Fast Fashion: The Real Price of Low-Cost Fashion

The planet is being overwhelmed with clothes. Close to 56 million tonnes of clothes are sold every year. In Europe, the amount purchased has almost doubled since the year 2000. Thanks to fast disposable fashion, you can constantly renew your wardrobe. But producing clothes at such a low price has a very high environmental cost. Textiles are the second most polluting industry in the world, after oil.

Creating a dress for ten euros in Europe, in less than a fortnight. It’s not only possible, but it’s becoming the norm. Since the fashion industry went down the path of fast fashion, it’s always both faster and cheaper – no matter the consequences.

Let’s start with those suffering the most: the workers. They work between 12 and 15 hours a day for salaries less than half the legal minimum wage. And in abominable working conditions. Chemical products in textile factories often poison the workers and local residents.

According to the brands, they no longer have time to create. In order to satisfy an insatiable consumer appetite, copying the competition’s models makes things go faster and cheaper – even if it means risking a court case now and then.

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