[INFORMATIVE] Clothing Trends and How They Harm the Environment

Clothing Trends and How They Harm the Environment

By: Cora Stogner

Instagram, TikTok, YouTube—all places to find clothing trends and stay up to date with everyone else. Seems harmless, right? Well, it’s not, and here's why it harms the environment and is also unsustainable.

Harmful Factors:

• Fast Fashion
• Pollution
• Inhumane Working Environments

Fast Fashion:

Fast fashion has many problems and no solutions. Fast fashion is inexpensive, low quality, produced rapidly, and made to be discarded. Over the years, retail has shifted away from higher quality, “slow fashion," to a cheaper, “fast fashion." Fast fashion has changed consumer shopping habits and is negatively impacting people and the environment. A good way to prevent falling into fast fashion is to shop ethically. Shopping ethically ensures that there is quality over quantity, and it is made sustainably and safely. Some good, ethical, sustainable clothing shops are:

• Patagonia
• Pact
• Kotn
• Tentree
• Reformation
• ABLE
• Everlane

Another great way to avoid fast fashion is thrifting! Finding a thrift store near you can help you expand your wardrobe without producing more clothing in the world. These clothes have already been used and bought by someone else, and you can even find clothes on trend in some places!

Pollution:

Due to the constant cycling of clothing trends, things constantly go outdated. Clothes are made with cheap plastic materials. While wearing or washing (and throwing out!), these clothes shed tiny plastic particles that end up in the environment, in animals, and even in our own bodies. The textile industry is responsible for 35% of microplastic pollution in the oceans. The fashion industry is responsible for about 20% of the world's clean water pollution. This is due to the dyeing and finishing processes used to make clothing. Burning unwanted clothing can cause significant air pollution that affects the human population. Additionally, 87% of the fibers used to make clothing are either incinerated or thrown in landfills.

Inhumane Working Environments:
Places like H&M, Shein, Pacsun, and Zara are all great places to shop, right? Wrong. These stores have been known to influence and practice inhumane working environments. This is wrong for a multitude of reasons, such as:

• Poor hygiene
• Poor communication
• Poor work-life balance
• Discrimination and harassment
• Poor morale
• Poor hygiene:

Poor hygiene can spread germs from person to person and from the workplace to the home. This can make it difficult for people to work, slowing down production and, in return, making employers and customers angry.

Poor communication:
This can lead to employees not knowing how they are doing due to a lack of communication and feedback. This is a big problem in the workforce, as if people don't know what they are doing wrong or what they can improve on, it could lead to getting fired, which results in a family with no central income.

Poor work-life balance:
A poor work-life balance can lead to increased stress and feelings of being less and less in control.

Discrimination and Harassment:
These actions can lead to a sense of defeat, demoralization, and depression and can negatively impact an employee’s self-esteem and productivity. Due to this, people are more likely to slack off due to a lack of work- ethics, and in return, it turns into a not-so-fast-fashion store.

Poor morale:
Employees in toxic environments may feel unhappy and dissatisfied with their job, which can lead to low morale and engagement.

Conclusion:
So, when buying clothes, staying up with the newest trend, or trying to fit in with others, remember where your clothes come from, who and what they are affecting, and how to buy clothing more sustainably to cut down on consequences.


WORKS CITED
“15 Poor Working Conditions Affecting Employee Productivity.” Packagex.io, PackageX, Oct. 2022, packagex.io/blog/poor-working-conditions#:~:text=Lack%20of%20Concern%20for%20Employees. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

“Commit2Act.” Commit2act.org, 2023, www.commit2act.org/avoid-fast-fashion?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8rW2BhAgEiwAoRO5rNnHRYMoZatTqysFWRiGwkfDbiFJVvX9EpKDFDnN_2wfWj-wspZdNBoC_IgQAvD_BwE. Accessed 27 Aug. 2024.

leslieacesence. “10 Signs of a Toxic Work Environment and How to Fix It | ACESENCE.” ACESENCE Agile Leadership Blog, 26 Oct. 2022, blog.acesence.com/10-signs-of-a-toxic-work-environment-and-how-to-fix-it/#:~:text=Poor%20communication%20in%20the%20workplace%20is%20one. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

Lundberg, Dielle, and Julia Devoy. “The Aftermath of Fast Fashion: How Discarded Clothes Impact Public Health and the Environment | SPH.” Www.bu.edu, Boston University School of Public Health, 22 Sept. 2022, www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2022/the-aftermath-of-fast-fashion-how-discarded-clothes-impact-public-health-and-the-environment/.

“New York Is Exposing the Fashion Industry for What It Is: A Climate Nightmare.” Nrdc.org, 13 Feb. 2023, www.nrdc.org/stories/new-york-exposing-fashion-industry-what-it-climate-nightmare#:~:text=When%20washed%2C%20these%20garments%20leach. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

“Plastic Fashion Pollution - Plastic Soup Foundation.” Plastic Soup Foundation, 29 June 2023, www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/plasticfashion/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw59q2BhBOEiwAKc0ijZNw0WuS0K1qmD4TQHgadoZmPGkrwnurFscCVAZ4P5zPtCY0y3tlRRoCBBQQAvD_BwE. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.

The World Bank. “How Much Do Our Wardrobes Cost to the Environment?” The World Bank, 23 Sept. 2019, www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/09/23/costo-moda-medio-ambiente.

“Why Is Fast Fashion Bad?” REDRESS RALEIGH, www.redressraleigh.org/why-is-fast-fashion-bad.