The Dark Side of Fast Fashion

source : laruna.id

     Fast fashion is a popular industry that provides trendy clothing at affordable prices, making it accessible to many people. However, this rapid production often harms the environment through waste and pollution. Many factories involved also exploit workers by offering low wages and poor working conditions. This problem is particularly common in countries with weak labor laws, allowing brands to cut costs unfairly. To combat these issues, new regulations aim to reduce waste, improve labor standards, and encourage sustainability in the fashion industry. 

  Fast fashion significantly harms the environment by creating excessive waste and pollution. According to an analysis by Business Insider, the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change. It also consumes large amounts of water and pollutes rivers with harmful chemicals from production processes. Factories often release toxic substances into the air and water, further damaging ecosystems. Moreover, 85% of unused textiles are discarded in landfills annually, leading to overwhelming textile waste. These issues show that fast fashion’s production and disposal processes have a devastating impact on the environment. Therefore, it is crucial to adopt sustainable practices and rethink how clothing is produced and consumed.

     Fast fashion takes advantage of workers by prioritizing profit over fair treatment. Around 60% of global garment production takes place in Asia, with countries like China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka leading the way. Despite the high prices of fast fashion products, workers in these countries remain trapped in poverty. According to Rita Tambunan from the Trade Union Rights Center (TURC), many garment workers are forced to work 10-12 hours a day for wages that only last two weeks. For example, a T-shirt from Adidas may cost 60 euros (around 700,000 IDR), almost equivalent to the workers’ monthly salary. This highlights the severe imbalance in the industry, where only the employers benefit, while workers continue to struggle with poor wages and harsh conditions. The focus on cutting costs at the expense of workers’ rights reveals the injustice embedded in fast fashion’s business model.

    Fast fashion encourages people to buy too many items in cheap prices, low-quality clothes that are thrown away quickly. This wastes natural resources like water and energy used in production. It also increases textile waste, which pollutes the environment. The bandwagon effect makes this worse, where people buy clothes just because others are doing the same, without thinking about their own needs. New collections are released often, making people throw away old clothes to keep up with trends. Around 27% of millennials replace their clothes to match the latest fashion. This cycle of constantly buying new clothes harms the environment and adds to waste. 

     In conclusion, fast fashion has serious negative effects on both the environment and workers. It creates a lot of waste and pollution, uses up natural resources, and contributes to climate change. Workers in few countries especially Asia are paid very low and work in bad conditions, which shows the unfair side of the industry. Additionally, the habit of buying cheap clothes that quickly go out of style only makes the problem worse by adding more waste. To solve these issues, we need to support more sustainable practices and better working conditions. By making better choices, we can help create a fairer and greener fashion industry, leading to a better future for everyone.

Nyoman Ayu Laksmi Wulandari (44) 

Putu Tya Taranni Tejaswari (47) 

Project Analytical Exposition Text

Sastra Inggris by Mrs. Devi