THE PROBLEM
Clothes are manufactured and used in an extremely harmful way.
The textiles, clothing and fashion industry impacts us all — we all wear clothes, after all. Clothes are an everyday necessity and, for many of us, an important way to express our individuality.
The industry is a key player in the global economy, providing employment for hundreds of millions around the world. It is linked to many other industries such as agriculture, chemicals, transport and the creative sector. It is also closely tied to gender, labour and poverty issues not to mention the considerable negative impact it has on the environment.
“Fast fashion” samples ideas from the catwalks and turns them into cheap, trendy styles at a breathtaking pace. In recent years, fast fashion has become the symbol of our extravagant, western lifestyle, and it is the biggest culprit behind the ever-growing mountains of textile waste too.
With cost-efficiency as its primary driver, the industry has scattered all of its manufacturing and processing steps. Fabric is woven in one place, dyed in another, sewn in a third and sold in a fourth location. Each step in the long and complex supply chain has an environmental impact resulting from water, material, chemical and energy use.
There is an urgent need for change on a massive scale. This requires collaboration between designers and manufacturers, policy makers, retailers and us, the consumers.
The fashion industry produces annually 10% of global CO2 emissions
— more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined
The fashion industry uses annually 93 billion cubic meters of water
— enough to meet the consumption needs of five million people.
20% of wastewater worldwide comes from fabric dyeing and treatment.
73% of all clothing fibres are incinerated or disposed of in a landfill.
Every year a half a million tons of plastic microfibers end up in oceans
— the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.
It takes 3,781 liters of water to make a pair of jeans.
Less than 1% of used clothing is recycled into new garments.
Sources: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
& Ellen MacArthur Foundation
We at Aalto University want to invite you to join us in taking action. We all have incredible power to make change happen through our consumption habits, political agency and simply by setting an example and showing what’s possible.
To get the ball rolling, we are sharing some practical tips on how to create a healthy, ecologically and ethically sound wardrobe. How could a sustainable lifestyle manifest itself in your own personal lifestyle?
Go to @aaltoarts on Instagram for inspiration!
Together we can push for a true fashion revolution!
Read more about the cost of fast fashion in an article by Aalto University’s professor Kirsi Niinimäki and colleagues. It was published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2020).
Photos: Shutterstock & Mortti Saarnia
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