The European Union has launched a new strategy whose main aim is to promote sustainability in every currently marketed product. Clothes, furniture, digital gadgets, and other products at every stage of use must be highly durable and easy to repair when get damaged. By adopting this approach, companies would be able to ensure that their product is environmentally sound and abrasion-resistant. Furthermore, the strategy will clamp down on companies that deceive their customers by claiming to be eco-friendly.
In support of this, Ioana Popescu, a member of an environmental NGO, stated that these rules were formulated to encourage the manufacture of long-lasting products. Also, this strategy has cracked down on Europe’s fast fashion by implementing these rules on the textile industry. Furthermore, people will gain more knowledge regarding the reuse, repair, and recycling of the products instead of discarding them instantly.
What Is Fast Fashion?
The term fast fashion refers to turning trendy clothing samples worn on catwalks into garments by placing them in high-end stores. This transition of clothes from fashion carpets straight to the garment stores is done at a breathtaking speed to meet consumer demand. This way, buyers can wear them while they are still at the height of their popularity. Eventually, these clothes are discarded as soon as the fashion trends change.
Could Ditching Fast Fashion Be Useful?
Excessive consumption, overproduction, and tossing out clothes at a breakneck speed have made the fashion industry one of the world’s major polluters. Numerous reasons make fast fashion bad, for instance;
- One of the negative impacts of fast fashion is that it uses low-priced and toxic textile dyes. Moreover, clothing industries extensively use a polyester fabric, known for shedding microfibers, thus increasing plastic in the environment. These things serve as the prime polluters of greenhouse gases, water, and air.
- Apart from being detrimental to the environment, fast fashion can deteriorate an individual’s health. Working persistently for long hours in an environment filled with toxic chemicals could easily take a toll on one’s well-being.
Hence, the fashion carpet can be turned eco-friendly by making fine adjustments to the lifestyle. For instance, people need to stop buying new clothes for every occasion. In other words, buy less so that the consumer demand decreases, ultimately reducing the burden on the surroundings. Furthermore, purchasing second-hand items can make the fashion industry sustainable. This way, the longevity of the clothes will increase.
What Made the European Union Suppress Fast Fashion?
Environmental degradation, increase in morbidity levels, and extinction of animals is something that cannot be overlooked. A lot of things contribute to causing this negative impact. The European environmental agency reported that fashion has the fourth-highest influence on the climate other than food and transport. For every individual, the textile industry in Europe requires at least nine cubic meters of water and 400-meter squares of land. Around 391 kg of raw material is consumed, which generates a carbon footprint of about 270 kg. This data made the politicians of the UK force the government to make certain changes in the law that would make the fashion industry more sustainable.