* Consequences:

Nowadays, the process of producing clothes is more complicated than ever as it

requires lots of natural resources and creates greenhouse gas emissions that lead
to climate change. A fact that might surprise you is that the fashion industry is
responsible for 8 – 10% of global emissions, which is more than the aviation and
the shipping combined.
- The environmental impacts of the fashion industry threat to cause the depletion
of some raw materials and natural resources. These are some reports on how
much does the fashion industry consume annually:
+ cotton for the fashion industry uses about 2.5% of the world's farmland
+ synthetic materials like polyester require an estimated 342 million barrels of oil
every year
+ clothes production processes such as dying requires 43 million tonnes of
chemicals a year
Especially, you won’t imagine how much water that is needed to make your T-
shirt and your jean. Here is the image illustrating on how the fashion industry
consumes water

[Picture]

+ According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the fashion industry uses around
93 billion cubic meters (21 trillion gallons) of water annually, enough to fill 37
million Olympic swimming pools.
- In addition to being a great consumer of natural resources, the fashion industry
is to blame for polluting the environment.
Bangladesh is a typical victim of being polluted by the fashion industry, which is
one of its biggest industries.
Bangladesh is the world’s second biggest garment manufacturing hub after China
and that explains why fashion is responsible for up to one-fifth of industrial water
pollution in this country. Due in part to weak regulation and enforcement at that
time, wastewater used to be dumped directly into rivers and streams. The
discharge is often a cocktail of carcinogenic chemicals, dyes, salts and heavy
metals that not only hurt the environment, but pollute essential drinking water
sources. The rivers and canals that run through Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh,
have turned a “pitch black color” due to the sludge and sewage produced by
textile dyeing and processing factories. For the worse, residents who live in the
vicinity of those rivers and canals show some symptoms of being poisoned such as
stomachache, vomiting and fainting.
- Last but not least, changing fashion trends often lead to the mass production
and sale of cheaply clothing which is called “fast fashion”.
It urges you to buy for its convenience and your desire for being trendy. You
won’t notice until you fill up your wardrobe with lots of spare clothes and you
start to think about give it to someone or even discard it. Statistically, the fashion
industry produces up to 100 billion garments every year, with as much as 92
million tons of clothing ending up in landfills annually, which demonstrates a real
threat to our environment.
So what measures have to be taken and which party will do it when
acknowledging these consequences of the fashion industry? We will find the
answers in the next section of our presentation.
* Solutions:
- Government’s responsibility
Obviously, that the fashion industry’s environmental impacts threaten residents’
quality of life force their government not to stay there and do nothing. In fact,
there are some policies showing a great effort to cope with the fashion industry’s
environmental issues.
Let’s return to the story of Bangladesh, for example. Bangladesh’s Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change said it has made it mandatory for all
polluting facilities to install effluent treatment plants and operate them
“optimally.” And under a new environmental policy called Zero Liquid Discharge
(ZLD), textile dyeing, finishing and washing industries must submit a time-bound
plan to reduce, recycle and reuse the wastewater.
China is another country which has also implemented its own strategy to tackle
the same problem. For the time being, the Chinese government introduced a new
environment protection tax aimed at cutting polluting discharge. Those who don’t
comply with the new regulations will be charged with a fine or even made to close
their factories permanently.
Since these policies have recently been enacted, they haven’t been made to be
strict enough yet. For instance, wise producers still work out some ways to dodge
the law by building secret discharge pipes or release their wastewater at night to
avoid detection. However, on the bright side, we can’t deny government’s
commitment to tackling the fashion industry’s environmental issues. Everything
needs to take steps as these challenges can’t be eliminated over midnight.
- Consumer’s responsibility
A problem associated with the environment will never be solved if people who
live in it ignore it. So what we need to do is a changing in our buying habit. Here
are some ways accompanied by some advantages to reduce the environmental
impact of fashion:
1.Donate or sell gently used clothing: This can help reduce textile waste and
extend the life of clothes.
2.Shop from sustainable and ethical fashion brands: These brands use eco-friendly
materials and ethical labor practices.
3.Buy less often and buy high quality: This can help reduce the demand for fast
fashion and reduce textile waste.
4.Host a clothing swap: This can be a fun way to exchange clothes with friends
and family.
5.Buy or rent secondhand clothes: This can help reduce textile waste and extend
the life of clothes.
6.Recycle textiles and garments: Textiles can be recycled to make new clothing.
7.Choose organic or recycled fabric: Organic cotton, recycled cotton, or polyester
can reduce the impact of fashion on the environment by 99%.
Hope these suggestions and their benefits can help you be greener.