UNIUBE 2022

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    For most people shopping in America, it’s unavoidable: fast fashion is all over the place. Though definitions may vary, this large chunk of the clothing available today includes items made and shipped as cheaply and quickly as possible. And though fast fashion puts all the latest runway trends in shopper’s baskets right away, the speed and trendiness come with environmental and ethical consequences.

    Some of the most dominant textiles used in fast fashion are cotton and synthetics like polyester. Cotton farming, which is water-intensive, requires pesticides and fertilizers, which runoff into rivers and lakes to create toxic conditions for wildlife. Meanwhile, polyester — which, according to Greenpeace, is in about 60 percent of clothing made today — comes from the fossil fuel petroleum. Not only does the crude oil have to be extracted and refined, but the polyester fibers are slow to break down in landfills and are partially responsible for the microplastics washing out into bodies of water. Recently, microplastics showed up in 70 of 71 of sea water samples researchers pulled from the Arctic. Of the plastics found, over 67 percent was polyester fiber.

    Despite the pollutants going into fast fashion, the products only make brief appearances in our closets. The average American gets rid of 80 pounds of clothing each year, a figure that has grown in the last decade and a half. And though some estimate up to 95 percent of wasted clothing could be recycled, over 65 percent of what Americans toss winds up in landfills.

(Leslie Nemo. www.discovermagazine.com, 25.06.2021. Adaptado.)