Sustainability of Fast Fashion in the United Kingdom

Sustainability of Fast Fashion in the United Kingdom

Sustainability of Fast Fashion in the United Kingdom
Introduction
Fast fashion refers to an emerging form of fashion that involves rapid production and
consumption of fashion lines (Black, 2013). The production of these fashion lines is usually
large scale with prices being cheap; hence, the reference of fast fashion as cheap fashion. The
fast fashion culture results in increase in the rate of change in fashion trends with more fashion
seasons created throughout the year to accommodate the fast changes in the trends.
Fast fashion however, has adverse effects on the environment and climate in general.
Sustainability of fast fashion is an issue of interest due to these adverse environmental and
climatic effects. The United Kingdom is Europe’s largest fashion consumer and therefore
represents an important place of focus for the study of the sustainability of fast fashion.
The Rise of Fast Fashion
Fashion has always been associated with societal standards and social norms of the
communities in which an individual is a member (Hobson, 2013). The concept of societal
standards, social norms and even community itself has largely changed in the 21st century.
Globalization in the social sense and technological development have been huge contributor of
the change in the concepts of these aspects. Technology, especially social media, exposes
individuals to the most current fashion trends from all over the world, which then become their
community and consequently setting their societal standards and social norms. This exposure
increases the constant need for individuals to seek the most recent fashion trends.
The constant need for the most recent fashion trends came with monetary gains for the
fashion industry. This presented an opportunity that the fashion industry exploited by fueling the
need with more frequent releases of fashion lines as compared to previous periods. The
consumers on their part purchase the most recent fashion lines and dispose of them after the
release of a new fashion line. In the United Kingdom, each individual is estimated to purchase
26.7kg in clothing per year (Jasmine, 2019). This fast rate of release of fashion lines and
subsequent fast consumption of the lines constitutes the culture of fast fashion.
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Sustainability of Fast Fashion in the United Kingdom
Supply Chain Sustainability
The fabrics used in the fashion industry are made from either natural fibers such as cotton
or synthetic fibers such as nylon and rayon (Libaifoundation, 2017). The supply chains for
each of these sources collectively place the carbon footprint for the fashion industry at an
estimated 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse emissions per year (Jasmine, 2019). For instances, the
synthetic fibers are oil products, which is produced through burning of fossil fuels. Oil
production is a significant contributor of greenhouse gases. This is in addition to the carbon
emissions from transportation at every stage of the supply change.
The production of cotton is water intensive, an average of 15000 cubic meters for 1 kg of
cotton, hence placing a strain on water resources (Independent, 2018). The dying of fabrics is
also water intensive as well as a significant pollutant of water sources (Independent, 2018).
The carbon footprints and water usage raise supply chain sustainability concerns for fast fashion
in the United Kingdom.
Disposal Sustainability
Out of the estimated 26.7kgs in clothing that an individual in the United Kingdom
purchases per year, the individual only wears 30% of the clothes. The remaining 70% of the
clothes, which are in good condition, are likely to be disposed of through incineration or at
landfills. The disposed garment averages 300000 tons per year in the United Kingdom (Mark,
2019). The incineration process contributes to carbon emissions while the disposal at landfills
contributes to soil pollution. This also raises sustainability concerns for fast fashion in the United
Kingdom.
Stakeholders
There are three key stakeholders when considering the sustainability of fast fashion in the
United Kingdom. These stakeholders are; the government, fashion brands and fashion
consumers. The government is the policy-making and policy-enforcing organ and can therefore
develop and enforce policies on fast fashion with respect to sustainability (Iva & Nancy,
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