In 2020, when the world was in lockdown, my classes moved online, stores and restaurants were closed, and social media was the only entertainment left, I spent hours flipping through Instagram Reels. My feed was flooded with fashion videos, try-on hauls, and product unboxings. Even though I had nowhere to be, it was fun to click through these posts, discover new online stores, and plan future outfits.
Still, the sheer volume of clothes being advertised to me was alarming—not to mention the low cost. I was used to paying $30 for a T-shirt, but I was shocked to see similar items selling for under $10, making them seem almost disposable. I had been aware of the fast fashion problem, but it wasn’t until then that I realized the issue was much larger than I’d imagined. According to the consulting firm McKinsey, worldwide clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014, and consumers are keeping clothing items about half as long as they did in the early aughts. McKinsey also suggests that the cheapest items tend to be worn the least, with some consumers wearing a piece of clothing just about seven or eight times before getting rid of it. A staggering 70 percent of clothing and shoes end up in landfills, according to 2018 data from the US Environmental Protection Agency, with many items containing microplastics that will take years to degrade. But it’s not just landfills that we should be concerned about. A 2021 report from the World Economic Forum listed fashion production as the planet’s third largest polluter (after food and construction), releasing 5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The industry creates more CO2 every year than shipping and aviation combined.
