Fast Fashion Graveyard

Most discarded clothing is excess merchandise from stores and unsold or damaged secondhand garments from thrift shops. This clothing is packaged into bundles and sent to countries like Chile (see Tattered Trade). Each week, shipments of new and used garments arrive in Iquique, Chile, a coastal city west of the Atacama Desert. Many of these clothes are then shipped to the nearby town of Alto Hospicio. There, “some garments will be resold, some will be shredded and recycled into low-quality materials, but most will be landfilled or burned,” says Timo Rissanen. He’s a professor of fashion and textiles at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia.

The massive clothing pile in the desert outside of Alto Hospicio reveals the ugly side of the fashion industry. And it’s just one of the many ways the trend of fast fashion is taking a toll on the environment. 

The massive clothing pile lies in the desert outside of Alto Hospicio. It reveals the ugly side of the fashion industry. And it’s just one problem with fast fashion. This clothing trend is hurting the environment in many other ways.  

Fast fashion first took off a few decades ago and was popularized by clothing chains like H&M and Zara. Today online retailers like Shein have taken this business model to the extreme. These companies add new styles to their stores and websites every day. Easy access to a staggering variety of cheap clothes has led consumers to purchase more garments than ever. “We are buying five times more clothing items than we bought in 1990,” says Aja Barber, author of Consumed, a book about fashion and sustainability.

Barber says consumers’ desire for the latest fashion trends has disastrous effects on the environment. “All this shopping and demand for fast, cheap garments is helping drive the climate crisis,” she says. The fashion industry is responsible for an estimated 8 to 10 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. These gases are generated by burning fossil fuels like oil and coal—which are used to power clothing factories as well as the vehicles that ship garments around the world. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, causing Earth’s global temperature to rise and altering the climate.

Fast fashion first took off a few decades ago. Clothing chains like H&M and Zara made it popular. Today, Shein and other online retailers also use this business model. These companies add new styles to their stores and websites every day. Consumers have easy access to a huge variety of cheap clothes. So they purchase more garments than ever. “We are buying five times more clothing items than we bought in 1990,” says Aja Barber. She wrote Consumed, a book about fashion and sustainability.

Consumers want the latest fashion trends. But Barber says this has disastrous effects on the environment. “All this shopping and demand for fast, cheap garments is helping drive the climate crisis,” she says. The fashion industry generates around 8 to 10 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. These gases come from burning fossil fuels like oil and coal. Clothing factories run on these fuels. So do the vehicles that ship garments to stores and homes around the world. Greenhouse gases trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere. That causes the global temperature to rise, and it alters Earth’s climate.

Textile factories also require huge amounts of water and other natural resources to create clothes. These factories release large amounts of pollution, like chemical dyes, into the environment. To make garments cheaply, companies often build their factories in developing countries, like Bangladesh or China. Workers there are often underpaid and work long hours in dangerous conditions.

Most fast fashion items are made from synthetic, or lab-made fibers, like nylon and polyester. These materials are plastics, which are created from oil. They don’t biodegrade, or break down naturally, in the environment. So discarded clothes “will remain in a landfill for centuries,” says Rissanen. Plastic fibers also release microplastic pieces less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter—which contaminate air, soil, and water.

Textile factories need huge amounts of water and other natural resources to create clothes. These factories release large amounts of pollution, like chemical dyes. Companies build most of their factories in developing countries, like Bangladesh or China. That way, they can make garments cheaply. Workers there are often underpaid. They work long hours in dangerous conditions. 

And what about all the clothing that remains unsold or donated? Last year, about 59 million kg (130 million lbs) of discarded garments arrived in Iquique. About 66 percent of those garments couldn’t be repurposed. So they were added to the growing mountain of waste in the desert.

Most fast fashion items are made from synthetic, or lab-made, fibers. Nylon and polyester are two examples. These materials are plastics, and they’re created from oil. They don’t biodegrade in the environment. That means they don’t break down naturally. So discarded clothes “will remain in the landfill for centuries after being discarded,” says Rissanen. Plastic fibers also release microplastic pieces. They’re less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter. These pieces pollute air, soil, and water.

Last year, about 59 million kg (130 million lbs) of discarded garments arrived in Iquique. About 66 percent of those garments couldn’t be resold and were added to the pile in the desert.

To stop the mountain of clothing from growing, people in Chile are working to find alternate uses for the waste. One company is turning the textiles into insulation for homes. Another company recycles unwanted fabrics into usable yarn. The Chilean government is also working on passing a law that holds companies responsible for the textile waste they produce. But this regulation could take several years to put into effect.

The best solution would be to discard less clothing altogther, keeping it out of Chile to begin with. “Perhaps the biggest misconception is that recycling is a solution to overproduction and overconsumption. It’s not,” says Rissanen. “The solution is to produce less and to consume less.” 

But escaping the cycle of fast fashion isn’t easy. “We need to unpack what drives us to constantly want new clothes,” says Barber. “Is it social media? Change what you look at and who you follow. Is it a desire to fit in? Talk about it with your friends and family.” Instead of buying new clothes, Barber advises buying unique secondhand clothing from thrift stores, organizing clothing swaps with classmates and friends, and learning how to repair damaged items.

Together, people can make a difference to help improve the fashion industry. “Vowing to buy less clothing and really wear what you buy is a crucial part of slowing down the trend,” says Barber. “People think that our buying decisions don’t have an impact, but they absolutely do.” Our choices can encourage corporations to do better, she says.

People in Chile want to stop the mountain of clothing from growing. So they’re working to find other uses for the waste. One company is turning the textiles into insulation for homes. Another company turns unwanted fabrics into usable yarn. The Chilean government is also working on passing a law. It would hold companies responsible for their own textile waste. But this regulation could take several years to put into effect. 

The best solution is to discard less clothing. That would keep it out of Chile to begin with. “Perhaps the biggest misconception is that recycling is a solution to overproduction and overconsumption. It’s not,” says Rissanen. “The solution is to produce less and to consume less.” 

But stopping the fast fashion cycle isn’t easy. “We need to unpack what drives us to constantly want new clothes,” says Barber. “Is it social media? Change who you follow. Is it a desire to fit in? Talk about it with your friends and family.” Instead of buying new clothes, Barber offers other advice. Buy secondhand clothing from thrift stores. Hold clothing swaps with classmates and friends. And learn to repair damaged items.

Together, people can make a difference. Their actions can help improve the fashion industry. “Vowing to buy less clothing and really wear what you buy is a crucial part of slowing down the trend,” says Barber. “People think that our buying decisions don’t have an impact, but they absolutely do.” Our choices can encourage companies to do better, she says.