Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world, and according to The World Bank, the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of our global CO2 emissions, and around 20% of our wastewater comes from dyeing and treating fabrics.
However, fashion isn't only amongst the most polluting industries; it's also one of the most wasteful ones.
Consider all the people around the world, we all wear clothes every day, but do we all have as much clothes as we need? No, we probably have way more than we need.
An average consumer throws away over 70 pounds of clothing every year. Globally we produce 13 million tons of textile waste each year 95% of which could be reused or recycled.
To reduce the fashion industry's impact on the environment, we need to buy fewer clothes and improve the quality and sustainability of the clothing itself. Both of these strategies are necessary in solving the fashion problem.
If we keep buying and producing an excess amount of clothing, no matter how sustainable they are, we still create a lot of unnecessary waste and emissions.
If we focus on buying less yet fail to challenge the way our clothing is being produced, we're continuing to poison the environment, just to a smaller extent.
That's why sustainable fashion has a crucial part in reducing fashion's impact, but it won't be enough all by itself.