Stephen Ndirangu Thuita

 Students Name Institution Course Professor Due date Executive Summary Fast fashion is one of the best-performing sectors in the world. The sector focuses on the production of low-quality clothes that will be affordable to many people. However, despite the numerous advantages of the industries, they also have detrimental impacts on society and the environment. Some of them include underpayment, poor working conditions, and human trafficking. On the other hand, environmentally related impacts include carbon pollution and landfills, among others, that emit poisonous gases and toxic substances to the environment that cause cardiovascular diseases and different types of cancer in neighboring communities and workers. This has raised a lot of concern about how these detrimental impacts should be reduced. Therefore, both governmental and non-governmental institutions have established laws and regulations that these industries must adhere to. Also, there are other alternatives, such as the use of silk in manufacturing, that help reduce adverse impacts. Detrimental Effects of Fast Fashion Fast fashion is a rapidly growing sector in the world. Examples of these fast fashion industries include Zara and Polo, among others. These industries focus on the production of cheap, poor-quality, and disposable clothing that is affordable to many people. Research indicates that these industries produce approximately 80 billion garments annually, a production rate that has increased remarkably over the years. However, despite the numerous advantages of this sector, there are many detrimental effects that have been linked with it. Some of these effects are society-related, for example, poor pay and harsh working conditions for employees—while others are environmental-related, such as carbon pollution (The secrets behind fast fashion. (n.d.). For these effects to be curbed, both governmental and non-governmental organizations are working collaboratively on establishing the best mitigation measures, for example, the use of silk as an alternative in clothing. This paper, therefore, focuses on the detrimental effects of fast fashion on society and the environment. One of the detrimental effects of fast fashion is on society. Here, the employees working in these industries are being exploited. One of the well-known fast fashion industries has been established in Leicester, Birmingham, and Manchester. Despite the profit margins that these industries are generating, the rights of workers in these companies are violated. For example, according to (Baruta, 2021), 90% of workers are underpaid, a situation that makes most of them unable to meet their daily needs. Also, the working conditions are not favorable to many employees because there are no rewards given when an employee works extra hours. To mitigate this, the government must set policies that will ensure that the employees’ rights are not violated, for example, the minimum amount of salary that each should receive in a month. In addition, the fast fashion industry has resulted in to forced labor which accounts to approximately 81%. In this case, many children and women have been forced to work. Some of them are not paid, while others are underpaid. Examples of countries that have reported such incidences include China, India, Turkey, and Bangladesh, among others. Also, many cases of human trafficking have been reported, where most of the victims are transported to these countries for cheap labor Many of these people are sourced from third-world countries, where they are convinced they will get better pay when they work in these industries. Therefore, many are transported through agencies to these countries. However, these problems have not been addressed by corporate social responsibility, and therefore, less than 10% of the total is saved. Therefore, for us to curb these effects, both governmental and non-governmental institutions must set policies that will eliminate all these human-related effects. Another detrimental effect of fast fashion on society includes unfavorable working conditions (Montessori, 2018). In this case, employees are exposed to many risks, such as fire and injuries when operating the machinery, among others. Lack of personal protective gear during production exposes workers to various health risks, such as different types of cancer that are caused by the emission of carcinogenic compounds into the environment. Also, these emissions affect the neighboring communities surrounding the companies, where most of them suffer from cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease. Fast fashion also has detrimental effects on the environment. First, these industries consume a lot of water. In his case, the total amount of water used to produce one kilogram of cotton is approximately 10,000 liters. If not treated well, these waters end up flowing into seas and oceans, affecting aquatic life and resulting in many animal deaths. Also, textile dyeing plays a critical role in the production of toxic chemicals that are projected to end up in the oceans for disposal. Wastewaters produced by these industries cannot be treated to make them safe for human consumption again, and therefore, they end up being disposed of in the oceans. To curb this problem, government regulators must establish measures that fast fashion companies should adhere to before disposing of their waste. Another environmental impact of fast fashion is carbon emissions. According to (Bailey et al., 2022), these industries emit approximately 10% of the total carbon globally. For example, many fast fashion industries prefer using synthetic materials because of their lower prices, thus reducing the cost of production. Also, the materials used have detrimental effects on the quality of the products. Research indicates that micro plastics used in fast fashion have the highest rate of carbon emission as compared to cotton. In addition, the rate at which plastics decompose is very low, and when it decomposes, it emits toxic substances that have adverse effects on soil and marine ecosystems. Failure to remove these micro plastics from the oceans results in adverse health effects as they end up in the human food chain. Therefore, fast fashion should establish measures on how to minimize the usage of micro plastics by coming up with alternatives such as the use of organic cotton and wild silk, among others. High rates of clothing consumption are another detrimental effect that results in environmental degradation. In this case, since many people can afford clothing and new trends on the market, there are no proper ways of disposing of them. In these cases, many garments are of poor quality, and their durability is therefore limited. This results in the purchase of new ones, while the old ones are disposed of and end up in landfills. Research also indicates that many people prefer throwing their clothes than donating them, where 57% end up in landfills (Bailey et al., 2022). This poses environmental and health dangers to the people living near them because of the large amounts of toxic substances, such as poisonous gases, that are being emitted. However, there are concerns on how to control these effects, for example, by using high-quality materials during clothing production and also adopting the best measures when disposing of them. In conclusion, despite the numerous advantages of fast fashion industries, such as the creation of job opportunities, they have also resulted in many detrimental effects on society and the environment. Societal-related effects include unfavorable working conditions and human trafficking, while environmental effects include excessive clothing and a high carbon emission rate. These detrimental effects have raised many concerns for both governmental and non-governmental institutions on how to establish the best mitigation measures that will reduce the adverse effects. Some of them include the establishment of policies to be followed before disposing of wastewater and how workers’ rights will not be violated. Also, alternatives have been used to minimize the rate of environmental degradation, for example, the use of fibers and organic cotton instead of micro plastics during clothing production. References Bailey, K., Basu, A., & Sharma, S. (2022). The Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion on Water Quality: A Systematic Review. Water, 14(7), 1073. Baruta, C. (2021, September 21). The detrimental effects of fast-fashion on children’s rights. Humanium. https://www.humanium.org/en/the-detrimental-effects-of-fast-fashion-on-childrens-rights/ Montessori, M. (2018, December 14). Child Labour In The Fashion Industry. Good on You; Good On You. https://goodonyou.eco/child-labour/ The secrets behind fast fashion. (n.d.). Centreforjournalism-Kent.shorthandstories.com. Retrieved September 2, 2022, from https://centreforjournalism-kent.shorthandstories.com/the-secrets-behind-fast-fashion/index.html