The whole world is against fast fashion

As carbon footprint of fashion rises, the very idea of disposable style needs to change

- VAISHALI DAR

A T-SHIRT THAT costs less than a cup of coffee.A pair of jeans priced at half the cost of a movie ticket. For years, fast fashion has attracted shoppers with the thrill of cheap, fast-changing trends. But behind the racks of polyester dresses and knockoff sneakers lies a global industry creaking undertheweight ofits own contradictions: overflowing landfills, exploitative labour, and a high carbon footprint. The world is reachinga breaking point, and governments are stepping into the business model of fast fashion which seems almost magical: clothes produced at lightning speed, mimicking runway designs, sold at rock-bottom prices.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the fashion industry contributes up to 10% of global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and shipping combined.Eachyear,millions of tonnes of unsold clothes are dumped or exported to developing countries, overwhelming local waste systems. In Ghana, the Kantamanto market receives 15 million items of discarded clothing every week, mostly unwearable,and that is either piling upin open dumps or washing into waterways. Then there is the human toll. Fast fashion thrives ona race to the bottom in labour costs, relying heavily on workers in Bangladesh, Vietnam,and Cambodia, many of whom endure long hours, unsafe conditions, and poverty wages. The 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Dhaka, which killed more than 1,100 garment workers, was a stark reminder ofhowdangerous'cheap fashion'can be.