The total greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production are more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Some other fast facts about fast fashion:
1. It takes about 2,700L of water to make one cotton t-shirt (enough water for you to drink for 2 and a half years). About 7,500L for a pair of jeans. Cotton also uses an enormous amount of insecticides and pesticides and can often be horrible for our lands & farmers.⠀
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2. We now buy 60% more clothing than before 2000 and only keep it for half as long. This equals a whole lot of waste.⠀
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3. Americans now dump 16 million tons of clothing into the trash each year. Australians throw 6,000kg into landfill every 10 minuted.⠀
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4. The International Labor Organization estimates 170 million children are working in child labor, with most making clothes to satisfy the demand of US, Europe, UK & Australia. Fast fashion is a race to the bottom for the cheapest goods and children and workers in developing countries are the cheapest labor.⠀
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5. It costs enormous amounts of money to even get the clothes to landfill. NYC spends 20.6 million dollars a year to ship waste textiles to landfills and incinerators. That’s just one city and one tiny piece of the cost equation of clothes. ⠀
6. Women are wearing an item on average 7x before getting rid of it and women on average wear only 40% of what’s in their wardrobe. ⠀
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For now, focus on high-quality pieces made ethically and transparently from natural material (preferably linen & hemp). Shop from second-hand stores or local sales on eBay or similar. Minimize your wardrobe and wear clothes you love for years and can mix and match with everything. Look after everything well; treasure your items, repair them and wash them gently. ⠀