight the Conscious Collection in stores all around the world. H&M are proud that the entire collection has been made from sustainably-sourced materials, which not only emphasises the H&M Group’s status as one of the world’s largest users of organic cotton, Tencel and recycled polyester, but also shows the continued efforts, commitment and progress we are making for a sustainable fashion future.”
To bring light to this issue, H&M is not the only one taking active steps to tackle the negative consequences of fast-fashion. Other companies like Rent the Runway – like its namesake, allows consumers to rent from a whole catalogue through an online shop, which is quickly showing its dominance in the fashion world with a booming 10 million active members. Another company would be Patagonia, which advocates an anti-fashion environmental message. At first glance, this might seem odd and off-putting, however, they do rack up sales because of their vision!
Thinking of giving them a try? Check out the links below!
1. Rent the Runway – https://www.renttherunway.com
2. Patagonia – https://www.patagonia.com/environmentalism.html
Find out more about this topic here:
References
Smithers, R. (2017, July 11). UK households binned 300,000 tonnes of clothing in 2016. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/11/uk-households-binned-300000-tonnes-of-clothing-in-2016
Water: A Limited Resource? (2015, May 13). Retrieved from https://freshwaterwatch.thewaterhub.org/content/water-limited-resource
How your love of fashion could be harming the environment – CBBC Newsround. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/45756754
RecycleNation. (2011, May 13). H&M Launches Conscious Collection. Retrieved from