Defined as “all direct and indirect losses sustained by third persons or the general public as a result of unrestrained economic activities,” the social costs involved in the production of fast fashion include damages to the environment, human health, and human rights at each step along the production chain. The social costs associated with the global textile and garment industry are significant as well. The hazardous working conditions that attracted regulatory attention in the United States and European Union have not been eliminated, but merely shifted overseas. While industrial disasters such as the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire have led to improved occupational protections and work standards in the United States, the same cannot be said for LMICs. The global health costs associated with the production of cheap clothing are substantial. Approximately 85 % of the clothing Americans consume, nearly 3.8 billion pounds annually, is sent to landfills as solid waste, amounting to nearly 80 pounds per American per year. The majority of these products are assembled in China and Bangladesh while the United States consumes more clothing and textiles than any other nation in the world. Globally, 80 billion pieces of new clothing are purchased each year, translating to $1.2 trillion annually for the global fashion industry. Increased consumption drives the production of inexpensive clothing, and prices are kept down by outsourcing production to low and middle-income countries (LMICs). With the rise of globalization and growth of a global economy, supply chains have become international, shifting the growth of fibers, the manufacturing of textiles, and the construction of garments to areas with cheaper labor. The word “fast” describes how quickly retailers can move designs from the catwalk to stores, keeping pace with constant demand for more and different styles. We discuss the role of industry, policymakers, consumers, and scientists in promoting sustainable production and ethical consumption in an equitable manner.įast fashion is a term used to describe the readily available, inexpensively made fashion of today. These LMICs often lack the supports and resources necessary to develop and enforce environmental and occupational safeguards to protect human health. This is particularly applicable to low and middle-income countries (LMICs) as much of this waste ends up in second-hand clothing markets. Furthermore, increased consumption patterns have also created millions of tons of textile waste in landfills and unregulated settings. While fast fashion offers consumers an opportunity to buy more clothes for less, those who work in or live near textile manufacturing facilities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental health hazards. In this paper, we posit that negative externalities at each step of the fast fashion supply chain have created a global environmental justice dilemma. From the growth of water-intensive cotton, to the release of untreated dyes into local water sources, to worker’s low wages and poor working conditions the environmental and social costs involved in textile manufacturing are widespread. While this transition is sometimes heralded as the “democratization” of fashion in which the latest styles are available to all classes of consumers, the human and environmental health risks associated with inexpensive clothing are hidden throughout the lifecycle of each garment.
By selling large quantities of clothing at cheap prices, fast fashion has emerged as a dominant business model, causing garment consumption to skyrocket. Fast fashion, inexpensive and widely available of-the-moment garments, has changed the way people buy and dispose of clothing.
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