Who's truly paying for our Fashion choices?

This topic is very close to our hearts and a major driver for sisterhood.pk. Through this article we hope to share some concrete facts with you on how little changes in our decisions can have magnificent impact. 

Fast Fashion, is a phenomena where clothing brands have developed new distribution strategies, enabling them to bring new fashion trends into their retail outlets every couple of week. In simpler words, brands can now offer more variety, in affordable prices in the quickest time ever. Clothing outlets update their new stock much more often than they did before. Sounds like a dream,no? quick updates, new options to choose from and in most competitive prices ever! 

Clothes have become cheaper with fast changing trends, thus clothes are discarded 4 times more than 20 years ago. Consumers have more clothes than they can manage and they keep buying more to stay updated with the latest trends. The fashion consumption between 2000 and 2014 has increased by 60%. According to a study, an average person has 26 items in their closet never worn. We keep buying, and quickly get bored of the old clothes in our closets. After a point we either throw them away or donate them and then we go and purchase more. But unfortunately, nothing good comes for free in this life. We have quick, affordable, and cheap fashion but there is a huge cost being paid that we don't see. 

While we cherish our new dresses, Earth and people in other parts of the world are greatly suffering. This is something most of us don't even think about because we can't see the consequences in front of our eyes, or even worse; we choose to close our eyes to the harm our choices are incurring. Now let's dig into few facts as to HOW we are damaging the world:

Planet;

Fashion is the SECOND largest largest polluter of the planet:

• Countries where garments are manufactured, untreated toxic wastewater from textiles factories are dumped directly into the rivers.Wastewater contains toxic substances such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, a. These are extremely harmful for the aquatic life and the health of the millions people living by those rivers banks. These river banks lead into a sea, spreading around the glob. 90% of the total wastewater is dumped without treatment

• 1.5 trillion litres of water is used by fashion Industry each year. Production of one jeans consumes water supply equivalent to 6.5 years worth of water for an average person and one cotton T-shirt, worth up to 2 years worth of water supply for an average person. To remember, 750 Million people do not have access to drinking water in the world

• Every time we wash a synthetic garment (polyester,nylon, etc), about 1,900 individual microfibers are released into the water, making their way into our oceans. Scientists have discovered that small aquatic organisms ingest those microfibers. These are then eaten by small fish which are later eaten by bigger fish, introducing plastic in our food chains

• As clothes become cheap, they become easily disposable. Only 15% of the discarded clothes are recycled or donated, the remaining 85% end up in landfill. Where synthetic fibers take up to 200 years to discompose, emitting harmful gases all along. 

• Massive use of chemicals in the manufacturing process,  is causing diseases and premature death among cotton farmers along with soil degradation. This means that our soil is becoming more and more infertile which puts at risk our future food supply and absorption of CO2

People;

In 2013, a building 'Rana Plaza' in Bangladesh collapsed causing death of 1,134 factory workers, leaving 2500 as seriously injured. What really caused this collapse? the greed for profits and pursue of fast fashion. 

On April 23rd, 2013, attention was drawn to cracks in Rana Plaza, causing evacuation, closure and a warning to avoid the building. Due to the tight deadlines (thanks to fast fashion) and large orders piled up, the owner of the plaza could not afford to shut down the factory. If these manufacturers don't meet the deadlines, clothing companies refuse to accept or accept at half the price which means that factory owners have to pay from their own pockets. Thus, the pressure couple with greed compelled him to ignore the warnings. This resulted in building collapsing. At the time of the collapse, workers were working on clothes for brands like Zara, H&M,  Monsoon, Accessorize, Mango, Matalan, and primark. Rana Plaza was just an eye opener. 

Most of the clothing brands shift their manufacturing to third world countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Indonesia etc where environmental and labor regulations are lax. Most of the workers in the garment industry work in hazardous conditions for below minimum wage. To keep prices competitive and quick delivery, these workers are pushed to over time, working up to 12 hours. There have been multiple incidents for fire and building collapses where people have lost their lives, trying to full fill the greed of these corporations and consumers; who require new designs. 

We have two options either to turn a blind eye or make small changes in our lives that can make this world a better place. Small changes in our purchasing behavior can save the planet for our future generations to come and plausibly save a life. 

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