Why Make the Switch to Luxury Rental?
Over the past few years, the environmental effects of the fashion industry have come to light as consumers recognise the negative effects of Fast Fashion.
Fast Fashion refers to cheaply produced and priced clothing that copies latest fashion trends and is moved quickly through stores to maximise purchases. Fast fashion was introduced as a way to produce large numbers of clothing that could be sold cheaply and rapidly throughout the world, however, many environmental repercussions have occurred from this seemingly brilliant system. The pressure to reduce cost and the time it takes to get a product from design to shop means that environmental corners are more likely to be cut. Some of these environmental considerations include water pollution, the use of toxic chemicals and increasing levels of textile waste. It is said that textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture, and fast fashion is second only to oil as the world’s largest polluter.
A clear issue with fast fashion is the water pollution that is occurring due to the use of clothing dye and other toxic chemicals. As stated in UXL Sustainable living book, “Clean water is essential to life and is a basic human right. For this reason, it is a cornerstone of a sustainable society.” Unfortunately, as a result of fast fashion in many countries such as China there is a lack of clean water as water pollution from dyes and chemicals is becoming more prevalent. As a primary area for the production and manufacturing of jeans, Asia has unfortunately begun to suffer the consequences of the fashion production industry and, “It is estimated that 70 percent of Asia's rivers and lakes are contaminated by the 2.5 billion gallons of wastewater produced by that continent's textile industry.” A contributing factor to this contamination and concern is China’s relaxed and flexible laws when it comes to the fashion production industry and together with their cheap labour, they are not very concerned about environmental effects. A concern about the consequences of fast fashion is that when dealing with some toxic chemicals there is not much that can be done to remove them from water and “In China, according to the World Bank 17 to 20 percent of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment, indeed 72 toxic chemicals in China’s water originate solely from textile dyeing. Of these, 30 cannot be removed.”
It is obvious that globally people have a bit of a shopping problem as trends are constantly changing and fashionistas are refreshing their wardrobes in order to stay at the top of fashion. This, however, means that clothes are always in quick and mass production to keep up with the ever-changing industry. Here Fast Fashion is at its prime, but while customers flock to purchase the newest dresses the environment is suffering due to the effects of the fashion industry.
However, there are solutions to the problem of Fast Fashion that will significantly decrease the negative impacts on the environment while still allowing the top trends of clothing to be worn by individuals. One of these solutions being renting high quality clothing over purchasing them.
By using renting services such as Rent the Runway and Fashion Alta Moda, customers have the opportunity to rent garments of the highest quality for a night out instead of purchasing the garments. Instead of that garment only being worn once or twice for fear of being seen in the same outfit on multiple occasions, there is the opportunity for it to rented and worn multiple times by different women, thereby decreasing the numbers of the garments that need to be produced, which in turn reduces clothing’s impact to the environment.
For our society to transition successfully into the future, it is essential that options such as renting high quality garments move into the forefront of consumer minds so that we can all work towards a more ecologically and environmentally friendly sustainable fashion industry.
Fast Fashion refers to cheaply produced and priced clothing that copies latest fashion trends and is moved quickly through stores to maximise purchases. Fast fashion was introduced as a way to produce large numbers of clothing that could be sold cheaply and rapidly throughout the world, however, many environmental repercussions have occurred from this seemingly brilliant system. The pressure to reduce cost and the time it takes to get a product from design to shop means that environmental corners are more likely to be cut. Some of these environmental considerations include water pollution, the use of toxic chemicals and increasing levels of textile waste. It is said that textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture, and fast fashion is second only to oil as the world’s largest polluter.
A clear issue with fast fashion is the water pollution that is occurring due to the use of clothing dye and other toxic chemicals. As stated in UXL Sustainable living book, “Clean water is essential to life and is a basic human right. For this reason, it is a cornerstone of a sustainable society.” Unfortunately, as a result of fast fashion in many countries such as China there is a lack of clean water as water pollution from dyes and chemicals is becoming more prevalent. As a primary area for the production and manufacturing of jeans, Asia has unfortunately begun to suffer the consequences of the fashion production industry and, “It is estimated that 70 percent of Asia's rivers and lakes are contaminated by the 2.5 billion gallons of wastewater produced by that continent's textile industry.” A contributing factor to this contamination and concern is China’s relaxed and flexible laws when it comes to the fashion production industry and together with their cheap labour, they are not very concerned about environmental effects. A concern about the consequences of fast fashion is that when dealing with some toxic chemicals there is not much that can be done to remove them from water and “In China, according to the World Bank 17 to 20 percent of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment, indeed 72 toxic chemicals in China’s water originate solely from textile dyeing. Of these, 30 cannot be removed.”
It is obvious that globally people have a bit of a shopping problem as trends are constantly changing and fashionistas are refreshing their wardrobes in order to stay at the top of fashion. This, however, means that clothes are always in quick and mass production to keep up with the ever-changing industry. Here Fast Fashion is at its prime, but while customers flock to purchase the newest dresses the environment is suffering due to the effects of the fashion industry.
However, there are solutions to the problem of Fast Fashion that will significantly decrease the negative impacts on the environment while still allowing the top trends of clothing to be worn by individuals. One of these solutions being renting high quality clothing over purchasing them.
By using renting services such as Rent the Runway and Fashion Alta Moda, customers have the opportunity to rent garments of the highest quality for a night out instead of purchasing the garments. Instead of that garment only being worn once or twice for fear of being seen in the same outfit on multiple occasions, there is the opportunity for it to rented and worn multiple times by different women, thereby decreasing the numbers of the garments that need to be produced, which in turn reduces clothing’s impact to the environment.
For our society to transition successfully into the future, it is essential that options such as renting high quality garments move into the forefront of consumer minds so that we can all work towards a more ecologically and environmentally friendly sustainable fashion industry.