DO kameez aur EK patlon
The first time when a baby is
wrapped around a cloth to the same plain sheet of cloth resting on our bodies
when we die, clothes play a significant role in our lives. It represent one’s
emotions, belief, ambitions and enhance their persona. Transcending itself through
boundaries, cultures and time, anthropologist refer to them as one’s “social
skin.” It provides us an identity as an individual as well as a society.(Andrea
Speranza, Traid)[1]
Every ornament and cloth we embrace had a significant meaning, a story for all
to know, it represented diversity. Vanadana
Shiva once said,”Uniformity is not the nature’s way, Diversity is the nature’s
way.”[2]
Though said in context of seeds it fits perfectly to present how fashion is
running in the opposite direction of diversity and following monoculturalism.
But this sophisticated understanding of fashion as element of diversity is
depleting. Clothes are no longer treasured as they were back then with the
introduction of “Fast Fashion.” It is defined as an
industry in fashion built on extremely trendy, constantly changing clothes that
are exceptionally cheap and usually poorly made in reality. (Illinois Journal,
2016)[3]
Fast and Cheap fashion has not only changed the way we dress, but also the way
we think and what we do with it. (Madeleine Cobbing, Greenpeace Journal, 2016) Fast and cheap fashion has changed the way and
reasons for the way one dressed. Commercialisation and marketing has led
fashion to over consumption and materialism. Consumer product’s life cycle has
shortened by 50% leading to “explosive expansion” of retailers. Keeping our
clothes and cherishing them is not fashion anymore. “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of
nothing.” (Oscar Wilde). How did we come to this stage? When did we move
from slow to fast fashion? What got us to the bottom of the fashion hierarchy?
The fashion industry is much loved for its
creativity, style and ability as a cultural and societal barometer to reflect
our altering world affairs through clothing’s changing silhouettes and trends.
However, the fashion industry is one of the world’s most polluting industries
that cause serious damage to environment creating pollution, which severely
harms parts of the planet and her people. (Redress, 2014) Globalisation and free trade has built an assembly line spread through
out the world, where each process is divided among particular country.
It is no longer about localized produce,
but a globalized consumption and circulation. Fast Fashion has been creating
more demand, increasing awareness about trends and providing exposure to great
cultural influences at a very high price tag – it’s just not as clear as the price
you pay at the register. Retail companies increase the production of
inexpensive clothing leading to the increase in disposable fashion. Such kind
of amplifying effects is observed on the emerging markets of fast fashion i.e.
the middle class. Apparel sale has increased 8 times faster in developing
nations like Brazil, India, China Mexico and Russia, that is an increase in
purchase by 60% per year. This consumption is more than in United States,
Germany, Canada and United Kingdom. (McKinsey & Co. Report, 2016)
This crisis of the world hidden in
each one’s closet and an implication of greed and materialism has led to
increasing pollution by the fashion industry. Our lack of awareness towards the
implication of Fast Fashion on Environment has led to its degradation. The
world is becoming precaucious of turning off switches and devices when not in
use, planting more sapling or living an eco-friendly lifestyle without a
drastic change in the fashion consumption pattern. Through this analysis of the
pollution created in the process of the fashion delivered to you, I wish to
make the readers more concious of their desires in relation to their needs.
This is an important topic as no one discuss about climate change and
environmental degradation with context to consumerism. One is saving water by
being aware about the taps and leaks in their house. One is concious of the
emissions released from their cars, but they aren’t aware that what they tried
reducing is compensated by their single purchase. Hence it becomes vital to
address this issue and ask do we need so clothes. I wish to provide an overview
of my topic by giving an analysis and facts with help of the fast fashion life
cycle with each stage explaining the harmful effects it creates.
Literature Review:
Globalisation gave companies
and developing countries the opportunities of a new market for their product
and employment respectively. But on the other hand, fast fashion industry has
been the second largest polluter and criticized on several occasions for its business
models – ‘Free hands are cheaper than machines.’[4]
After the Rana Plaza, there was an increase in demand for safety amongst the exporter of readymade garments,
presurrising the western companies to act.[5]
Companies worked together to find viable solutions as Automation in the apparel industry has been
held back more so than any other industry because the cost of automating is
sometimes so expensive. It may make sense to automate at $10 an hour, but if
you have access to labour in Vietnam at $10 a week? [6]
Globalisation came with a promise to improve environment and lifestyle of
people around the world, but this global assembly line has graving affected the
growth and polluted the third world countries. Making things more competitive
in market as local entepreneuer were challenged by global conquerers, brands
like Zara, H&M, Primark offer cheap clothes to its customer as a stratergy
to increase sales.
But no one was taking into to consideration our planet’s inability
to regenerate resources. We were moving faster than the natural pace of the
planet and if it maintained this way, soon there would be nothing left to
produce from. Fast Fashion was ignoring to acknowledge the environmetal issues,
as it focused to get the best out of consumer ignorance. Transnational flow of
goods, exploitation of labour and environmentally harmful and unethical ways of
production is not what one thinks of when they flip the price tag off a dress. There is no other segment of consumer goods in which
the turnover of goods depends less on wear and tear and more on fickle changes
in taste, since constant transience is one of the essential characteristics of
fashion. (Dr. Claudia Banz, 2015)
Hence the marketing and advertising of these textiles known as fashion becomes
more important than understanding that each t-shirt you purchased has consumed
at least 2,700 liters of water i.e. 900 days of water consumed by average
person. Our conscious has refused to think about such realities and implication
over our curiousity about the colour of the next fashion season. (Clara, 2016)
The world produces about 80 billion new
pieces of clothing every year, an increase of 400% compared to the past two
decades.[7]
It was estimated in 2015 that the fast fashion industry collected 1.8 trillion
US dollars from its sales. The increase in economic profit though happens at
the cost of environmental degradation. An average consumer buys 60% more than
it requires in a year and uses it about half as long as 15 years ago. (Gina-Marie
Cheeseman, 2016)[8]
Amidst our materialistic desires, our concern towards the depleting water
levels in the Aral sea due to excessive cotton production or river bodies
turning into the colour of the season as untreated dyes are released never
arise. Though the word of fashion being the second largest polluter was
spreading, no major change has been taken place since, no one wishes to accept
the true cost of their actions, but is simply in search for relief.
It all comes back to the idea of value. Value
used to be about this idea of not just price, but also quality. (Clare Press,
2017) Today, fashion expedition begin on a blank slate, purchase are often
impulse driven. Consumer at present own
clothes four times more than in the 1980s as fast fashion has led to short
usage period with clothes being worn only 1.7 times on average. (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, 2015) Thus it has become vital to explain to
the consumer the product life cycle – from the raw material to the end use, how
each time they buy any apparel the environment if effected, so the need of
conscious consumerism comes into play.
Fast Fashion and its Implication on
Environment
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast Fashion are the mass
produced products that replicate designs straight out of high end runaway show
to deliver to the emerging middle class market through a specific
sales-distribution system. It denotes an accerlation in global distrbution of
mainstream products. (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, 2015) The
process of making clothes faster, cheaper and generally of poorer quality - the
fashion production cycle has accelerated to such voracity that consumers have
more opportunities to shop ‘til they - and the environment - drops. (ReDress, 2014) It seems like a
victory for the consumer to achieve high-end designs at low price, but it’s a
loss for several.
At the least 50% of the textiles that is thrown away are
recyclable, but practically only 25% of wastes are recycled. An outlook on the
future market of textiles suggests that India is expected to grow around 3 - 5%
in the area of disposals, and sequentially that will increase such disposal in
landfills. Everyday many research are being done to innovate new products and
technologies, but not many focus on the reclaim or a better alternative of
used-up and waste textiles that is either incinerated (burnt) or discarded in
the landfills. (K
Saravanan, 2011).[9]
But the pollution begins much before disposal. It begins with plantation to
production, usage and disposal.
The Vicious Cycle of Pollution
The above illustration is a visual
representation of how a product circulates and the pollution it creates on its
way.
·
Land –
It is necessary
that the quality of the fibre is good in order to obtain a good cloth. The
degradation begins with production of raw material. Cotton account for 40% of
the world’s fibre demand[10].
Cotton the most versatile and popular material is extensively grown throughout
the world. Almost 5,000 gallons of water is required to prouduce enough cotton
for one t-shirt and pair of jeans. (Sian, 2016)[11]
Such extensive and large quantity of water consumption has detrimental effects
on water resources of a particular region and release toxins and carcinogenic
elements when it dries up.[12] Similar
to what happened in the Aral Sea in Uzbekhistan and is happening in Vidharba
over two decade due to extensive cotton farming. Chemicals like nonylphenol
ethoxylate (NFE) in the dying proces is released into to water bodies untreated
contaminating and causing major marine and health issues. (Francis Sollano,
2017)[13]
Hence the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemical movements aims to improve the
environmental standards of developing and developed nations.
There is an
increase in demand for cotton by manufacterers to produce cloth for designers.
To meet this demand farmers use genetically modified cotton seeds which require
large amount of water and pesticides for its cultivation and maintaince of soil
feritility. This makes the farmer caught up in vicious dependency cycle, hence
the increasing use of it leads to release of carcinogenic and toxic in water
and air. Synothetic fibres being less water intensive is preferred, but it isnt
easily decomposable. (Sian,2016)[14]
Cotton being the single largest crop consumer of pesticides – 11% of pesticides
and 24% of insecticides affects the ground water levels and soil composition.
It begans with land
and it ends in the land as consumers throw their clothes in the landfills. With
an estimated increase of 400% in consumption of fashion in the past two
decades, approximately 10-15% of these clothes dumped in the land as rubbish in
India is recycled.[15]
When 95% of these dump clothes are recyclable.[16]
These clothes made of 60% of synthetic fibres are not degradable and release
toxics in the soil decreasing its fertility.
Fast Fashion
also cosumes around 70 million trees every year as they are logged to
manufacture fabrics like rayon, modal, etc. (Maxine Bédat, Zady, 2015)
·
Factory –
When factories
process and manufacture the product from raw materials it releases toxics like
nonylphenol ethoxylate, phthalates and azo dyes into the water. These chemicals
are hormone disruptors, cause feminization, are carcinogenic and cause tumour.
The disturb the animal food cycle with increase in the animals presents lower
in the cycle. There has been increase in cases of death of marine life found in
India, Jakarta, Bangladesh and Bangkok, being a few.
Factories also
produce energy intensive fibres known as synthetic fibre which consume huge
amounts of crude oil and petroleum to manufacture. It release three times more
carbondioxide in the environment than cotton. It doesn’t degrade easily and
harms the users health. Cheap synthetic fibres also release N2O (nitrous oxide,
commonly known as the laughing gas), this is 300 times more harmful than
carbondioxide. On excessive explosure it cause side effects such as nausea,
vomiting, headache, unusual tiredness and blurred vision. (James Conca, 2015)[17]
Production of
polyester and nylon which is 60% cause 300 times more emission of greenhouse
gases to global warming than carbondioxide. These materials when washed release
microfibres into the water supply disrupting the marine food chain. [18]
These fibres take as much as 70 million barrels of oil per year for production
and around 200 years to decompose. Oil being the major polluter of environment,
Fast Fashion just increase it more with its increasing demands. (Zady, 2016)
In this constant
desire for more by consumer, manufacturers and retailers offer us product at
cheaper rates which we enjoy, but never does it occur to us ‘what does the
workers earn out of it?’ The Rana Plaza brought the Fashion industry to the
limelight focusing on the unsafe conditions and low wages of the workers. This
led to a drastic fall in the glamour surrounded industry, known to be violating
several human rights.
·
Point of Purchase–
The supply and set
of shops for purchase of these fast fashion products also consume energy and
resources. As companies cater to a global market the pollution caused by
transportation must also be taken into consideration. For example – Zara brings
in new trends and style every week to its stores, hence calculate or rather
estimate the amount of fuel in burns and releases in the air and water.
The several
outlets that the companies set up in a particular region also consumes large
amount of energy in form of electricty to be operational. Example – In London
at Oxford street zara and H&M has around four to five outlets each in a
stretch of Five kilometres. Is it really necessary?
Hence brands like
Zara are initiating programmes to reduce their carbon footprint since 2012.
They aim at:
A.
Zero discharge of undesired chemical by 2020 in
water bodies.
B.
15% reduction in energy intensity used in their
operations (energy conservation)
C.
10% reduction in energy consumption in stores by
2020.
D.
100% eco friendly stores and recyclable
products.
It is good that other brands along with Zara like
H&M and Forever 21 are taking up recycling clothes initiatives, but it
shouldn’t and cannot be any substitute for consumer still maintaining their
shopping habits. Consumers too have to take steps to conscious analyse and make
purchase instead of impulsive decisions.
·
Consumer –
After being
processed, dyed and polished when the product reaches the store, consumer
purchases it to keep up with the trends. Fashion has become an industry worth
1.8 trillion dollars in the past two decades due to the overconsumption. An
average person buys 60% more than it use to 15 years ago. A person in China and
India are consuming around 6.5kg of clothes per person and it is said that it
would increase to 11 to 16kg by 2030. Consumers lack of awareness that each
T-shirt they buy is estimated to have carbon footprint of 15kgs. [19]
In a research it was found that cheap consumption stimulate rapid change with a
person on average wearing each cloth 1.7 times and 20 items remain hanging in
the closet unworn. [20]
The top selling
brands are over simplifying the problem with environmental initiatives by
H&M and Zara on recycling clothes fibres, people dump their disposal in the
stores and as an excuse buy more. Some of these store provide discounts and
vouchers to consumers to participate in these intiatives. People also give
there rejected apparels to Charities, thrift shops and in India to the Waghi
Community instead of landfills.
“People
like to feel like they are doing something good, and the problem they run into
in a country such as the U.S. is that we don’t have people who need [clothes]
on the scale at which we are producing,“ (Pietra Rivoli)[21]
These fast fashion clothes are of cheap quality, thus mostly are not in
any condition to be given in charity or even recycled. That is why they either are
found in landfills or recycled
in the traditional sense—ground down and re-formed into things like insulation
and carpet padding—and a slightly smaller portion is turned into industrial
rags. [22]
·
Trash and Transport –
There is no other segment of
consumer goods in which the turnover of goods depends less on wear and tear and
more on fickle changes in taste, since constant transience is one of the
essential characteristics of fashion. When clothes leave the factory, they are
initially just textiles. It is only marketing and advertising that turn them
into fashion. Consumers themselves usually begin their shopping expedition with
a blank slate. In contrast to other sectors, for example household goods,
purchasing decisions in the fashion segment are highly impulse-driven due to
the wide range of purchasing options. Such decisions are often made last minute
and therefore point-of-sale (POS) marketing within stores plays a prominent
role. Consumer dump 3/4Th of their purchases in trash and only 10%
of it is recycled, rest end up in the landfill.
Municipality in the United States
of America spends around $45 per ton of waste for landfills. Municipality in
New York alone spends $20.6 million annually to ship textiles to landfills and
incinerators. Thus Re-Fashion NYC began collaborating with the municipality and
residents towards redirecting 6.4 million pounds of clothes from landfill to
fund AIDS and homeless. (Alden Wicker, 2016)[23]
Globalisation has spread the
production assembly lines around the globe. Goods manufactured in eastern
countries are sold in the west, but there is certain and higher transportation
cost to be. A single ship transporting goods from one port to another it is
equivalent to 50 million cars. Effluents released by them are major cause for Asthama
and cancer. Ecowatch in their research state that, low grade bunker ship fuel
is 1000 times dirtier than highway diesel used by the trucks. Being an
unregulated industry, the practice still persist with no accountability.
(Veronika Michels, 2017)
Conclusion:
Through this essay I hope for the reader to understand the above cycle
in detail and promote the idea of recycling informing consumers that reusing
one pound of cotton prevents the emission of more than seven pounds of carbon
dioxide. That is equivalent to ones car driven for seven miles. The consumers
must re educate themselves and ask what maters – quality or quantity? “Consumers are reaching their limit.
While the pleasure of cheap fashion is neurologically very real, consumers are
equally experiencing the mental exhaustion from the accumulation of all of this
cheap clothing. .....We have a broken system and a consumer that is hungry for
change” [24]
The simplest
step we can take is to wear our clothes for longer. Extending the usage of a
cloth by three months will lead to 5-10% decrease in carbon , waste and water
footprint. Look after them, repair them, restyle and re- invent them, swap them
with friends and pass them on. Just increasing the lifespan of our clothes
reduces all of their environmental impacts; for greenhouse gases “doubling
the useful life of clothing from one year to two years reduces emissions over
the year by 24%.” [25]
Hence if continued this
business model would lead to scarcity of resources, so it becomes essential to
come up with a sustainable fashion system creating multiple transformation in
supply chain.
The millenial generation is
adopting conscious consumerism, moving away slowly from the social construct
and mass marketing. A 2015 study released by Nielsen says that 66% of global
respondents, aged 15-20, are willing to pay more for products and services from
socially and environmentally committed companies, a percentage which shows an
increase up from 55% in 2014 and 50% in 2013. The days of overconsumption are
slowly fading while conscious consumerism is taking its place.[26]
A change is being observed slowly among consumers as they have started to
realise that unlike banana peels,
you can’t compost old clothes, even if they're made of natural materials.
“Natural fibers go through a lot of unnatural processes on their way to
becoming clothing,” says Jason Kibbey, CEO of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. “They’ve been bleached, dyed, printed on,
scoured in chemical baths.” [27] Other alternatives like Waste
management is the concept which helps to save environment, to reduce the cost
and other monetary benefits to company and people in different way. It is the
basic need for any industry and local people to have pollution less
environment. It is like two way benefits of saving resources as well as
following government norms and regulation. Waste minimization is instrumental
in decreasing pollution load and to some extends production costs. [28] Revival
of traditonal practices like preferability of quality over quantity and reusing
and recycling of clothes by Indian household in exchange of steel utensils with
the Waghi community. These
innovative urban entrepreneurs providing affordable second-hand clothes to
India’s poor for decades, remain invisible and unaccounted for in India.[29]
[2]https://priscillaajacks.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/uniformity-is-not-natures-way-diversity-is-natures-way-vandana-shiva/
[7] http://www.uq.edu.au/sustainability/fast-fashion-quick-to-cause-environmental-havoc-143174
[10] World Apparel Fibre Consumption
Survey, 2013
[15] http://www.uq.edu.au/sustainability/fast-fashion-quick-to-cause-environmental-havoc-143174
[17] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2015/12/03/making-climate-change-fashionable-the-garment-industry-takes-on-global-warming/#2823b86379e4
[18]
Prospect Journal, 2017 – Crisis in our closet – Veronika Michels
[21] Pietra Rivoli, a professor of economics at Georgetown University.
[23] The Department of Sanitation’s Re-FashioNYC program, for example, provides large collection
bins to buildings with 10 or more units. Housing Works (a New York–based
nonprofit that operates used-clothing stores to fund AIDS and homelessness
programs) receives the goods, paying Re-FashioNYC for each ton collected, which
in turn puts the money toward more bins. Since it launched in 2011, the program
has diverted 6.4 million pounds of textiles from landfills, and Housing Works
has opened up several new secondhand clothing sales locations.
[24] Maxine Bédat
(2016), Our love of cheap clothing has a hidden
cost – it’s time for a fashion revolution, 22nd April 2016, World
Economic Forum.
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