DESMA 154 // REBECCA MENDEZRADHA SHAH

FAST FASHION : A TYRANT OF WASTE AND POLLUTION

On the second largest polluter

in the world.

SPRING 2019

WHAT IS FAST FASHION?Fast fashion can be defined as cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at breakneck speed.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?Fast fashion is just not sustainable at all. For a regular pair of blue jeans, it takes 2,000 gallons of water to grow the cotton. Fast fashion companies worsen this practice. The toxic dye behind any garment adds to the water footprint of production, and fast fashion companies often produce these garments inefficiently. This means that even more water is used for the same pair of jeans that will probably last six months.

Fast fashion retailers also work on an on-trend basis. This means the design, production, and consumption basis shortens from a months-long period to only weeks. Along with the markey relying entirely on riding and predicting trends, consumers dispose of their “last month” garments in favor of new ones that will be out of fashion in a month, causing heaps of waste to grow rapidly.

International companies like Adidas, Levi’s, Nike and H&M don’t want you to stop buying their products, but they also don’t want to give up on their fast-fashion business models. “The holy grail for sustainability in fashion is closed-loop sourcing,” - Marie-Claire Daveu.

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COTTON

POLYESTER

RAYON

NYLON

LEATHER

TOXIC DYES

THE BREAKDOWN:

A recent ocean survey found that rayon contributed to 56.9% of the total

fibers found in deep ocean areas. Conventional rayon, made of cellulose

from trees, is easier on the land, but chemical-heavy in the fiberspinning

phase. It also requires extensive resources at the dyeing mill.

Cotton is the most pesticide intensive crop in the world. Herbicides, and also

the chemical defoliants which are sometimes used to aid mechanical cotton

harvesting, add to the toll on both the environment and human health. The

development of genetically modified cotton adds environmental problems

at another level.

Dyeing alone can account for most of the water used in producing a garment;

unfixed dye then often washes out of garments, and can end up colouring

the rivers, as treatment plants fail to remove them from the water. Dye

fixatives—often heavy metals—also end up in sewers and then rivers.

Polyester is a synthetic petroleum-based fibre, and is therefore a non-

renewable carbon-intensive resource. Nearly 70 million barrels of oil are

used each year to make polyester around the world, which is now the most

commonly used fiber in our clothing. But it takes more than 200 years to

Nylon is in part derived from coal and petroleum. Producing nylon creates

nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon

dioxide. Large amounts of water are used for cooling the fibres, which can

be a source of environmental contamination and pollution.

Raising animals for food and leather requires huge amounts of feed,

pastureland, water, and fossil fuels. Animals on factory farms produce

130 times as much excrement as the entire human population, without the

benefit of waste treatment plants.

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Fast Fashion’s negative impact includes its use of cheap, toxic textile dyes and uses cheap textiles such as polyester that are derived from fossil fuels and increase the plastic volume in our oceans.

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The chemicals often found in garments (or used in their production) have been linked to neurotoxicity, liver, kidney and lung disorders, cancer and more. For example,

clothes that are marketed as wrinkle-resistant are often made with formaldehyde and have been linked with eye and nose irritation, and allergic reactions on people’s skin.

There are thousands of potentially hazardous chemicals used when making clothes, including:- Dimethylformamide found in acrylic fabrics- Azo dyes used to color clothes- Phthalates found in plastic raincoats, fake leather and waterproof clothing- Nanosilver used in clothes marketed as antimicrobial

HEALTH

HAZARD

Again, chemicals in clothing have not yet been determined to cause human health concerns more serious than allergic reactions and irritations, but the fact of the matter is that there are safer alternatives, and using these chemicals isn’t necessary.

more than an environmental impact.

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THE BAD, AND THE .

Taking a closer look at the sequence of events to create wearable material, we find somewhat obvious pollutants, such as the pesticides used in farming cotton, toxic dyes used in manufacturing, the amount of waste clothing produces, along with the harmful amount of natural resources used in extraction, farming, harvesting, processing, manu-facturing, and shipping.

The manufacture of synthetic fibers like polyester uses exorbitant amounts of en-ergy and crude oil, which release harmful emissions like volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and acid gases like hydrogen chloride. Polyester and nylon are both made from petrochemicals, meaning they are inherently unsustainable. Nylon man-ufacture emits large amounts of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Just one pound of nitrous oxide has a 300x larger impact than carbon dioxide on global warming.

The EPA has declared a number of textile manu-facturing facilities to be hazardous waste genera-tors, and clothing and other textiles represent approx-imately 9% of municipal solid waste. The amount of discarded clothing tossed into landfills is projected to reach 35.4 billion pounds in 2019. The fashion indus-try’s CO2 emissions are also projected to increase by more than 60% to nearly 2.8 billion tons per year by 2030. 4

“MADE IN CHINA”

Approximately 45% of the textile produced in Chi-na is wasted, rang-ing from industri-al waste created in fiber, textile, and clothing produc-tion and consumer waste that people throw away from their closets.

Fashion Industry is the top 3 water wasting industry in China, discharging over 2.5 billion tons of wastewater every year.

China manufactures

nearly 65% of the world’s

clothes and remains the

largest apparel exporters.

Daily in Hong Kong, there are 253 tons of textiles sent to landfill.

By 2025, the textile market size is

expected to reach 450 billion USD, to which women wear

and fast fashion contribute the most.

Of all collected waste, only 3.5 million tonnes

were recycled and reused in 2017,

which is equivalent to the use of 3.8

million tonnes of petroleum

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THE PROBLEM STARTS WITH THE CONSUMER

More than 15 million tons of used textile waste is generated each year in the United States, and the

amount has doubled over the last 20 years. In 2014, over 16 million tons of textile waste was generated,

according to the U.S. EPA. Of this amount, 2.62 million tons were recycled, 3.14 million tons were combusted for energy recovery, and 10.46 million tons were sent

to the landfill. An average American throws away approximately 80 pounds of used clothing per person.

Although Nearly 100 percent of textiles and clothing are recyclable, Consumers are regarded as the main

culprit for throwing away their used clothing as only 15 percent of consumer used clothing is recycled where

more than 75 percent of pre-use clothing is recycled by the manufacturers.

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a fashion revolution

Re;code

Bundgaard Nielsen

Suave

Re;code are a Korean brand specialising in upcycling. Each item in the collection has a story, and creates a new culture of value in place of waste. They work with the mentally handicapped and the ‘Goodwill Store’ to deconstruct salvaged materials ready for reinterpretation and redesign

Bungaard Nielsen is a crafts laboratory based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The ‘Circle 1 dress’ pictured above, rebels against standardisation of the design of clothing, instead offering a more sustainable and size-flexible form.

Kenyan brand Suave is all about breathing new life into old, creating colourful backpacks, satchels and laptop sleeves made from recycled fabrics and locally sourced African fabrics. They source their material from off cut fabrics and unwanted leather by working with second hand traders, factories and tanneries .

“We disassemble and re-commercialise ready-made

products. People might find it surprising that we use

industrial materials such as seat covers, airbags, and

fabric linings that make up a car’s interior, waste that is

collected from our sister companies within the Kolon

group, to design jackets, bags and laptop cases.”

“I am currently working on developing a new size-

flexible garment system, which will do away with bad

fit and standard sizing, one of the main reasons people

discard clothing. I was once told a story of my father

fixing an airplane engine using only a bottle cap and

his creativity while travelling in Africa. This gave me a

challenge to make do with what you are given within a

certain framework.”

“We buy unwanted and unsellable clothing from traders

at the biggest second hand market in Kenya. We source

waste offcuts from big factories manufacturing clothes

for export, and we also buy rejected, lower grade leather

from local tanneries, materials that have been left behind

by other buyers.”7

Born of frustration with the excessive use of the world’s natural resources, and the amount of waste produced by indus-trialized countries, spanish brand Ecoalf was founded on the principles of recycling. The intent to create a truly sus-tainable fashion brand, started at the source, and as the result of limited choices in the marketplace of 100% recycled materials.

“Discarded fishing nets, post-consumer plastic

bottles, worn-out tires, post-industrial cotton,

and even used coffee grinds become our outer-

wear, swimsuits, sneakers and accessories. In

order to ensure 100% transparency and provide

the highest levels of quality, our team manages

the full process from waste collection to recy-

cling technologies, manufacture, design and

retail.”

Ecoalf

Bethany WilliamsEach garment is 100% sustainable and made in the UK, even down to the buttons which are hand crafted in the Lake

District. She has collaborated with TIH Models, a new modelling agency supporting youth in London affected by homelessness, casting Kris McAllister and Mustapha, both homeless and unemployed in London, for the collection

Women of Change.“For my most recent collection ‘Women of Change’

I have worked alongside San Patrignano in Rimini,

Italy – an education and rehabilitation programme that

teaches traditional Italian craft and fosters a sense of

community. Together we developed hand-woven textiles

from recycled packaging materials found within the

workshop.”

Based in India, Doodlage is a perfect sync of sustainability and innovativeness. They work with eco-friendly fabrics, such as organic cotton, corn fabric, banana fabric. Another source of fabric is the left over or quality, discarded

textile from large manufacturers, which account for the “wastage” in export terms. They also source fabrics, which are left unused by other retailers post-cutting.

Doodlage

“With 40% of garment production being done in India,

Bangladesh and China, these countries alone produce

enough waste to be able to create 6 billion garments

from just scraps and leftovers. These were some alarming

stats that led us into creating a brand using fabric that

would otherwise go into landfills.”

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1

DESIGNERS CHANGING THE INDUSTRY

HOW CAN YOU MAKE A CHANGE?

Swap and ShareOne person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Create a clothing exchange among your friends. Have a party where each person brings clothes that he or she no longer wants. Trade with your friends so that everyone leaves with fresh items for their wardrobe – without spending a dime or sending anything to the landfill.

Re-FashionWith the popularity of Pinterest and online blogs, DIY has never been so exciting and creative. Check out online DIY

resources for creative ideas on how to turn an old t-shirt into something fresh and new. Or come up with your own ideas to

re-fashion your clothing.

Don’t Scrap ItTurn your unwanted clothing into functional products. Over-sized or faded t-shirt? Great for comfy pajamas. Ripped t-shirt? Might be great for household cleaning. Outdated skirt? Could be a great apron.

Slow Fashion PurchasesInstead of buying the latest fashion trends every month or every season,

you can encourage residents to consider purchasing higher quality cloth-ing pieces that last longer, also known as ‘slow fashion’. This requires a

change in consumer behaviour and a lifestyle change to buying clothing and textiles for their quality and longevity. This behaviour is sometimes

called ‘zero waste fashion’.

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REDUCEAND

RECLAIM

As part of my word and image class, we were assigned to look for all types of junk and waste by our school, in our homes, and wherever we can find it. Near my home-town of San Jose, there exists a small non-profit organizations that collects tex-tiles and fabric from large industries and warehouse stores. These fabrics would otherwise be thrown out into our very own landfills. The non-profit has a small lo-cation where you can pick up any fabric for free or buy for 1-2 USD per a yard. The donations help keep the non-profit up and running. I collected a few fabrics from this store as well as from old clothing I would otherwise throw out or donate. I stacked up the fabric to form the words, “Reduce & Reclaim”. These two ideas con-struct the most important ways in which we, as consumers, can help the fashion industry produce less waste and create a more sustainable cycle. If it first you can’t reduce the amount of clothing you buy, reclaim them, change them, or donate them so they can have a second life.

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HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE.HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE.HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE.HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE.HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE.HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE.HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

HELP MAKE A CHANGE.HELP MAKE A CHANGE.HELP MAKE A CHANGE.HELP MAKE A CHANGE.HELP MAKE A CHANGE.HELP MAKE A CHANGE.HELP MAKE A CHANGE.

DESMA 154 // REBECCA MENDEZWINTER 2019RADHA SHAH

DON’T HELP AN INDUSTRY THAT

HELPS DESTROY THE PLANET.