The wasteful and disastrous effects of fast fashion and overconsumption.
Overconsumption
Over the last few years, we as a society have been consuming more and more things, so much so that we have warmed up the world. Some of the most over consumed items are clothing items.
In recent years, new ‘fast fashion’ brands, such as Shein, Zara and Primark to name a few, have popped up to supply cheap, disposable clothes for the masses. These brands make a ton of collections in order to sell as much clothing as possible for a profit.
This is an attractive business model. Cheaper clothes means that more people are more likely to buy more of them, and fast fashion boutiques offset their low profit margin by encouraging their customers to buy more.
Environmental impact
Impact within Chile
Within the Chilean desert, big clothing companies, such as Columbia and Adidas, have been known to dump clothes they either can’t sell or have written off. These go on to either be burned or left there to decay, which destroys the environment.
In terms of numbers, 39,000 to 59,000 tons of clothes are dumped in the Atacama Desert in Chile annually. Furthermore, even if the clothes are not burned, they take a long time to decay, which means they can be left there for hundreds of years.
Impact on health
- Serious Health Impact on Residents: The smoke originating from the burning clothes has significantly affected the health of local residents.
- Production of Carbon Monoxide (CO): A dangerous byproduct of the incomplete combustion of clothing materials. This is a colorless, odorless gas, making it undetectable without specialized equipment.
- High Toxicity and Harm: In high concentrations, carbon monoxide is extremely harmful to humans and animals.
Solutions
The first solution that could be implemented is that people could try buying second-hand goods that are still in good condition on sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or ThredUp.
Resource and Waste Reduction: By facilitating the sale of existing items, the practice lessens the need to buy entirely new clothes, conserving the resources (water, energy, raw materials) used in new textile production.
Economic Incentive for Brands: The method allows fast fashion brands to offload their unsold merchandise to discount stores, converting potential losses into revenue.
- Brands make money from the sale to the discount retailer.
- This mitigates the need to dump clothes in the first place, as they gain an economic benefit from the transfer.
Environmental Preservation: This strategy would significantly reduce pollution by preventing vast quantities of clothing from being dumped in landfills or sensitive ecosystems, such as the Chilean desert.
- It mitigates air pollution caused by the burning of discarded garments.
- It prevents water and land pollution that results from clothes decomposing or just sitting idle in massive dumps.
Unless it’s clothes like undergarments, which you should never buy secondhand, it should be safe to buy.
However…
I still see detractors claiming that they do not want to buy second-hand, or that the clothes might be contaminated. I had these fears as well.
Solution for detractors
There are other stores that have overstock items available. For example, Amazon itself has some locations where they sell returns for a lower price. It’s easy to find good pieces of clothing among the returns. There are also places like Ross that take pieces of clothing that other stores can’t sell.
With these stores and the ways to buy second-hand clothing, I believe that we can solve this problem.
Get involved
- Help this cause out by not buying too many new sets of clothes every year.
- Try to buy used clothes as well, especially if they are still good looking and still have value.
- Try to also donate your unwanted clothes as well instead of throwing them away. People might see the value of wearing it.