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The fashion industry

One of the biggest environmental and climate polluters

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Nowadays, clothes are mass-produced goods. An incredible number of over 100 billion items of clothing are produced every year. The prices of clothes have fallen dramatically in recent decades, as has the quality of the individual products. The fast fashion industry also undermines all efforts to protect the environment and employees are employed on slave-like conditions on hourly or performance wages.

The clothes are full of toxic chemicals and, according to estimates, the textile industry will be responsible for a quarter of global C02 emissions by 2050. Every second, somewhere on our planet, an entire garbage truck full of clothes is burned or thrown into a landfill. The fashion industry is one of the main causes of microplastic pollution in our oceans.

"When an industry doesn’t care about how people are treated, no consideration of sustainability is possible. You can’t just care about the environment and forget about the fair and ethical treatment of people."

– Simone Cipriani

Did you know, that every 25 minutes an olympic-sized pool of oil is used to make synthetic clothing. Clothes made out of synthetic materials are much cheaper to make than those made from natural materials like cotton.

Synthetic materials bring with them a whole host of negative environmental impacts. Nylon and polyester, some of the main synthetic materials are derived from crude oil. Fossil fuels are non-renewable.

Clothing collections

Over 200% more clothes than 20 years ago

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There used to be a maximum of four collections a year. Today, low-cost chains bring out up to 52 micro-collections a year. This means that the market is flooded with a new clothing line every week. These days, they are produced and sold within 14 days.

Thanks to influencers on social platforms, this environmental disaster is being diligently promoted. Every year, the textile industry generates 1.2 billion tons of CO2 – more than international flights and cruises combined. As part of the textile industry, the fashion industry alone is responsible for 5% of global emissions thanks to plastic products and long transportation routes. And low prices and constantly new collections tempt us to buy and dispose of more and more clothes.

With every purchase of a fast fashion product, you are not only financing massive environmental pollution but also supporting and financing the exploitative slave labor of the seamstresses.

So stay away from fast fashion!

"Fast Fashion is like fast food. After the sugar rush, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth."

– Livia Firth

The sins of the fast fashion industry

With every purchase of a fast fashion product, one not only finances massive environmental pollution, but also supports and finances the exploitative slave labor of the seamstresses.

Around 60 to 75 million people, mainly women, work in the garment and textile industry worldwide.

While the industry creates many important jobs, especially in developing countries, at the same time women work in slave-like and underpaid conditions.

The effective cost of your T-shirt

Cheap clothes are not uncommon and the stores are undercutting each other with low prices. That’s only possible because most of the textiles you can buy are made in low-cost countries like Bangladesh.

But how is the price made up? Here you can see who earns how much on a 29 Euro T-shirt and who makes the biggest profit.

The biggest profit is made by the end sellers, in other words the retailers. According to the calculations of the Fairwear Foundation, their share is 17 euros per item.

By the way, the seamstresses and sewers, on the other hand, earn just 0.18 euros an hour with their starvation wages.

Behind the shiny facade of the Chinese “ultra-fast fashion” giant

Despite its glitzy online presence, the company behind the brand remains opaque. Public Eye took on the task of shedding light on its darker side – right up to the winding alleys of the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou, where thousands of Chinese workers spend up to 12 hours a day sewing together fabrics to make teen dreams come true.

Fast fashion – Dumped in the desert | DW Documentary

Iquique, the provincial capital, used to be economically depressed. But then the Chilean government built a container port here and created the free trade zone known as “Zofri”.

59,000 tonnes of used clothes are shipped here every year. According to estimates, up to 40 % of that is dumped – and ends up in the desert.

(Text source: DW documentary)

Today’s fashion trends are tomorrow’s garbage piles

Every European disposes of around 7 kg of clothes at an old clothes collection point every year. Textile recycling is still in its infancy. Only 1% of used textiles are recycled. Researchers at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts are investigating what it takes to make new clothes from old ones.

The ever-increasing demand for fast fashion is leading to an ecological disaster. Be it the gigantic consumption of water and pesticides in the cultivation of cotton or the consumption of non-renewable petroleum – a solution is needed.

Films for the Earth – environmental docus

Their activities include film events such as the annual Films for the Earth Festival, a nationwide pop-up cinema, digital school campaigns, film consultations and a film media library with over 600 environmental documentaries. You can also find excellent films on fashion and fast fashion.

Sweatshops – Deadly fashion

Three young Norwegian fashion bloggers spend a month living the life of Cambodian sweatshop workers in Phnom Penh.  They spend hundreds of euros every month on clothes and make a living promoting the latest catwalk trends.

Except for speculation that factory workers must be ‘used to’ their hard lives, they have never given much thought to the people who make their clothes. Now, they’re trading their comfortable lives for those of Cambodian garment workers. As well as working in the factories, they have to survive on $3 a day. But this is no exploitative doc aiming for shock value. It poignantly shows the consequences of cheap fashion.

FILM AND TEXT SOURCE: JAVA DISCOVER

 

Sweatshops II – The true price of cheap clothing

In 2014, three young fashion bloggers came to Phnom Phen for the first time to spend a month living the life of Cambodian garment workers. At the time, they did not know much about how their clothes were being made and were horrified at the conditions in the factories. The show provoked headlines and articles all over the world and companies like H&M were forced to respond.
The girls received a personal invitation to visit any of H&M’s factories. So they decided to take them at their word. In this sequel, they return to Cambodia’s sweatshops for a second time. Has anything changed?

TEXT SOURCE: FILMS FOR THE EARTH

 

RiverBlue – The destruction of the world’s most vital rivers

Following international river conservationist, Mark Angelo, “RiverBlue” spans the globe to infiltrate one of the world’s most pollutive industries, fashion. Narrated by clean water supporter Jason Priestley, this groundbreaking documentary examines the destruction of our rivers, its effect on humanity, and the solutions that inspire hope for a sustainable future.

TEXT SOURCE: FILMS FOR THE EARTH

 

The True Cost – Who pays the price for our clothing?

This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. “The True Cost” is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?

TEXT SOURCE: FILMS FOR THE EARTH

 

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