The Fashion Footprint: How Trends are Shaping Our Planet

Fashion is one of those fast-paced industries where everything you see trending today will be out of style tomorrow. But what about the carbon footprint left behind? Fast fashion means manufacturing clothing in haste to capture current designs. Whether it's the newest Chanel handbag or a staple in Kim Kardashian’s wardrobe, the carbon emission costs us dearly.

From creation to arrival in  your closet, every single piece of clothing has a carbon backstory. Textiles are produced through various processes like spinning, weaving and dyeing on a large scale and hence, the energy requirement is huge as they are largely dependent on fossil fuel. Here, by soaking cloth in dyeing chemicals, they release toxic chemicals into water bodies that result in intense water pollution. The fashion industry has worldwide supply chains and destructive manufacturing practices which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, making it imperative to bring a change in consumer behaviour and business practices. From transporting garments across continents, to energy intensive production methods, make it impossible to determine what your clothes are made from. Fashion & its figures on climate change show a bleak future.

The carbon emissions of fast fashion are fueled by transporting raw materials and the finished products around to different ends of the world. Our energy demands have nearly doubled since 2000, with at least 80% of these needs in India being met by coal followed by oil and then biomass.

Synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon are possibly the most harmful features of fast fashion. This is a widely favoured type of material because it is comparatively cheaper, adaptable, and resilient. Nylon and Polyester are plastics made from fossil fuels, crude oil or natural gas extracted from the earth. This causes carbon dioxide to be released in a high amount in the atmosphere. Unlike natural fibers, synthetic fabrics such as polyester do not decompose once thrown away and can remain in the environment for hundreds of years. A report by organizations including Changing Markets highlighted that as well as being a major contributor to oil consumption around the world, fashion leads to extreme levels of environmental degradation everywhere from extraction through manufacture down to disposal. In many developing countries, factories and manufacturing plants often affect the most vulnerable communities the most. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution causes around 7 million premature deaths annually. Fast fashion doesn't just pollute the air but defiles the very earth that we stand on. Scientists have even identified microfibres everywhere, even in the Atlantic Ocean. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, pH levels of seawater increased to 30% due to absorption of CO2. The drop in pH is increasingly affecting marine life that rely on calcium carbonate shells and skeletons, such as coral reefs and shellfish. It destroys the whole ecosystem and leads to loss in biodiversity in land as well as water. Change is necessary and it needs to happen quickly.

In the name of sustainability, brands often glorify green efforts that are not even close to reality. But are these initiatives truly transformative, or are they mere greenwashing?  In most cases, clothing labelled as “green” and recycled”, is notoriously not what it seems. The reality is that hardly any of this material actually gets recycled. That is an unsustainable lie we tell consumers, making them believe they are doing the more responsible thing while all clothes happily find their way back into a landfill. It is time to examine our fashion choices and demand more transparency from brands and labels. Ultimately, the industry is focused on making a profit. For any initiative falsely labelled as "sustainable" or "green," there is usually a hidden profit involved. It can certainly be quite arduous for us to differentiate between genuine sustainability efforts and mere marketing tactics. However, being aware of the environmental and social consequences of clothing purchases can push consumers to make more responsible choices. Every time we buy something, we have the chance to support practices that prioritize the environment rather than financial gain for these big corporations. 

In recent years, a change towards sustainability in fashion is gaining steam. Advances in sustainable and low-impact materials like organic cotton as well as recycled fibres move growing alternatives to petroleum-based fabrics. The durability and recycling encouraged by the circular fashion models can limit the environmental harm done by the fashion industry. So, not just new ways of production but also the sort of proposals that challenge consumers to question their consumption tendencies. Consumers are the key to driving change as we have a choice on what companies and products to use. We can help redefine style without harming the planet by supporting brands that put a premium on sustainability. Together, we can reshape the future of fashion into one that's not only fashionable but also mindful of its environmental footprint.