Your Clothes are Ruining The Planet!
We have all heard the saying “reduce, reuse, recycle” when referring to things like aluminum cans, cardboard boxes, and single-use plastics. Our clothing isn’t something that is usually mentioned when discussing the things that affect the planet. We tend to see clothes as aesthetic items, picking out new outfits for everyday and special occasions. The runway fashion industry is one of the biggest all over the world, people travel far and wide to model and critique new ensembles by famous and wealthy designers. The big thing though, these fashion designers don’t care about where these pieces end up after they’re no longer wanted. Dresses, jackets, accessories, shoes, leather handbags, and much more are sold and bought for up to millions of dollars. Not only will these items leave a dent in your wallet, but the pieces that end up in the landfill will also have environmental costs as well.
In an article by Morgan McFall-Johnsen from Business Insider titled “The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined…”, it’s stated that “The fashion industry produces 10% of all humanity's carbon emissions, is the second-largest consumer of the world's water supply, and pollutes the oceans with microplastics.” This fact alone is rather jarring and puts into perspective how much the fashion industry actually affects the world we live in. The rest of Morgan’s article is available here.
As I’ve said before, it’s often overlooked where our clothes really come from and where they go when we are done with them. More than likely, if you’re buying clothing from a website like Shein or Forever 21, your new crop top was made overseas in a factory where workers are not being paid a liveable wage or being treated fairly.
In “37 Shocking Sweatshop Statistics” by Brandon Gaille, who blogs about small business and marketing advice, he states that a sweatshop in simple terms is ‘a factory that violates two or more labor laws.’ Even though this is the definition, the reality of sweatshops is that they violate human rights, and the workers are struggling to survive. Brandon Gaille goes on to give the statistics promised in the title, but I found that some of the most shocking is:
1. “An estimated 250 million children ages 5 to 14 are
forced to work in sweatshops in developing countries.”
2. “The people who are forced to work in sweatshops must usually spend the majority of their paycheck on food in order for their household to survive.”
3. “Women sewing NBA jerseys make 24 cents per garment – an item that will eventually sell for $140 or more.”
There are 34 more statistics listed in Gaille’s blog, some of them mentioning that the majority of the people working in sweatshops are women and children making less than the price of your Starbucks Venti Caramel Frappe per day. You can read the rest of his blog here.
Taking these two reasons into account every time I go online or to the mall to shop for clothes has helped me stop buying things just because they are trendy right now or on sale. Yes, that pink and green sweater you saw your favorite influencer wearing is cute today, but how are you going to feel about it in a few years? Will the sweater even last that long or fall apart first? Is it really worth my money? Is fast fashion really worth it?














