By Syndi Victor
More than half of all people on Earth are women. Women’s purchasing decisions have a significant impact on economies worldwide. Meaningful change can be sparked more readily as we inform ourselves, make mindful decisions, and speak up about how those decisions affect the world. Many of our consumer decisions are primarily driven by the fashion industry. Menswear is valued at $219 billion less than womenswear, valued at $621 billion. Fashion plays a significant role in our unique personalities now and has done for a long time. It is indisputable that fashion affects how we feel.
Our choice of clothing can facilitate our attitude, assertiveness, and ability to be our own person or adopt a desired or necessary persona. Consumers and artists can purposefully choose shapes, hues, and motifs to suit or improve mood. But many of us might not be aware that every time we buy clothes, we could endorse behaviors that seriously and negatively affect the planet and our wellness. The petroleum industry is the only one that pollutes the environment more than Big Textile. Development, raw materials, textile manufacturing, apparel fabrication, transport, sale, usage, and waste all involve distribution networks in the fashion industry.
The sad reality is that over the past 25 years, the apparel industry has experimented and purportedly innovated, but this has yet to manage or lessen its environmental impact. This is a loud wake-up call for those who believe charitable attempts can effectively tackle climate change and several other significant difficulties facing civilization.
According to a McKinsey study titled “Style that’s sustainable: A new fast-fashion formula” by Nathalie Remy in October 2016, “Fast fashion has evolved into a large, complex industry supported by a disjointed, low-tech manufacturing operation. This system has substantial negative consequences on the environment because it often uses much water and detergents and emits a lot of greenhouse gasses when producing clothing.”
When we examine this chain of events in greater detail, we discover some clear toxins. They include the pesticides used in cotton cultivation, the toxic dyes used in production, and the volume of waste produced by clothing. Additionally, a detrimental quantity of renewable resources is used in retrieval, agriculture, cultivation, preparation, manufacturing, and transporting.
The chemicals frequently present in clothing (or utilized in their creation) have been connected to neurodegeneration, liver, kidney, lung illnesses, malignancy, and more. However, only some analyses have been done to explicitly correlate chemicals in clothes to human health problems. Consumption is more prevalent and easily accessible in modern society. Fast fashion, a multi-year practice where clothing is specifically made to be more expendable, is one horrifying example of this type of irresponsible consumption.
Women can influence change by making more intelligent purchases. Options that are responsible, wholesome, and sustainable exist. Many producers have been attempting to create eco-fashion to mitigate the harmful effects of fast fashion at their origin. According to the International Standards Organization (ISO), Eco-fashion recognizes the overall environmental performance of an item within a merchandise group depending on its entire life cycle to participate in advancements in crucial ecological initiatives and assist sustainable consumption habits. There are many ways to change things:
- Purchase from reputable businesses
- Search out the thrift and resale stores in your area.
- Buy high-quality things built to last instead of clothes meant to last just one period -avoid quick fashion.
- Locate a local business that recycles clothing, hold an exchange with your companions, or figure out how to put used clothing to good use.
In Summary, the mainstream fashion business seriously harms our ecology and well-being. Yet, we can affect meaningful change by spending the time to inform others about better habits and becoming conscientious consumers and recyclers.
