How Clothes Harm the Environment

Abstract

Every year the fashion industry sells 80 billion pieces of clothes to customers globally, generating $1.2 trillion in revenue. This hyper-exaggerated business model, known as fast fashion, is characterized by a super-fast turnaround of products and extraordinarily low prices. Fast fashion is critically challenged because it exploits workers, its environmental impact, and the detrimental effects of a growing global second-hand clothing trade on textile manufacturing in the Global South. This essay explores these issues and provides possible strategies to counter the fashion industries’ negative consequences.