Impacts Of Fashion On Environmental Pollution

Fashion -clothing, makeup, and others- is one of the most desirable industries worldwide, clothing is a human need and sometimes an unbridled luxury. 

Because it manages a large financial market, has caused it to become the second-largest industrial polluter after aviation, representing up to 10% of global pollution; consequently, environmentally friendly manufacturing processes have been sought. Fast fashion, which is based on cheap manufacturing, frequent consumption, and the short-live use of these polluting agents to generate more income for the industries; functioning as a linear economy model, in which clothing is produced, sold, and thrown away, generates massive amounts of pollution every day. 

The impacts of the fashion industry include more than 92 million tons of waste produced per year and 1.5 trillion liters of water consumed, every step in the clothing production process carries the potential for environmental impact. For example, conventionally grown cotton, one of the most popular clothing fibers, is also one of the most water- and pesticide-dependent crops. Traditional fashion (Image 1) involves making garments with the aforementioned polluting materials.

Image 1: Traditional fashion often includes polluting materials.

Why textiles release microfibers into the environment ? the nature of the clothing materials allows it to easily defragment, with the detachment of fibers with washing and use. The risk towards environmental pollution occurs during production, continues during use, and remains at the end of its useful life. Microfiber contamination requires protection and sustainable development by the textile and fashion industry. Experiments indicate that a single 6 kg household wash has the potential to release up to 700,000 fibers; in addition, synthetic microfibers and nanofibers comprise up to 35% of primary microplastics in the marine environment, not degraded by animals or microbes, they remain in the environment for a long time.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has noted that the fast fashion industry is the second-largest demand for water globally and produces 20% of the world's water waste. A cotton shirt requires 2700 L of water to manufacture, which is equivalent to the water consumed by a person in 2.5 years.

Synthetic materials used in clothing & textiles such as polyester, acrylic, and nylon represent about 60% of the clothing material worldwide; others include cotton, linen, wool, and silk. These materials make microfibers easily transportable, even more than Particulate Material; therefore this major component of plastic pollution becomes of great concern. It is sought then, to resort to alternative materials that reduce the environmental impact for their manufacture and disposal. Image 2 shows the main effects caused by traditional fashion; these are the reduction of natural resources that are not renewed, habitat destruction, climate change and air pollution due to the pollution in the manufacturing processes, animal suffering in test and materials-searching, food insecurity due to the effects of crops and chemicals, contamination of water with waste and abuses of workers' human rights in clothing-manufacturing countries

Image 2: Negatively impacted areas of the fashion industry.

So eventually, sustainable fashion has been developed; it is produced with low carbon emissions, involving easily biodegradable materials, from sources that help the environment (such as bamboo or fruits) or from recycled materials, the result is significantly reduced contamination.

Sustainable fashion is getting closer to being a reality, due to the global emergency generated by traditional fashion; around the world, this industry has formed important consumer-environment-brand relationships that have a great influence on consumer receptivity and decision-making towards sustainable fashion brands.

Bamboo, sounds like a good option, not only for its textile properties but also as a purifying plant. The advantages of bamboo as a raw material include its rapid renewability, its biodegradability, cleaning of CO2 and other chemicals, its efficient space optimization, its low water consumption, and its organic state. The advantages of bamboo fabric are its very soft touch, has antimicrobial properties, ability to absorb moisture, and antistatic nature.

Image 3: Sustainable fashion often includes fruit and seaweed as a material.

Mainly current methods have been based on recycling current environmental pollutants, meanwhile, it must be taken into account that other types of pollution cannot be neglected; for example, these materials obtained from contaminated places will need a purification process, even if it is a simple washing, the environmental risks that imply the increase of the process must be anticipated, ensuring that it is not worse than the current processes.

It is necessary to obtain new sources of biodegradable materials. In a perspective, the microorganisms that are present in these natural environments could be evaluated and then, create a type of material that meets their requirements for cleaning. For example, other options have been evaluated such as creating clothing with living materials or with biomass such as algae and fruits (Image 3), which is much easier to decompose in the environment; probably its duration in your closet would be short because it can be easily degraded (which is what is sought so that it does not contaminate), in addition, some clothing has been developed with live algae that can be used as a garment with the ability to absorb CO2 and purify the environment. This is probably the best way for the future; so, fashion designers do their work to beautify this technology.

References

• Niinimäki, Kirsi & Peters, Greg & Dahlbo, Helena & Perry, Patsy & Rissanen, Timo & Gwilt, Alison. (2020). The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. 1. 189-200. 10.1038/s43017-020-0039-9. 

• Claudio L. Waste couture: environmental impact of the clothing industry. Environ Health Perspect. 2007;115(9):A448-A454. doi:10.1289/ehp.115-a449

• Liu, Jianli & Liang, Jianyao & Ding, Jiannan & Zhang, Guangming & Zeng, Xianyi & Yang, Qingbo & Zhu, Bo & Gao, Weidong. (2021). Microfiber pollution: an ongoing major environmental issue related to the sustainable development of the textile and clothing industry. Environment, Development, and Sustainability. 1-17. 10.1007/s10668-020-01173-3. 

• Pero, Margherita & Arrigo, Elisa & Fionda-Douglas, Antoinette. (2020). Sustainability in Fashion Brands. Sustainability. 12. 5843. 10.3390/su12145843. 

• Joy, Annamma & Peña, Camilo. (2017). Sustainability and the Fashion Industry: Conceptualizing Nature and Traceability. 10.1007/978-3-319-51253-2_3. 

• Waite, Marilyn. (2010). Sustainable Textiles: the Role of Bamboo and a Comparison of Bamboo Textile properties (Part II). Journal of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management. 6.