Clothing piled in a landfill. (Source: Textile Mountain Film)

With growing environmental concern and minimal action on a national level, the American consumer has taken to their own habits to fight against climate change, whether it be reducing their one-use plastic waste or taking three minute showers. However, perhaps one of the biggest culprits of pollution and climate change is right under our noses: our clothes! With clothing ads swarming the web, consumers are constantly being tempted with cheap price tags. Buying a new pair of jeans and donating last season’s shorts doesn’t usually elicit concern about its environmental impact or disposal route. As a $2.5 trillion global industry, the fashion industry is dependent on wasteful consumerism, especially in Western countries. 

What does the life of a typical garment look like? Your favorite top probably doesn’t have a very happy beginning. Most garments are made from cotton grown in India, China, Brazil, US, and Pakistan, but at the hands of unfairly treated workers. Cotton has been nicknamed the world’s dirtiest crop not only because of how resource-intensive and pollutive the growing process is, but also the industry’s notorious labor malpractices. W0rkers in cotton manufacturing face adverse and illegal working conditions, including forced labor and child labor. More, these workers are exposed to excessive amounts of toxic pesticides. 

Cotton uses more pesticides than any crop in the world, accounting for $2.6 billion worth of pesticides per year globally. These toxic chemicals contaminate nearby bodies of water and often, groundwater resources. Cotton cultivation is also extremely water demanding; it takes 1800 gallons of water to produce one pair of jeans! Loss of biodiversity due to monocropping and soil degradation are also inherent issues tied to this industry. 

Don’t forget about those beautiful patterns on your favorite fall sweater! Textiles undergo a dyeing process that is  water-intensive and pollutes nearby water bodies. The fashion industry is responsible for one fifth of the world’s industrial water pollution. Companies manufacture in counties with weak regulations to exploit the environment and their workers. For example, Bangladesh, the world’s second largest garment manufacturer, has rivers polluted with carcinogenic chemicals from synthetic dye, compromising the health of its communities and altering river composition (even its color!). 

Textile wastewater pollution in Bangladesh. (Source: Probal Rashid)

Garment workers, who transform these colorful textiles into clothes, face unfair wages and working conditions, abroad and domestically. For example, in Bangladesh, the second largest apparel manufacturer, garment workers make around $30 a month, and are forced to work 14 to 16 hours a day in dangerous environments. In the US, the Garment District in Los Angeles has also recently been investigated for labor malpractice and unsafe working conditions. 

So what happens to clothes that are not bought by retailers, like H&M? Unbought clothes are usually sold to other companies (i.e. TJ Maxx), thrift stores, or recycling companies (i.e. TransAmerica). In some cases, companies will burn excess garments, releasing toxins into the air. Storing and properly disposing unused inventory  costs US retailers $50 billion a year. 

We often assume our donated clothes end up in nearby communities in need. However, only around 10% of donated clothes are actually sold by thrift and consignment stores. The rest is sold to textile recycling firms, who recycle clothing into industrial rags or other textile byproducts. Only 20% of the textiles are recycled while the rest are shipped to sub-Saharan Africa or other developing countries. The US alone exports more than a billion pounds of used clothing each year. It turns out, around 80% of all textiles end up in landfills, where it can take up to 200 years to decompose, all the while emitting methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas.

Unwanted clothes are bundled into tight packages to be sent overseas. (Source: China Brands)

The influx of Western secondhand clothing in African countries has greatly impacted these country’s economies, creating a further economic and social dependency on the West. Local textile manufacturers are unable to compete with the large quantities and cheap prices of Western secondhand clothing. This has led to the collapse of domestic garment industries, resulting in job loss and decreased domestic economic revenue.  This job loss was so significant that in 2016, many East African countries considered banning second-hand apparel in their markets. 

In Mozambique, they call these clothes “roupa da calamidade”, clothes of calamity and in Nigeria, “kafa ulaya,” clothes of the dead white ones. 

The dependency on these clothing imports, and a lack of domestic garment production, creates a displacement of traditional clothing and a shift towards Westernized fashion. The erasure of culture, invaded by unwanted clothing of the West and Far East, depicts the neo-colonialism hidden in our capitalist economy. 

The way our fashion and garment industry currently operates allows us to indulge in large amounts of cheap clothing, but only by exploiting our environment and other people.