In today's fast-paced world, the fashion industry needs to take a look at its environmental footprint. With an astonishing 100 billion items of clothing produced annually, a significant portion goes unsold, leading to waste that impacts our planet.
Learn more about the hidden costs of fast fashion - from excessive land use to water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions - these are alarming.
Discover how choosing eco-friendly quality fashion can make an environmental impact, and learn how making informed choices can significantly reduce our footprint.
First let's get into the 7 surprising facts of fast fashion!
Fashion over Food:
At its current rate, the fashion industry is projected to use 35 percent more land to grow fibres by 2030. That’s an extra 115 million hectares of land that could otherwise be used to grow food, or left to protect biodiversity.
Fashion Bulimia:
Guess what? Of the more than 100 billion items of clothing produced each year, 20 percent go unsold - that means the leftovers are usually buried, shredded, or incinerated. Moreover, in the last twenty years, the volume of clothes Americans throw away has doubled - from 7 million tonnes to 14 million tonnes which equals 80 pounds per person per year. Today, we keep our clothes for half as long as we did in the 2010’s.
Pollution Powerhouse:
Fast fashion's dirty secret? According to The World Bank, Fast Fashion is responsible for nearly 20 percent of ALL industrial water pollution annually. It releases 10 percent of the carbon emissions in our air; 1 kilogram of cloth generates 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases.
Plastic Parade:
Plastic, plastic everywhere! A whopping 60% of fast fashion is made from plastic-based materials. Not only does it add to CO₂ pollution, but these clothes also shed microplastics with every wash, adding to our ocean's plastic soup. In fact, in 2017 Greenpeace found microfibers from synthetic fabrics in the waters of Antarctica!
CO₂E Impact:
Textile production produces an estimated 1.2 billion tonnes of CO₂E (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent) per year, which is more than international flights and maritime shipping combined!
Thirsty Threads:
The fashion industry gulps down 93 billion cubic meters of water annually. Making a single pair of jeans slurps up 2,000 gallons! It's not just the quantity; it's the quality too, with toxic chemicals turning waterways into fashion faux pas.
No Planet B, or C:
By 2050, the equivalent of almost three earths could be required to provide the natural resources it would take to sustain our current lifestyles.
How Is Yamogu Combatting the Effects of Fast Fashion?
Yamogu uses recycled polyester and organic cotton in our pieces to help support slow fashion and create better fashion for you and the environment. Here is information on the benefits of recycled polyester and organic cotton.
How is Recycled Polyester Made
Recycled polyester, is made from plastic bottles, and undergoes a multifaceted transformation process that offers environmental benefits distinct from 100% polyester. Here is a quick outline of how recycled polyester is made.
Creation Process:
Collection: Gathering of PET bottles and other suitable polyester products.
Sorting and Cleaning: Separation based on color and type, followed by cleansing to remove impurities.
Shredding: Cutting or grinding the clean plastic into small flakes.
Depolymerization: Breaking down flakes into their basic monomers or polymers through chemical or mechanical processes.
Repolymerization: Reforming monomers into polyester fibers through a controlled polymerization process.
Extrusion: Melting and extruding the polyester into fibers, which are then spun into yarn.
Textile Production: Weaving or knitting the yarn into fabrics for various uses.
The Environmental Benefits of Using Recycled Polyester
- Waste Reduction: Converts potential waste into valuable resources, reducing landfill usage.
- Resource Conservation: Diminishes the demand for virgin petroleum as a raw material, conserving non-renewable resources.
- Energy Efficiency: Generally requires less energy to produce than virgin polyester, contributing to lower carbon emissions.
- Pollution Mitigation: Helps in reducing the pollution associated with plastic waste, especially in oceans and waterways.
- Sustainability: Promotes a circular economy model, extending the lifecycle of materials and reducing the environmental footprint of textile production.
The Environmental Benefits of Organic Cotton
The difference in environmental impact of regular cotton (ie GMO) and organic cotton is quite shocking and may surprise you. Regular cotton is known as one of the worst materials for water waste, whereas rganic cotton uses far less water.
Organic Cotton Helps The Environment
Here are the four benefits of why Organic cotton helps the environment and why you should choose Organic cotton over regular content.
- Pesticide Free: Organic cotton uses special soils that are resilient and do not require pesticides. When pesticides are needed they use Organic healthy methods like vinegar, neem oil, garlic, and hydrogen peroxide.
- Less Water: Using less “blue water” means Organic cotton uses grey water and recycled water
- Diversity: Organic seeds are developed and have variation in different regions diversifying the seeds available. GMO production only uses one type of seed. If the seed cannot thrive, impact would be disastrous.
- Fair Trade: Organic cotton supports and goes directly to more small farmers supporting small family businesses.
Fashion doesn't have to be bad for the environment. Want to learn how you can remedy the situation and start decreasing fast fashion? Sign up for our mail list or follow our Instagram account: @yamogu.apparel to see the next blog in our series that discusses the ways you can support better fashion environmental impact.