Welcome to Fashion Pollu-ice! We are Yun Xuan and Jia Hui. In this blog, we are going to cover how fashion can pollute the environment, the various effects on humans and the ecosystem, the possible solutions in place to solve these environmental issues, and also our personal opinions on fashion pollution. Our blog is titled as such because of our chosen topic and how we aim to use it as a platform to shed light on the fast fashion industry and its devastating connections to the environment. Hence, pollu-ice here is a play on the word pollution and police – observing the pollutants released into the environment from the fast fashion industry and monitoring if regulations are met.
Fashion is a very broad topic, hence to narrow down the scope of this blog, we would like to talk about fast fashion specifically because it is one of the most polluting industries to date, following closely behind the oil industry (Cherny-Scanlon & Agnes, 2016). But what exactly is fast fashion? Fast fashion is the low cost production of clothing in accordance to fast changing fashion trends. This results in fewer wears due to poor quality clothing being produced. As such, many of the clothes are rapidly discarded by consumers and they end up in the landfills (Boggon, 2019). The whole production, consumption and disposal of clothes, has caused pollution in our environment such as the air and water bodies. These pollutants from fast fashion will only accumulate and continue to devastate our environment.
Another reason we decided to focus on fast fashion is because it is highly relevant to the current society we live in and many people subconsciously or consciously take part in it. Taking a closer look at home, a survey in 2017 has shown that Singaporeans’ level of expenditure on clothing has dropped. However, that does not necessarily equate to people buying less clothing. Instead, it actually translates to the rise of fast fashion companies in Singapore and the prevalence of Singaporeans shopping at these fast fashion companies like Zara or Uniqlo (Chai, 2019). Such instances really draw our attention to discuss and raise awareness so that people know the harms they are causing to the environment.
Once again, in our future posts, you will see us unpacking the different types and causes of fast fashion pollution, its effect and consequences, as well as some solutions that we will offer to mitigate the environmental issues caused. Do keep an eye out for our next post! See you then, stay safe and take care!
References
Boggon, C. (2019). How polluting is the fashion industry?. Retrieved 18 August 2020, from https://www.ekoenergy.org/how-polluting-is-the-fashion-industry/
Chai, A. (2019). Singaporeans spending less on clothing and shoes. Retrieved 18 August 2020, from https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/fashion/singaporeans-spending-less-on-clothing-and-shoes
Cherny-Scanlon, X., & Agnes, K. (2016). Time for a Responsible Fashion Council? In S. S. Muthu & M. A. Gardetti (Eds.), Green Fashion: Volume 2 (pp. 123-150). Singapore: Springer Singapore.
