The Real Impact of Fast Fashion
The Real Impact of Fast Fashion
September updates on where we stand.
As the industry’s social and environmental footprint grows ever larger, the need for sustainable and conscientiousness fashion practices has never been more urgent.
The global fashion industry is worth an approximate $2.4 trillion.
728,789: the number of non-biodegradable plastic microfibres released from a single wash of acrylic-based garments.
Washing is the second greatest factor when it comes to determining the carbon footprint of an item of clothing.
2,500 textiles workers were injured when a Bangladeshi garment factory collapsed.
In the same catastrophe, 1,132 further workers were killed in one of the single-greatest tragedies the region of Dhaka has ever seen.
80% of all clothing produced ends up either in a landfill, or in an incinerator.
As much as 200 tons of water is regularly used in the production of 1 ton of dyed fabric.
Clothes washing leads to 551,155 tons of non-biodegradable plastic fibres polluting our oceans on an annual basis. That’s the equivalent of over 50 billion plastic bottles.
2014 saw the total number of garments produced exceed 100 billion for the very first time. The number has since grown considerably.
The greenhouse gas emissions caused by driving a car for 35 miles are the same as those released by the production of a single white shirt.
2.31 billion tons of greenhouse gases were produced by the fashion industry in 2016. That’s 4% of all the emissions in the world.
The average garment worker in Ethiopia earns just $26 per month.
Over 70% of all clothing donations worldwide find their way to Africa, damaging local economies and leading to a disproportionate amount of clothing waste.
The US exported $660 million worth of clothing in 2018.
Only 18 cents of a 29 euro shirt ends up in the worker’s pocket.
Only 100 clothing brands have signed up to the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter, which aims by the year 2030 to reduce the industry’s emissions by 30%.
Statistics from CNN