Fast fashion is popular with consumers thanks to affordable prices and trendy designs. But behind this popularity lies a huge cost to the environment and our planet. But how exactly does the fast fashion industry contribute to carbon emissions?

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Fast fashion is a business model that focuses on the rapid production of clothing on a large scale to keep up with ever-evolving trends dictated by luxury looks, designer runways and influencers.

This model allows retailers to offer a wide range of products and provides consumers with access to diverse fashion options at lower prices. For individual consumers, fast fashion is a more convenient and economical choice compared to high-quality, long-lasting clothing. But at what cost to our planet?

What is the connection between fast fashion and emissions?

According to data from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) from 2023

The fashion industry accounts for 10% of global CO2 emissions annually, more than international aviation and maritime transport combined. If current trends continue, the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions are expected to increase by over 50% by 2030.

Although fashion-related carbon emissions cannot be attributed solely to fast fashion, the latter remains one of the biggest contributors. In fact, the industry’s need to keep up with trends leads to the continuous production of new garments, which significantly increases its environmental footprint. Consumers often buy perfectly wearable and often still new clothes and throw them away when new trends emerge. This cycle of buying and throwing away clothes significantly increases carbon emissions and exacerbates existing environmental problems.

Let’s look at where these emissions come from:

One of the main causes of greenhouse gas emissions in the fast fashion industry is fabric production. A 2021 report by the Changing Markets Foundation found that to reduce costs in garment manufacturing, cheap materials such as polyester are often used – a synthetic and cheap fiber made from petroleum, a non-renewable fossil fuel. Although polyester can be a better fabric compared to cotton in terms of flexibility and cost, it takes about 200 years to decompose, causing significant environmental impacts such as soil damage and groundwater poisoning. In addition, it can produce three times as much carbon emissions as cotton manufacturing, leading to serious air pollution. It is estimated that a single polyester T-shirt emits 5.5 kg CO2e, compared to 2.1 kg CO2e for a cotton T-shirt.

In addition to fabric production, the manufacturing processes for fast fashion are another important factor. More than 60% of textiles are used by the clothing industry, with a significant amount of production taking place in developing countries such as China, India and Bangladesh. These regions have relied on coal-fired power plants for clothing production for decades, further increasing the carbon footprint of each garment.

This mode of production also has enormous social impacts. Labor is cheap in developing countries, which drives down the price of fast-fashion items while making it harder for workers to earn a living. It is estimated that out of 75 million factory workers, less than 2% can earn a sufficient wage to support themselves.

More on the topic: The danger of exploitation

Building factories in developing countries not only increases carbon emissions during the production process, but also emissions associated with transportation. Companies must transport raw materials to these production countries and then distribute the manufactured products worldwide. Some garments even travel around the world several times during the manufacturing process. A 2024 study found that jeans production and cross-border transportation account for 91% of the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption.

If nothing changes, research forecasts suggest that the fashion industry could be responsible for 26% of global CO2 emissions by 2050.

Future prospects

The fashion industry’s carbon emissions are forecast to increase by 60% to 2.8 billion tonnes by 2030, roughly equivalent to the emissions of over 550 million cars per year. Therefore, it is important to think about how we can create a more sustainable future. Sustainable, slow fashion is often associated with reuse and recycling, but current methods for recycling synthetic fabrics – which most fast fashion items are made of – are quite limited. Few companies offer chemical recycling for these materials, and this technology is expensive and not widely available. Therefore, it is important that future technological advances and research focus on developing affordable and accessible production and recycling methods.

Consumers can also play an important role in reducing carbon emissions from clothing production. One effective strategy is to carefully consider whether buying new clothes is really necessary, especially since in some countries 40% of clothes purchased are never worn. In addition, buying second-hand clothes can extend the life of garments and reduce the demand for fast-fashion items.

Featured image: Chin Leong Teo.