Fast fashion

Fast fashion has become a bigger part in everyday life, however the harmful impacts of fast fashion can last longer than a lifetime. Many teens now use fast fashion as a source to buy their clothes because it's cheap and inexpensive. However, many fast fashion stores are extremely harmful to the environment. Fast fashion makes up 10% of the earth’s carbon emissions, uses an immense amount of water, and pollutes oceans with micro-plastics.

Additionally, according to an online article, people bought 60% more garments in 2014 than they did in 2000, but only kept the clothes for half as long. Clothing production has practically doubled since 2000. However, almost 85% of all textiles go to the dump every year, which is enough to fill the Sydney harbor annually and enough for one garbage truck full of clothes to be dumped every second. This highlights just how much of a waste fast fashion can be. Also, many large companies use non environmentally friendly packaging, like packaging one piece of clothing in a bag of plastic. To counter the impacts of fast fashion, you can choose to buy and support smaller businesses, go to thrift stores, or give out hand me downs. Or you can simply choose to recycle your clothing and make another thing out of it, such as a quilt made from recycled or broken pieces of clothing. Another thing is to simply begin by educating people, many people can’t afford to stop shopping fast fashion, so you can help them understand how to make the best out of what they have.

Whatever it is, there’s nothing too small to help.