Fast fashion's hidden cost

Cheap clothes have huge environmental cost

What you probably already know: Chinese fast fashion company Shein made headlines this week as regulators in the U.S. and China raised concerns about the company’s plans to make an initial public offering in the U.S. The company, which is valued at $66 billion, sells on-trend clothes for extremely low prices, primarily via social media.

Why? Shein is under the microscope for compliance and transparency issues, but it’s hardly the only company in the fast fashion industry. Temu made a big splash last year with Super Bowl ads, and Zara, Forever 21 and others have done this kind of quick-turn, cheap product for years. While these trendy clothes are popular with Millennials and Gen Z, they have a huge environmental impact that often goes unmentioned.

What it means: About 10% of global carbon emissions and 20% of wastewater come from fashion companies, meanwhile 57% of all discarded clothing ends up in landfills. The plastics used in manufacturing or in the clothes themselves then end up in our water supplies — the equivalent of dumping 50 billion plastic bottles into the ocean. Fast fashion companies often make use of materials like viscose, also known as rayon, which is derived from wood pulp that’s spun into fibers, a process that is extremely toxic, and is tied to the rapid depletion of the world’s forests.

What happens now: There are a variety of companies seeking to provide alternatives to the fast fashion industry, including Rent the Runway and Armoire, which provide customers a range of clothing to rent and then return. Additionally, companies like Evrnu are creating fabrics from recycled textile waste, and companies like Ridwell, Trashie and Retold Recycling take used clothes and textiles and sort them, sending some to thrift stores and others to up-cyclers.