Fast fashion, How will it impact planet: A quick Low down

23 December 2021, Mumbai:

A number of fashion designers are exploring ways to upcycle textile trash to reduce environmental distress. With the growth in the income of middle-class consumers, India’s per capita expenditure on clothes will rise to Rs 6,400 by 2023 from Rs 3,900 in 2018, the Indian Chamber of Commerce has estimated.

A 2019 Mckinsey report said India would become the most attractive consumer market for apparel outside the Western world and will be worth $59.3 billion in 2022. Growth of fast fashion is likely to increase textile waste in India as well, say experts.

What is fast fashion?

There has been a shift in the fashion industry, which earlier launched new collections in two seasons -- Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. Since the 2000s, international fashion brands H&M and Zara have started launching collections every week. The term, ‘fast fashion’ came to be associated with the high rate of fashion consumption.

The term entered India along with the two brands six to seven years back, Rekha Rawat, Associate Director of Sustainable Industries Practice at cKinetics, told IndiaSpend. As a result of fast fashion, a massive amount of unsold clothes end up in garbage dumps, creating a cycle of contamination, she said.

"All of the elements of fast fashion -- over production, low quality, competitive pricing -- have a detrimental impact on the environment and the people involved in the production," Rawat said.

How does it impact the environment?

About 53 million tonnes of fibre is produced by the fashion industry every year, of which 70 percent is wasted, IndiaSpend said in a report. According to UK-based charitable organisation Ellen MacArthur Foundation, fibre production will reach 160 million tonnes by 2050.

Less than 1 percent of fibre is reused by the fashion industry to make new clothes, adversely affecting the environment, the foundation said.

cnbc18.com (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

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