Norton, Elizabeth

English

Salem State University: Digital Commons

RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012
www.PosterPresentations.com
Clothing shopping can be a burden when trying to find the right 
garments but there are simplicities to it such as new clothes being 
produced at extremely high rates. Fast fashion is “inexpensive and 
widely available of-the-moment garments” (Bick, Halsey, and 
Ekenga). Styles come and go but the synthetic materials the clothes 
are made up of never leave the Earth after disposing them. A 
startling 85% of the textiles made in the US will never decay 
(Schlossberg). Fashion trends go through cycles every so often 
meaning the clothing from that trend has the same lifespan as the 
trend lasts. With social media having a big impact in today’s fashion 
world, trends can last as little as a few weeks. There are ways that 
are becoming more mainstream that are helping shoppers become 
more sustainable. These include buying second-hand, shopping small 
businesses, and eco-friendly sustainably made brands. Some 
alternatives can be more difficult for the bargain shoppers such as 
sustainable brands, but second-hand shopping is a price conscious 
alternative for anybody. With denim being a more problematic item 
to produce and more than 1.7 billion pairs are produced yearly 
(Moorhouse), we must find alternatives to buying new. In order to 
make fashion more sustainable, the work must be done as a 
collective between the consumers and producers. We must lengthen 
the life cycle of clothing so that it moves from life to life, redesigned 
and reinvented.
Abstract
• Only about 1/5th of the clothes donated to second-hand stores are directly 
sold in-store. You may think that’s not a lot but with the amount of 
overflow constantly coming in, there is not enough people in America to 
be able to absorb that amount of product. 
• The rest of the clothing is sold per pound to textile recyclers. According 
to figures from Trans-America, “about 30% of these textiles are 
turned into absorbent wiping rags for industrial uses, and another 
25–30% are recycled into fiber for use as stuffing for upholstery, 
insulation, and the manufacture of paper products” (Claudio 
2007). 
• From the clothing that cannot be recycled, 45% of textiles are sent 
to countries that are developing nations. These countries will take 
bails of clothing and sell them at second-hand markets (Figure 4). 
Some people at those markets will buy large amounts of clothing 
and resell at another market in a smaller city. 
• Although recycling has its upside, “the real impact will come from 
creating new circular business models that account for the life 
cycle of a garment and design in the initial concept” (Moorhouse 
2020). This includes creating more sustainable fabrics and using 
organic materials. 
Recycling Old Clothes
• The fashion industry is one of the most highly polluting 
industries. 
• Cotton is widely used in materials. There are many 
downfalls to using cotton such as the water usage to be 
able to irrigate the cotton being grown. 
• One of the most polluting stages is the cultivation of 
cotton, which is the most widely used fiber in the sector. 
• Cotton cultivation accounts for 2.6% of global water use 
and requires large amounts of pesticides and fertilizers, 
which pollute groundwater, air, and soil. 
• Along with the natural fibers, there are synthetic fibers 
such as polyamide and acrylic made from petrochemicals. 
• Most of these fibers such as nylon can take decades to 
decompose. Synthetic fibers will also break down in your 
washing machine and cause microplastics in the oceans. 
Impacts of Materials and Production
The emissions from the fashion industry are rising at alarming rates. 
The transportation sector is a huge addition to the emissions and buying locally can reduce these amounts.
As shown in the Waste Hierarchy graph (Figure 6), rejecting old textiles to a landfill (Figure 7) has the largest environmental impact and the lowest value to our lives 
sustainably. Recycling is in the middle making the value higher than rejecting to a landfill but still not high enough on the graph. The best we can do for the value of
our lives is to reduce and eliminate. We must create less waste, create less emissions, and increase the local economy by choosing local fashion over fast fashion. 
The Need for Sustainability
Benefits of Organic Materials
Using sustainable fibers will be key to reducing the environmental impact the 
fashion industry puts on the Earth. 
• Natural and sustainable fibers include but are not limited to: Organic 
cotton, bamboo, flax, hemp, etc.
• Organic cotton has many environmental benefits such as:
• Improved water, soil, and air quality
• Increased biodiversity
• Eco-balance between pests and insects
• Bamboo is a natural fiber that grows without pesticides or irrigation and 
grows naturally with rainfall in 3-4 years
• The approximate yield that you would get from one acre of bamboo is 10 
times more than cotton fields
References
Ali, Muhammad, et. al. (2020). Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Fibers 
in Textile Fashion
Bick, Rachel, et. al. (2018). The Global Environmental Injustice of Fast Fashion, 
Environmental Health
Carlile, Clare (2019). The Carbon Cost of Clothing
Chavero, Toboso (2017). The Unsustainability of Fast Fashion, Datatextile , 
Num. 36, 1, p. 56-62
Claudio, Luz (2007). Waste Couture, Environmental Health Perspectives
Moorhouse, Debbie (2020). Making Fashion Sustainable, Elsevier Public Health
Mukherjee, Duseshna (2015). Environmental and Social Impact of Fashion, 
Vol2, No.3, p. 22-35
Peters, Greg, et. al. (2021). The Need to Decelerate Fast Fashion in a Hot 
Climate, ScienceDirect, Vol 295
Schlossberg,Tatiana (2019). How Fast Fashion is Destroying the Planet, 
NYTimes
Conclusion
Being conscious in our decisions and choices can make a bigger difference 
than we think. Reducing and eliminating our habits to go for the quick and 
easy route can be beneficial as well. Choosing local and organic over foreign 
and least expensive, can help by reducing emissions in every sector (Figure 2). 
With only a fifth of clothes being recycled, we need to rethink what we 
should recycle and where we should donate. Donating to a well-known 
second-hand shop may not be as beneficial as donating to a local church or 
homeless center. Again, consciousness within ourselves is the first step that is 
going to bring emissions down and the well-being of the planet up. 
Professor Hayes GPH 377
Elizabeth Norton
Analysis of Fast Fashion and its Environmental Impact
Figure 1: Water usage for each fabric type in 
m3/ton (Mukherjee 2015)
Figure 2: Climate impact for each stage in producing 
and processing fabrics and clothing (Carlile 2019)
Figure 3: Bails of clothing that are sent to be resold in under-developed 
countries
Figure 4: A woman at a second-hand market in Nairobi, Kenya. 
These clothes are sold per piece or by weight. (Claudio 2007)
Figure 5: The systematic approach to growing organic cotton 
(Ali and Sarwar 2010)
Figure 6: The waste hierarchy stating the importance to each way products are reduced, 
reduced, and recycled. (Mukherjee 2015)
Figure 7: A waste pile of clothing and various textiles in a landfill. 
(Schlossberg 2019)


Winner: Analysis of Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact

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Winner: Analysis of Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact

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