Overview

Fast fashion refers to the rapid mass production of inexpensive, affordable clothing. Most of the time, fast fashion companies replicate popular consumer trends in the market, where they copy these fashion trends and mass produce them, making them affordable for the general population. This is why we see so many mimic cheaper quality clothes from ast fashion brands, mimicking haute couture and high end ready to wear brands like Chanel, Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, among others. This fashion model thrives on high consumer turnover and low prices. However, this comes at the cost of our environment. Fast fashion brands like Zara, H&M, Shein, alongside others produce vast quantities of cheaply made clothing that is discarded after a few wears due to its decreased integrity, resulting in a shorter lifespan for these fashion garments. Due to the shorter lifespans, the demand for clothing skyrockets through the roof, resulting in consumers purchasing more clothes than ever before, where companies feel like they need to mass produce more clothing while still maximizing profits. Synthetic fabrics are most commonly used in the fast fashion industry which results in garments being of lower integrity and having shorter life spans. Materials like polyester, commonly used in the fast fashion industry, creates microplastics, polluting aquatic wildlife and contributing to ocean plastic pollution.

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• The fast fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water annually. That is enough to meet the  needs of 5 million people.
• The fast fashion industry produces approximately 4-5 billion tons of CO2 equivalent annually, more than aviation and shipping industries combined. The fast fashion industry produces 10% of global CO2 emissions. 
• The fast fashion industry produces 97 million tons of waste annually. This creates a mass amount of textile waste which usually ends up in landfills or incineration sites, with a small percentage of textiles actually being recycled.  
• The textile dyeing industry for fast fashion is the second largest polluter of water internationally.
• 20% of the world’s wastewater is from fabric dying and treatment practices. 
• Half a million tons of microfiber, equivalent to 3 billion barrels of oil are dumped into the ocean annually.  
• A single load of laundry of polyester clothing can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibres, ending up in our oceans and the food chain. 

This policy brief tackles the environmental impacts of the fast fashion industry, reviewing all atmospheric, water, and waste pollution, how this problem affects every one of our constituents, and possible policy options from Mandatory EPR Schemes to Incentivization of sustainable brands in order to create a more sustainable future in the fashion industry. 

1. Pointed Summary

• Fast fashion is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions
• 97 million tons of waste are generated annually from the fast fashion industry
• Textile dyeing is a major contributor to water pollution, acidifying our oceans, killing off marine species, and contaminating fresh water supplies for local communities 
• Microplastic fibres from synthetic clothing are increasingly found in oceans and the global food chain, affecting aquatic marine life and human health. 
• Incentivization of sustainability, strict sustainability standards, company transparency, and EPR schemes are policy solutions to create a future of fashion sustainability

Relevance

The environmental impacts seen by the fast fashion industry impacts every one of our constituents. Although it feels like we are getting a good deal, more clothing for less money, the affects the fast fashion industry has on our global ecosystem and also our human health is detrimental. As climate change continues to accelerate, industries, like the fast fashion industry must be regulated in order to combat climate change and create a more sustainable environment for future generations. Reducing the environmental consequences of the fast fashion industry would alleviate pressure on water sources, lower CO2 emissions, reduce waste, preserve our ecosystems, and protect the health of our constituents. 

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The fast fashion industry created trendy, low cost for consumers and manufacturers clothing that created a western culture of overconsumption in fashion.  In the 21st century, people are purchasing clothes more than ever before, with the average consumer buying 60% more clothing today than 20 years ago. Due to the cheap quality of these garments, their life spans are much shorter, where they are usually tossed out after a few wears, resulting in a higher turnover rate. This culture of fast fashion, high turnover rates, and overconsumption in clothing drives the demand in fast fashion and the need for more raw materials, like cotton, water, and petroleum-based synthetic fabrics in order to produce more synthetic fibers for these fast fashion clothing companies. This creates an unsustainable production environment where we are using more raw materials than we can naturally produce, leading to environmental degradation and mass resource depletion. This is called ecological overshoot. 

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The environmental impacts are seen more severely in communities that are near fast fashion production lines, such as production factories and manufacturing sites. In China, one of the top producers of fast fashion clothing brands, factories that produce these clothes, commonly referred to as sweatshops have grave working conditions, with high exposures to lead and silica dust due to the polyester synthetic materials they are consistently working with to create fast fashion garments. Fast Fashion companies like Zara, H&M, and Uniqlo prefer to manufacture in these countries like China due to its lower wages, especially in the rural impoverished areas of these countries. This allows brands to maximize their profits. 

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Most fast fashion production occurs in third world countries, which have limited environmental regulations protecting the environment, where hazardous chemicals and untreated wastewater seeps into our rivers and oceans, contaminating bodies of waters and impacting local communities who rely on these bodies of waters for water and agriculture. These chemicals seep into agricultural lands, reducing the fertility of the land, making it harder to produce food. This untreated wastewater and hazardous chemical pollution also impacts aquatic life, where ecosystems experience acidification of their bodies of water, decreasing the pH, killing off organisms who are essential to keeping the ecosystem in balance. However, it isn’t just the policymakers of these countries that should be creating stricter environmental policies for the fast fashion industry, but we the United States also ended to establish the grounds of environmentalist policies to decrease the environmental impacts of the fast fashion industry, setting a standard for the rest of the world to follow by. 

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Microplastics from the fast fashion industry also have led to the suffocation and killing of marine life, like corals, however, these microplastics are also entering our global food chain, affecting human health. Commonly used synthetic materials like polyester, nylon, and acrylic are used for mass produced fast fashion lines, which shed plastic fibers known as microplastics everytime they are washed, where a study reported that one laundry cycle of synthetic clothing discharging 700,000 microplastic fibres, pollution our oceans and food chains.  These microplastics enter waterways and pollute our oceans, where they are consumed by marine life like various species of fish and shellfish where these species mistake these particles for food. Studies have found that this consumption of microplastics by marine life ended up in the global food chain, where the human population is ingesting more microplastics than ever. This raises concerns of human health as more microplastics have been found in the human digestive system, creating long-term health effects of plastic digestion.These microplastics carry harmful chemicals which impact human health, causing inflammation, hormonal disruptions, allergic reactions, cell death, and other health risks. 

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For far too long, the fast fashion industry has gone too unregulated, creating mass environmental degradation of our planet and driving climate change. Although scientists and researchers have put forward their findings about the environmental impacts of the fast fashion industry, no serious action has been taken to increase the sustainability of the fast fashion industry by governments globally. Policymakers and governments need to work together with environmentalists to create a more sustainable future in the fast fashion industry, where it is essential to move the fast fashion industry towards more sustainable practices that will allow us to safeguard our planet and its resources for future generations. 

Current Stances

Governments internationally have been slow to regulate fast fashion’s environmental impact. There have been past policies that have been passed in order to tackle the pollution from the fast fashion industry, like the European Union’s Green Deal which addresses textile waste pollution and its environmental impacts, attempting to alleviate the textile waste pollution that is faced across Europe. On December 5, 2023, the European Union announced new legislation and guidelines to tackle environmental challenges posed by the fast fashion industry, where they aim to create a sustainable and circular textile industry.  A more sustainable and circular textile industry will allow for the greater reduction of textile waste that we are currently facing, allowing fabrics to be recycled, reused, and reproduced in future articles of clothing, which is being acknowledged by governments currently. 

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Currently, scientists and researchers globally have acknowledged and reported upon the environmental devastation faced by the unsustainable environment of fast fashion, especially with the rise of brands like Shein and Temu, which pose the models of shopping like a billionaire, for cheaper prices, feeding into the culture of mass consumption. Although governments recognize the environmental impacts that the fast fashion industry poses, they have not taken formative measures to combat this industry which is becoming one of the largest polluting industries in the globe. 

Tried Policy

1. Countries like France have implemented Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs that require producers to manage the disposal and recycling of clothing at the end of its life cycle. 
2. Eco-labels allow consumers to make environmentally friendly purchases, where ecolabels are marks that are placed on product packaging or in e-catalogs. This allows for the consumer to be able to quickly understand information about the product’s environmental impact. 

2. Policy Problem

A. Stakeholders & Risks of Indifference

Clothing manufacturers, fashion brands, consumers, environmental groups, governments, and policymakers are the main stakeholders when it comes to addressing the fast fashion crisis and its environmental impacts. Manufacturers are primarily concerned with reducing costs and maximizing profits, while consumers demand more affordable fashion. Environmental groups advocate for sustainable practices within the fast fashion industry and to reduce the ecological footprints of fast fashion companies, producing affordable clothing without the hefty cost it comes to our environment. With adequate policies by our governments and policy makers, a balance must be met. Currently, without adequate policy intervention, the balance is skewed towards unsustainable production. 

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If no concrete action is taken to counter the environmental impacts of the fast fashion industry, the fast fashion industry will continue to drive climate change from aquatic pollution to atmospheric pollution a  accelerating resource depletion, and waste generation. Combating these impacts of the fast fashion industry comes into the hands of our policy makers, who need to incentivize more sustainable brands, education programs about fast fashion, and stricter regulations on the pollution fast fashion companies cause, which for far too long have gone unregulated. The United Nations has warned that global temperatures could exceed 1.5°C by 2050, which would exacerbate extreme weather events, rising sea levels, melting of the polar ice caps, causing grave environmental degradation and the loss of biodiversity in our ecosystems. Ignoring the environmental costs of the fast fashion industry will put both environmental and human health at risk. 

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B. Nonpartisan Reasoning

The issues and environmental impacts related to the fast fashion industry transcends all political ideologies and parties, as protecting our natural resources, combating climate change, and creating a more sustainable planet, benefits every individual, no matter who you are. No one is able to escape the effects that occur from climate change, and the environmental degradation that halt food chain supplies and decrease the quality of our water. Sustainability in fashion can reduce costs in the long run by eliminating environmental damage, ensuring a cleaner, greener planet, and supporting future economic growth and prosperity. Governments internationally must come together to ensure responsible production practices that are internationally adopted, no matter what political party or ideology they are a part or believe in. 

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Policy Options

1. Mandatory EPR Schemes: Implementation of nationwide Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies, requiring fashion companies to take responsibility for the complete lifecycle of their garments, from production to disposal. Fines will be implemented on fashion companies who do not take responsibility for their garments’ life cycles. 
2. Sustainability Standards: Establishment of legally binding sustainability standards for fast fashion brands, mandating carbon-neutral / ethically produced practices, water consumption measures, and waste reduction techniques. These standards are to be established for companies to align their production lines with, and failure to follow these standards will be met with a sale ban on their products until these standards are met. These policies are strict, however it ensures that companies do not turn a blind eye on our policies and follow through with the standards we set to ensure sustainability. 
3. Consumer education campaigns: Launching public campaigns enables the general population to become more aware and educated about the environmental impacts of fast fashion. This encourages responsible consumer behavior and reduces the demand of disposable synthetic clothing. 
4. Incentivizing Sustainable Brands: Providing financial aid and incentives to companies that prioritize sustainable materials, resource allocation, and ethical production practices will allow for more fashion companies to follow suit, where there can be tax credits incentivizing fashion houses to move towards a future of sustainable fashion practices. 
5. Company transparency: Fashion houses must be held accountable towards their actions in the world, where transparency in fashion companies is required, publishing their emissions, water usage, electricity, usages, resource allocation, and production measures for the general population to know. Implementing fashion company transparency policies will incentivize these companies to produce their clothing more ethically with a smaller carbon, water, and waste footprint in order to avoid public scrutiny for their unethical and environmentally harmful practices. Transparency policies will also hold these fashion companies accountable for their actions, which will go hand in hand with mandatory EPR schemes. 

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Conclusions and Recommendations

Governments internationally have been pushing the fast fashion industry to the side for far too long, leaving it unregulated, creating detrimental damage to our environment. It’s time for this issue to be regulated in order to create a more sustainable future in not just fashion, but for the world. Establishing EPR schemes to hold fast fashion companies accountable for their production to disposal of their garments, mandatory stricter sustainability standards, transparency for fashion brands, and incentivizing sustainable brands will help mitigate the vast impacts by the fast fashion industry. The United States needs to ensure that these policies are not just within the U.S, but are applied internationally in order to regulate the fast fashion chain system, also working closely with fashion brands, environmental groups to transition towards a more sustainable future in the fashion industry. 

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Acknowledgment

The Institute for Youth in Policy wishes to acknowledge Paul Kramer, Carlos Bindert, Gwen Singer, and other contributors for developing and maintaining the Programming Department within the Institute.

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