Fast Fashion, Fast Crisis
As the Africa Climate Summit 2023 concluded after much anticipation, it's crucial to spotlight a less-discussed facet of sustainability and global climate concerns: the fashion industry, with a particular focus on fast fashion.
But what is fast fashion? To put it simply, fast fashion is a design, manufacturing, and marketing method focused on rapidly producing high volumes of clothing that leverage replicating trends using low-quality materials to bring inexpensive styles to consumers. Fast fashion is ‘fast’ in a number of ways: the changes in fashion are often fast, the rate of production is fast; the customer’s decision to purchase is fast; delivery is fast; and garments are worn fast – usually only a few times before being discarded.
Did you know that globally, the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions? 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere every year only through textile production. Furthermore, it's essential to factor in the significant water wastage associated with the fashion industry, which contributes to approximately 20% of total water waste. This becomes more urgent in the wake of a looming water crisis.
The fast fashion industry has never been faster, and consumption has never been higher. In recent years, the fast fashion industry has seen an unprecedented boom with a 60% increase in clothes purchases, and in contrast, the time period of wearing these clothes has become half as long as it used to be. Not only has the manufacturing of fashion been detrimental to the environment, but the process of disposing of these ‘fast fashion’ items after use has presented a new dilemma. Fast fashion tends to be of poor quality and made of synthetic fibers and therefore it becomes impossible to recycle them or introduce them into the second-hand market, instead, they are dumped in deserts or burnt, releasing toxins into the air, ground, and water, causing harm, not only to the environment, but also to local communities. Research has estimated that every single second, a truckload of abandoned textiles is dumped into a landfill or burnt away. Yes, you read that right.
To combat these issues, there have been notable efforts by entities worldwide. Some organizations are trying to develop fashion manufacturing materials that are not harmful to the environment, such as environmentally friendly dyes, or organic textiles, while others have focused their efforts on second-hand and thrifting approaches to fashion.
At Maisha our approach to this problem has been upcycling - our sustainable Kenya fashion brand is centered around reusing old pieces of clothing or fabric that have been discarded, are tattered or worn out, and giving them a brand new life so they can be worn once more. Through upcycling, we want to inspire an alternative to the linear way of treating unused materials by demonstrating how old pieces of clothing or fabric can be creatively reused to make high-end fashion pieces; we know that through our work, we can make even a small contribution to saving our earth.
While we and some notable organizations are working towards more sustainable fashion in Kenya, there is still a long way to go. As a global community, we need to come together and work towards environmentally-conscious practices where fashion is not a burden on the environment, but rather an ethical art to be cherished. Perhaps it’s time to enter the era of slow fashion, what do you say?
