The fashion industry has a huge Impact on the environment. In fact, it is the second largest polluter in the world, placed right behind the oil industry. The world purchases 80 billion pieces of clothing each year and the growth is rapidly increasing.The fashion industry has impacted our environment in several ways. For example, water consumption, the use of chemicals in fashion, destruction, and greenhouse gas emissions are a few ways on how the fashion industry is impacting our environment.

Water Consumption

  One of the major water consumers is the fashion industry. A huge amount of freshwater is used for the dyeing and finishing process of our clothes. Everyday we strive to be mindful of our intake of water by turning the tap off when we don't use it or taking shorter baths.

But there is one thing that doesn't cross our minds when thinking of saving water and that is the amount of clothes we purchase! One cotton t-shirt needs 2700 liters of water to be produced and you may ask why? Well the growth, manufacturing, transporting, and washing of cotton uses a lot of water. A 2017 study found that 79 billion cubic meters of water was used by the apparel industry alone and by 2030 the expected figure is set to rise by 50%. The expected growth sounds insane as the earth's water supply is already running low. The Aral sea has almost vanished as most of the water is gone to help with the production of fashion.

750 million people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water and 1.5 trillion liters of water are used by the fashion industry each year. The water used to make one t-shirt is enough water for an average human to use for 900 days. That sounds ridiculous and it is ridiculous.So much water is being used to produce the t-shirt that you are wearing right now and you don't even know it!

Chemicals in Fashion

All the chemicals and products used to make a cotton t-shirt for example, affect our environment in many ways. To start off, there is a lot of water pollution due to the fashion industry. Textile dyeing being the second largest polluter of water. This is because the leftover water from the dyeing process is dumped into ditches, streams or rivers. Drying textiles also cause lots of water pollution. Waste water contains hazardous contaminants  such as, led, mercury and arsenic. These are particularly detrimental to the marine life and wellbeing of millions of people on the banks of those rivers.The waste even enters the sea and gradually spreads to the rest of the world. Fertilizers is another major source of water contamination.

Additionally, our clothes are basically made up of a bunch of chemicals. In order to turn the raw material into the final product, over 8000 synthetic chemicals are used. These chemicals are used during the fibre production, dyeing, bleaching, and wet processing of all of our clothes.The excessive use of chemicals in cotton cultivation causes illness and premature death among cotton growers, as well as significant contamination of fresh water , ocean water, and soil destruction. The user is also affected by some of these chemicals. All in all, all chemicals and other products used in the manufacturing and processing of garments impact our environment harshly.

Destruction

The fashion industry has caused a lot of rainforest destruction. Some clothes are made from a material called rayon or viscose. This material has  a silk type feel. They are made from old growth trees from endangered rainforests. You lose about 60% of the tree through the chemical breakdown to produce viscose. Dissolving pulp mills are located all across the world but the best mills source are from Canada's boreal forest, Indonesia's rainforest and the Amazon. Due to the loss of trees in the rainforest because of the fashion industry, many species are losing their habitat. Every year 70 million trees are cut down, in 20 years this number is expected to double. If this number continues to grow rapidly, we will be endangering a lot of species and be destroying the ecosystem.

GreenHouse Gas Emissions

The world's fashion industry generates a lot of greenhouse gas emission. It is responsible for 10% of the global carbon emissions. This number is fairly high due to the energy used for production, manufacturing and transportation of all the clothes purchased year round. Most of our clothes are made from synthetic fibre and these are made from fossil fuel. Fossil fuel causes the energy process to be much more intensive. As the global carbon emissions increase our environment is being highly impacted as the earth's temperature is rising. If the global carbon emission continues to grow at a faster rate our environment will be in trouble.

Solutions

The fashion industry affects our environment in many ways, however there are ways to reduce the negative impact of your wardrobe on our environment. One way you can do this is by renting clothes instead of buying them for your next event.

South asian clothes consist of long dresses using a lot of fabric. Due to the high use of fabric, South asian clothes probably affect our environment the most. By renting clothes you are reusing/recycling clothes, saving money, and contributing towards change in your environment. ALMARI360 provides formal South Asian and bridal dresses for rent.  We have a large selection of clothes to choose from. We also carry a lot of designer clothes. For example, republic womenswear, Suffuse by Sana Yasir, Sana Safinaz, etc. You can rent your lenghas, bridal wear, and formal collections Canada-wide (and the US soon!). We are an online Indian dress rental/ Pakistani dress rental website located in Toronto, Ontario. We can provide express shipping in Canada and same day shipping if you live in the GTA by emailing us at Almari360rentals@gmail.com. .We have got an endless amount of collections just waiting for you to rock them on the runway. If you want to look fabulous and help save the environment  for your next event, shop almari360.com and you won't regret it.