Fast fashion is bad for the environment

Question

The fast fashion chain is directly linked to environmental pollution due to the use of material and immediate disposal. The extensive resource extraction is also a definitive issue. A huge issue with fast fashion is the massive use of water and the waste water that particularly is used with the making of textiles. The industry produces 92 million tonnes of waste a year. And beyond just waste water, the industry also has a huge impact on CO2 emissions. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9

Answer 1

It is true that fast fashion is bad for the environment. A primary source that I found was an article the explained and broke down the numbers of how fast fashion is hurting the environment: Rethinking Fast Fashion: The Environmental Cost of Cheap Clothes - Frost & Sullivan Institute This supports the original claim about fast fashion being bad for the environment.  Another source was a government website: Fast Fashion—Great for Your Wallet, Costly for the Planet | U.S. GAO. This even further supports the claim because government websites are considered to be one of the most reliable.
 

Answer 2

After lots of research, this claim seems to be fully true. Producing fast fashion clothing requires large amounts of water, energy, and chemicals, and many of these clothes end up in landfills after only a few wears. Evidence supporting this claim includes research showing that the fashion industry is one of the world’s largest polluters, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and water contamination from dyes and synthetic fibers. Fast fashion also relies heavily on synthetic materials like polyester, which shed microplastics into waterways. The overall fast fashion system prioritizes speed and low cost over environmental sustainability, reinforcing the claim that it has a harmful environmental impact.

https://www.economicsobservatory.com/how-does-fast-fashion-affect-the-environment

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6307129/

https://sustain.ucla.edu/2024/02/16/the-fast-fashion-epidemic/

Answer 3

This claim that fast fashion contributes a huge amount of pollution and harms the environment is true. 

According to an analysis from Business Insider, production of fast fashion adds 10% of the total global carbon emissions. With 85% of textiles going to dumps each year, and 500,000 microfibers being dumped into the ocean each year, fast fashion being dumped is worth the same as 50 billion plastic bottles.

Earth.Org Global Commons. (2026, February 3). The environmental impact of fast fashion, explained. Earth.Org. https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/

Not only does fast fashion cause pollution, but it also causes global warming. The decomposition process of dumped clothing releases methane. Methane, along with other harmful pollutants that are brought into the atmosphere, contribute to global warming. Clothing items that are being dumped take decades or centuries to decompose, making the amount stack up over time.

The Institute for Environmental Research and Education. (2025, June 30). Why is fast fashion bad for the environment? IERE. https://iere.org/why-is-fast-fashion-bad-for-the-environment/

Finally, the amount of water that is used to make the clothing is extremely high. It takes 2,700 liters of water to make one shirt made out of cotton. That is equivalent to around what one person drinks in two and a half years. This is harmful to the environment because valuable fresh water does not go where it is needed, but it is instead used to create more clothes, which become waste very quickly. 

Stawarz, S. (2025, August 4). The hidden cost of fast fashion: A threat to land and water conservation. The Conservation Foundation. https://theconservationfoundation.org/the-cost-of-fast-fashion/

Answer 4

This claim is true. Fast fashion still has a large environmental impact despite efforts to make the fashion industry more sustainable and ethical. My source is a secondary source that analyzes multiple primary reports. It's from Earth.org, which is an environmental media organization. This source uses credible studies and published information from the United Nations to communicate with its audiences. This article analyzes the effects of the fast fashion industry, reiterating the claim that fast fashion negatively affects our water. This source also pointed out the effects of microplastics and energy use. Here are quotes and evidence I found support this claim: 

- "According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, emissions from textile manufacturing alone are projected to skyrocket by 60% by 2030." 

- "The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of water among industries, requiring about 700 gallons to produce one cotton shirt and 2,000 gallons of water to produce a pair of jeans." 

- " A 2017 report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that 35% of all microplastics – tiny pieces of non-biodegradable plastic – found in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles like polyester."

I could not find evidence that supports this claim being false. 

Source- https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/