In December, I submitted my Extended Project Qualification, a project I participated in alongside my A-Levels which is designed to teach students how to research effectively and write in an academic way, as well as develop their passions. I titled my project ‘To what extent can the fashion industry ever be considered sustainable in the face of modern-day consumerism and the climate crisis?’ and have been developing it since September 2024. Initially, I intended to make a garment showcasing what I’d learnt (you can either write an essay or make a final artefact), because in my spare time I love knitting and sewing. But midway through the project I decided to write an essay instead as I thought it would be easier to manage my time this way. There are an extensive number of environmental and ethical concerns with fast fashion, and I soon realised that if I didn’t break it down into several clear areas I could spend the rest of my life researching it. Therefore, when writing my essay I focused on three key issues: fashion’s water footprint, its material production and its addiction to waste and overproduction. In today’s piece, I thought it would be interesting if I shared with you what I discovered about fashion’s dirty secrets because I think they aren’t widely known or discussed.
When researching fashion’s water footprint, I came across two main problems, the first being the industry’s overconsumption of water. Fast fashion uses approximately 3.2 per cent of the earth’s annual water supply, a shocking statistic when you consider how many different sectors there are, and one pair of jeans uses an average of 920 gallons of water to produce, roughly the equivalent of running a garden hose for 106 minutes. The second crucial problem is the detrimental effect the fashion industry is having on our water systems. Take the example of the Li River in China, where flame retardants used in fashion production have been traced and are so potent that they can change the sex of a fish. In Lesotho, South-East Africa, rivers have been dyed neon blue because of pollution from local tanneries and ‘cancer villages’ have formed near rivers that are reliant on contaminated water. Two thirds of the water pollution in Bangladesh is thought to be because of the fashion industry’s presence there and in Dhaka, the capital city, river pollution is so severe that you can set part of the river alight during the dry season.
I also researched ways the fashion industry is addressing their water footprint as the intention of my project was to assess any sustainable progress the fashion industry is making. The Spanish company Jeanologia has found an innovative way to reduce its water consumption by using laser lights and an air blast when making their denim jeans and also have adopted a project called Life Ahindra to establish a circular water system in their factories. In a scheme similar to Life Ahindra, the Italian company PureDenim has started using excess steam from their machinery to power their factory. Also, they have begun to use the exoskeleton of shellfish to bind dyes to their water, reducing their wastewater and chemical usage by 80%. Although I came across many positive examples of individual fashion companies addressing their water footprint, unfortunately the fashion industry on a larger scale appears to be doing a minimal amount to resolve this pressing issue.
The second key focus of my project was on the overproduction and wastefulness of the fast fashion industry. Annually, approximately 80 billion items of clothing are made and in the United States alone, 34 billion tonnes of textile waste is discarded each year. Roughly 66 per cent of this is sent to America’s notorious landfills where only 15 per cent is ‘recycled’. In reality, half of what is described as recycled is exported to countries such as Ghana. In Ghana, clothes are attempted to be sold at the sprawling Kantamanto Market, the world’s largest used clothing market though around 40 per cent of what is sent there is deemed unsellable so is dumped on nearby beaches, having a catastrophic effect on marine biodiversity. The UK is the biggest exporter of used clothing to Ghana and Marks & Spencer is the brand most commonly found littered across Ghana’s beaches.
However, I came across more tangible solutions compared to what I found regarding the industry’s water footprint. Shopping second hand has become increasingly popular, which is something that me and many of my friends do because it is more beneficial for the environment (an added bonus is you often find trendy one-of-a-kind vintage pieces). In Los Angeles, the community project Radical Clothes Swap hosts events where attendants bring along their unwanted clothing to swap with other participants, with hundreds of people attending each event. Renting clothes rather than buying something to wear to a one-off occasion has also become more popular in recent years, with Hire the Attire, based in South Wales, being an example of a successful clothing rental. If renting replaced ten per cent of annual purchases, it would save 160 tonnes of carbon dioxide in the UK alone. Perhaps the most obvious consumer driven solution is to buy less: buying a maximum of eight new items of clothing per year could reduce the fashion industry’s carbon footprint by 37 per cent. Although there is definite progress and increased awareness regarding the overproduction and wastefulness of the fashion industry, there is still minimal systematic action to address the problem.
The final issue I considered was the fast fashion industry’s usage of materials. I discovered that animal products are particularly unsustainable, especially leather, fur and wool. Annually, 1.5 billion animals are skinned for leather. Making leather is an extremely problematic process aside from animal welfare concerns because large quantities of feed, water, land and chemicals are used to raise livestock. Animals on fur farms tend to be killed in inhumane ways and approximately 300 chinchillas, 50 mink or 15-40 foxes are used to make one fur coat, illustrating just how bloodthirsty the fast fashion industry is. Wool is often perceived as a natural and sustainable material, but in reality, it is problematic-during its production process: enteric fermentation is used, which releases methane, a potent fossil fuel accounting for a third of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, wool is scoured to remove grease and bacteria which produces lots of polluting effluent. Like wool, cotton is often perceived as an environmentally friendly material even though it is incredibly fertiliser- and water-intensive, with one cotton T-shirt requiring approximately 2700 litres of water to produce. Synthetic materials like nylon, polyester and acrylic also have detrimental effects on our planet, partially because they take thousands of years to biodegrade. Annually, 70 billion barrels of oil are used to produce polyester fabric and washing clothes containing polyester releases 500,000 tons of microfibres into the ocean each year. Given most mainstream material isn’t truly sustainable, we can make a difference by mending the clothing we do own at initiatives like repair cafes, and buying secondhand clothing to reduce our consumption.
When researching this area of fashion, I did find more positive progress within the materials sector compared to my other two focuses. In recent years, leather has been made with innovative alternatives to cow hide, ranging widely from fish skin to cactus fibre. Leather can also be grown in a lab, lessening the demand for food, water and land. Historically, the quality of polyester has degraded when it is recycled, though in recent years Cycora has been seen as a solution to this. Cycora is made from post-consumer and post-industrial waste and is processed using resin and non-toxic chemicals making it a more durable alternative to traditional polyester. Recently, small businesses that use sustainable materials have enjoyed support from large brands, such as Dart and Grey, based in Dawlish, which has worked in partnership with Princess Yachts. There is also widespread international collaboration within the materials sector-one fifth of the planet’s cotton is now produced under the Better Cotton scheme, the world’s largest sustainable cotton initiative. Under this scheme, over 75,000 Pakistani cotton farmers have reduced their water and chemical usage by almost half.
When writing the conclusion to my project, I evaluated that the fashion industry desperately needs to make significant progress regarding its environmental footprint in the midst of the climate crisis, the 6th mass extinction. Although there has been some progress, particularly within the materials sector, ultimately many of these solutions need to be scaled up to have a meaningful effect. However, I also discovered that individuals can make a difference by buying less, shopping second hand and repairing their clothes instead of discarding them. Even though I was previously aware of the broader environmental concerns with the fast fashion industry, conducting this project reminded me why I don’t support fast fashion, even though I am a teenager who loves cultivating an individual style. This year I hope to continue shopping secondhand, as well as knitting and sewing my own clothes as I find it a therapeutic hobby that distracts me from politics and environmental issues!
I hope you found this an interesting and informative read, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the issue! Feel free to send me an email (my address is mayrosepuckey@gmail.com) or contact me on Instagram or Substack (@maypuckey).
