English for Academic Purposes, Research, And Study Skills Assignment Sample

Introduction - English for Academic Purposes, Research, And Study Skills Assignment

Fast fashion trends are genres which have revolutionized the global apparel market in the recent past with stylish and cheap clothes especially targeting young people. Gems like Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 have altered shopping completely because customers can get fashionable clothes at dirt-cheap prices. However, this type of business model is not sustainable because it focuses on speed and cost at the expense of the environment. Doubling advertisers’ spending every 4-6 months, fast fashion goods are cheap and trendy, made for limited use. Although it caters for consumer needs by providing affordable clothing, it encourages wastage and negatively impacts the environment.

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Water Pollution

Water pollution is one of the significant negative effects of fast fashion on the environment. Clothing manufacturing, washing and especially dyeing and finishing stages require the use of many chemicals which are in many cases disposed of in water sources nearby. A report by Quantis International in 2018 estimates that dyeing and finishing contribute to 36% of the pollution footprint in the fashion industry (Maiti, 2024). Many factories directly discharge raw industrial wastes into rivers and lakes, especially in developing countries where strict environmental control measures are not implemented (Plastic Pollution, 2024). It is a group of hazardous chemical compounds including heavy metals, lead, mercury, and synthetic dyes that have very detrimental effects on water bodies and affect the health of communities around these water bodies. For example, in Bangladesh and China, rivers have been captured running all sorts of bright unnatural colors from textile factories and the water is considered unsafe for human consumption.

Besides polluting the water sources directly the famous fashion industry is also a great user of water (Bandera, 2024). Wool, an important fabric utilized in producing many apparel for fast fashion, requires much water in its production. Tshyaane reports for the World Wildlife Fund, that it requires about 2,700 litres of water to grow the cotton needed to make one T-shirt. Current excessive water use is a problem, putting dirt on freshwater reserves, especially in areas that experience water scarcity, which worsens the situation (Maiti, 2024). A single laundry load of polyester clothes can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibres that can end up in the food chain (European Parliament, 2020).

The level of water pollution due to fast fashion brings urgency to the call for improvement in sustainable fashion practices. Solutions like applying waterless dyeing processes and increased regulatory limitations to wastewater emissions could help the industry lessen the damage it does to water resources (Stallard, 2022). In addition, consumers will start becoming aware of these lapses, therefore increasing demand for clothes that are made from organic cotton or clothes that are produced sustainably.

Textile Waste

The fast fashion industry also plays an important role in increasing the level of textile waste in the world. Since it is cheap and fashionable items are sold quickly, consumers are prompted to throw away their old clothes and replace them with new ones and this results in a large pile-up of textile waste. Textiles are considered to be one of the largest sources of waste, and a shocking 11 million tons of textiles are disposed of in the United States every year, the major portion of which is dumped into landfills (United Nations Environment Programme, 2022). The garments of fast fashion are sourced cheaply with low-quality fabrics which break easily leading to customers not wearing them in the long term.

The micro studs with polyester and nylon fabrics which are widely embraced in fast fashion also worsen the situation (Changingmarkets, 2024). First, these materials are themselves derived from petroleum and second, they release microplastics every time they are washed. These microplastics cumulatively find their way into the water system impacting oceans with negative effects on aquatic life. UN Environment Programme’s key partner, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, estimates that a new truckload of textiles ends up in landfills or incinerators every second owing to the fashion industry (United Nations Environment Programme, 2022).

The supply of clothes that fills the garbage dumps also speaks of overproduction The continuing piles of old clothes are an illustration of the larger problem of consumerism. Different sources indicate that consumers purchase 60% more clothing today than they did two decades ago, but they use the acquired garments for half as long (Bandera, 2024). This trend is unsustainable and exponentially and tremendously increases the burden on waste management systems globally.

To address the escalating problem of textile waste more sustainable solutions are called for. These include increasing the collection and sorting of recyclable materials, promoting consumers to make purchases of long-lasting and quality clothes, and patronizing companies that take environmentally friendly measures in the course of manufacturing their apparel (Rukhaya et al., 2021). However, the extended use of a circular fashion model, where fabrics are recycled and reused, would go a long way in minimizing the fashion waste created and could form the basis of the enhanced fashion future.

Resource Depletion

Fast fashion hence acts as one of the leading contributors to resource depletion and exerts an almost unbearable pressure on both renewable as well as non-renewable resources. Textile particularly fabrics, cotton and synthetic ones uses a lot of water, energy, and other resources in the production process. Cotton, a widespread material future in the fashion industry, is one of the most thirsty fabrics in terms of water consumption. At present it would require 20000 litres of water for the production of one kilo of cotton, or about the quantity used to make a single jeans (FLUENCE NEWS TEAM, 2018). This demand for water puts a lot of pressure on water-deficit areas and more so in countries that Cultivate cotton such as India and Pakistan.

However, apart from water, the other major resource that the fast fashion industry depends on is fossil fuels, primarily when it comes to the manufacturing of synthetic fabrics including polyester, nylon and acrylic (Nature, 2022). These are materials derived from petroleum and their production draws heavily on resources and throws up greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Production of fibre in the international market increased to approximately 116 million tonnes in 2022 from 58 million tonnes in 2000 and is foreseen to reach 147 million tonnes in 2030 (Geneva Environment Network, 2024).

The extraction of these resources is not only effective in increasing the rate of environmental depletion but also in Climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) anticipated that emissions from textile manufacturing will rise by Approximately 60% by the year 2030 if businesses persist with conventional tactics largely attributed to the fast fashion industry energized by energy-intensive production procedures. In addition, synthetic fabrics are not biodegradable and therefore take several hundreds of years to decompose within the environment, all the while draining more life out of nature.

Conclusion

Fast fashion is a general phenomenon affecting almost every aspect of life; environmental degradation, water pollution, generation of abnormal amounts of textile waste and depletion of resources. Such consequences are a result of the features of the industry, including high speed of production, low price range, and products that are designed for seasonal use. The contamination of water sources, the buildup of non-recyclable textile waste in the dumping sites, and the scarcity of water and exhaustion of oil stocks are some of the reasons that call for change in the clothing business. Therefore, it should be seen that now both the brands in the fashion industry and the consumers of the product should adopt sustainable practices. Furthermore, fashion companies should ensure that they use environmentally friendly fabrics, integrate energy-saving products and come up with a circular economy dealing with issues to do with recycling.

References

• Bandera, G. (2024). How the fashion industry pollutes our water. [online] FairPlanet. Available at: https://www.fairplanet.org/story/how-the-fashion-industry-pollutes-our-water/.
• Changingmarkets (2024). Faster fashion: growing use of polluting textiles revealed • Changing Markets. [online] Changing Markets. Available at: https://changingmarkets.org/press-releases/faster-fashion-growing-use-of-polluting-textiles-revealed-2/.
• European Parliament (2020). The impact of textile production and waste on the environment (infographics). [online] European Parliament. Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20201208STO93327/the-impact-of-textile-production-and-waste-on-the-environment-infographics.
• FLUENCE NEWS TEAM (2018). The Water Footprint of the Blue Jean. [online] Fluencecorp.com. Available at: https://www.fluencecorp.com/blue-jeans-water-footprint/.
• Geneva Environment Network (2024). Environmental Sustainability in the Fashion Industry. [online] Geneva Environment Network. Available at: https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/sustainable-fashion/.
• Maiti, R. (2024). Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact. [online] Earth.org. Available at: https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/.
• Nature (2022). How fast fashion can cut its staggering environmental impact. Nature, [online] 609(609). doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02914-2.
• Plastic Pollution (2024). How Fast Fashion is Bad for the Environment - The Plastic Collective. [online] Plastic Collective. Available at: https://www.plasticcollective.co/how-fast-fashion-is-bad-for-the-environment/.
• Rukhaya, S., Yadav, S., Grover, A., Rose, N. and Bisht, D. (2021). Sustainable approach to counter the environmental impact of fast fashion. [online] The Pharma Innovation Journal. Available at: https://www.thepharmajournal.com/archives/2021/vol10issue8S/PartH/S-10-7-243-699.pdf.
• Stallard, E. (2022). Fast fashion: How clothes are linked to climate change. BBC News. [online] 29 Jul. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60382624.
• United Nations Environment Programme (2022). The Environmental Costs of Fast Fashion. [online] United Nations Environment Programme. Available at: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/environmental-costs-fast-fashion.

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