Fast fashion refers to clothing made quickly and cheaply in order to capitalize on short term trends. This business model leads to the production of large amounts of waste and pollution, which is detrimental to our environment.

The production of various materials such as silk, cotton, polyester, and rayon requires many resources in order to fulfill orders of major companies in the fast fashion industry.  There are various types of waste that are produced from these production processes, such as water pollution, plastic waste, carbon dioxide emissions, and clothing material waste. 

• 92 million tons of waste are produced by the fashion industry each year.

•  15% of fabric used in manufacturing becomes pre-consumer waste, or production waste. This includes deadstock, new and unworn clothing; an estimated ⅓ of clothing is never sold.

• The fashion industry produces 8-10% of global CO2 emissions, and 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

• 79 trillion liters of water are consumed by textile production each year. This industry is responsible for about 20% of global industrial water pollution, much of which is a result of clothing dyes and potentially toxic chemicals from the manufacturing process.

We are part of the problem.

• Post-consumer waste accounted for about 60% of the 150 billion garments produced in 2012. Textiles compose about 22% of mixed waste globally.