Coming in at $2.5 trillion, it is no surprise that fashion is one of the largest industries in the world. Because it makes so much money and plays an integral part in our daily lives, many of us find ourselves wondering what goes on behind the scenes, whether or not the production of the clothes we wear on a daily basis is sustainable or ethical. The short answer is no, it still has a lot of improving to do, as the fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, coming in just after the oil industry. It produces 10% of global carbon emissions, a whopping 20% of global wastewater, and it also facilitates biodiversity loss. 87% of the fibers used for clothing will end up incinerated or in landfills, and over 60% of clothes are made from non-decomposable plastics. These statistics help both consumers and brands draw attention to the massive environmental footprint of the industry, and now more than ever, consumers are demanding change and working towards greater sustainability in fashion in the future.
WATER POLLUTION
In most of the countries where clothes are produced, wastewater from textiles factories are dumped directly into bodies of water.
Fabric dyes pollute bodies of water, which harms both aquatic life and humans, as it contaminates the quality of drinking water.
The agricultural runoff from cotton fields cause algae to form and choke rivers.
WATER USAGE
Dyeing fabric can take up to 200 tons of fresh water per ton of dyed fabric.
The world uses 5 trillion liters (1.3 trillion gallons) of water each year for dyeing fabric alone, enough to fill 2 million Olympic swimming pools!
It takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt, enough water for one person to drink for 2.5 years!
Up to 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce only 1 kg of water.
WASTE ACCUMULATION
Average consumer bought 60% more clothing in 2014 than 2000, but kept it half as long.
Synthetic fibers, such as polyester, are used in 72% of our clothing and are non-biodegradable and can take up to 200 years to decompose.
1 in 2 people throw their unwanted clothes in the trash. Consequently, 64% of the 32 billion garments produced each year end up in landfills! That's almost 21 billion garments!
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
Research by scientists at the Chalmers Institute of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden found that the production of an average cotton T-shirt releases just over 2 kg of carbon dioxide into the environment while the production of a polyester dress would release almost 17 kg of carbon dioxide into the environment!
In 2015, polyester production of textiles released about 706 billion kg (1.5 trillion pounds) of greenhouse gases, the equivalent of the annual emissions of 185 coal-fueled power plants!
THE FUTURE OF FASHION
All these stats may sound pretty devastating, but the sustainable fashion industry is growing rapidly. Some studies predict that it will reach $9.81 billion by 2025 and $15.17 billion by 2030! Furthermore, more and more clothing brands have started to take into account environmental concerns in their business strategy. However, the population is rapidly growing, and some businesses still plan on using the traditional, waste-heavy models, which could potentially worsen the problem. Another action taken by companies is to not only improve efficiency to sustainably meet demand, but also to produce less stuff. For example, Patagonia has a Worn Wear program that sells fixed used clothing rather than new clothing. Programs such as these can drastically reduce a company's environmental footprint as it takes a lot of resources to produce just one garment. Although we still have a long way to go, more and more companies have started to adopt more environmentally-friendly business models which we will soon see the impact of.
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