The Pandemic impact on The textile waste crisis
The textile waste crisis is something that has been looming in the dark shadows of the fashion industry for a while now. And it’s time to bring some light into these shadows. In an article written by Rachel Brown titled “The Environmental Crisis Caused By Textile Waste” she describes how the production of textiles has a very demanding process that includes high amounts of water, electricity, chemicals and various other natural resources. And it takes roughly 2,700 liters of water in order to produce a singular cotton shirt; this fact has been recorded by the World Resource Institution. Once these clothes are produced and distributed and the owner of the clothes gets bored of them, they are then thrown away. This causes money wastage, resource wastage and the decomposition of the materials can take up to 200 years. But that’s not the worst part of it. While the materials are decomposing, the textile begins to cause greenhouse methane gas as well as cause spillage of toxic chemicals and material dyes into the soil of the ground and the groundwater.
Ready to be shocked some more? Here’s some statistics everyone should be aware of. The amount of clothing that Americans discard of each year has increased from 7 to 14 million tons within the span of 20 years. 17 million tons of textile waste was sent to landfills in 2018. 84 percent of clothes will end up in a landfill or be incinerated. Within New York City, there was more than 400 million pounds of clothes that were wasted each year.
And while these crises have been ongoing way before the pandemic started, it has only gotten worse since Covid-19 started. Covid 19 came with many issues and effected by many lives and industries. One of the affected industries includes the fashion supply chain. And because this industry was enormously wasteful before, things have only gotten progressively worse.
In an article written by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu titled “Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?” they describe how the according to the chairman of Chainge Capital- a firm that is focused on transforming the fashion business, that “A full design and delivery cycle is easily 12 months, and factory orders are usually placed five months in advance”. Meaning that many companies has already placed their overestimated orders for fabric and weren’t able to access them on time due to Covid. Brands including Adidas and Zara both made the commitment to pay for all of these orders despite the anticipation of financial loss, there were some companies that were not willing to do the same. Brands like American Eagle Outfitters have declined to pay for the materials which caused textile workers to lose 16 billion dollars in wages in the span of three months in 2020. This is disastrous an already exploited and underpaid group were now losing more money.
This all leads to a lack of accountability among big brands and companies with regards to the waste that they produce in the chase to keep exclusivity and luxury alive, an aspect that ultimately fuels fast fashion. It does so as regular individuals working minimum wage can’t keep up with the ever-changing fashion trends that luxury brands produce. And whether you are buying luxury or opting for a more affordable choice, there is still a massive amount of textile wastage behind it. While companies push the idea of mindful consumption onto the consumer, they continue to take no accountability for their contributions to the crisis we face today. One that has a huge environmental impact on the world we live in today and the world we will live in tomorrow.
It’s time for luxury brands and businesses alike to stop pushing the narrative that regular consumers can change the crisis that they created. The only aspect that will change the environmental hazard we have is for brands to create change a way to be more sustainable with the textiles they use and try to reduce the amount of waste that comes with the production of fashion items. And it’s time for consumers to show more support to brands that recognize these issues and actively fight against them.
By : Megan Maritz