Threads: Woven, Frayed, & Leaching
The Intersectional Impacts of the Fast Fashion Industry
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Environmental Impacts
The impacts of fast fashion on global ecosystems cannot be overstated. The systems that create fast fashion, and the dumps in which garments degrade impact water quality, inject microplastics into the waterways and land, burn copious amounts of fossil fuels during the many stages of garment creation and transportation, and are designed with a limited lifespan, thereby increasing the demand for higher production rates. The rate at which garments are manufactured, and the rates of disposal of clothing items and corresponding environmental degradation are entirely unsustainable, most specifically for low and middle income countries and impoverished communities.
![David Suzuki Foundation. (n.d.). [Pile of discarded clothing and waste] [Photograph]. David Suzuki Foundation. https://davidsuzuki.org/living-green/the-environmental-cost-of-fast-fashion/](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sitesv/AAzXCkcbif5tVvXgHGoefQ_RQ8X1-v_TC0-kKezoDkeC0sW1pis_IFcg67lMSQUUIiA--UFm7Bh0SSt-RcB_RW54xC0jiiuhyEYI3OCGSl8A6aeTM99yw-Z6tALvKVDP2Z6pxhl7_jDWgVa5c-tuPt7XvoBbs6w5ho-cGzwFH3Q7B93kzx_tQFdpc6anmEPQwBrZm6c83OyfDzuPjt3WjG8xiz0b4pp-In4n-t_gKkA=w1280)
The David Suzuki Foundation offers a well-organized overview of the various types of environmental concerns caused by the fast fashion industry and throw-away culture. Water usage and contamination, microplastics, and carbon emissions are all parts of a much larger and more complex problem that encompasses fraudulent marketing, labor exploitation, and problematic cultural norms in high-income countries. While this resource is not an in-depth look at any single issue, it does offer a collection of secondary websites, options for identifying fast-fashion brands, and ways in which consumers can practice sustainable purchasing and garment care. This resource would be a great starting point for high school students (or even middle school kids) who are looking for context and areas for further research.
Photo: David Suzuki Foundation. (n.d.). [Pile of discarded clothing and waste] [Photograph]. David Suzuki Foundation. https://davidsuzuki.org/living-green/the-environmental-cost-of-fast-fashion/
The European Environment Agency has published a briefing that outlines the textile sources of marine, air, and soil microplastics, types of microplastics, and solutions to microplastic contamination that target multiple stages in the manufacturing and recycling stages of textiles. This briefing states that, "[b]etween 200,000 and 500,000 tonnes of microplastics from textiles enter the global marine environment each year," which only compounds the existing "14 million tonnes of microplastics [that] have accumulated on the world’s ocean floor according to research estimates," (European Environment Agency, 2022). The diagrams contained in this briefing, as well as the informational content, are excellent supplemental material for students at the high school level, and at the middle school level, with support.
Photo: Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP). (2022). [Illustration of sources of microplastics, release routes, and sinks] [Illustration]. In Microplastics from textiles: Towards a circular economy for textiles in Europe (Briefing No. 16/2021). European Environment Agency.
Social Impacts
Fast fashion not only impacts global ecosystems, but it impacts most those who already suffer from systemic injustice, oppression, poverty, food insecurity, crime, and political corruption. Fast fashion is not solely an environmental issue, but becomes an issue of great socio-political importance because it impacts the most vulnerable communities, and the most vulnerable within those communities. While countries like Canada seem to be far removed from issues of textile-specific hazards in the work environment or in issues of child labour, recent reports suggest that Canada and other wealthy nations are complicit in the ongoing endangerment of workers, including
Sheri Meyerhoffer, the Ombud responsible for this report, details that "an estimated 160 million children were engaged in child labour globally as of 2020. A further 8.9 million children are estimated to be in child labour by the end of 2022, due to increasing poverty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic," (3). The report goes on to state that "children between the ages of five and 11 [account] for more than half of this number" (13).
Photo: Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. (2023). [Cover page of Respect for Child Rights and the Risk of Child Labour in the Global Operations and Supply Chains of Canadian Garment Companies] [Cover image]. Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. https://core-ombuds.canada.ca/core_ombuds-ocre_ombuds/assets/pdfs/rights_child_labour-droits_enfant_travail-eng-1.pdf
![Life Is My Movie Entertainment. (2015). The True Cost [Poster]. Life Is My Movie Entertainment. https://truecostmovie.com/](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sitesv/AAzXCkfuo2eMVThWajf-ruI0CNPtGGDybAp3p-PTFfe_VkCQm53g1ky8U2kQe6JF8u_rRpYzY1YXMOhh7T9qbHGzXzKVOWHOFeP-RjBzsB1q3kjXCJB8NSsiQWbM5VcYGZF668b_5XbrCxqkmVGGZw8-ur8TxdBCHVCgCXjIjMaX2eM9cg8frWvAPQuYxgLinTMoTcvPhMpft0_qaHx5oMx-nZZk6p8ptTEFIRHJ77U=w1280)
The True Cost, a documentary about the fashion industry and the human rights violations committed in the pursuit of profit. The True Cost demonstrates the violences that women disproportionally suffer within the garment industry, and the propensity for further detrimental impact due to their preexisting impoverishment and potential housing and food insecurities. Additionally, the environments in which these women work are often hazardous to their health, lacking ventilation or air filtration systems, forcing repetitive motions, allowing limited time for rest, and all in buildings with poor building quality, subject to collapse and fire.
Photo: Life Is My Movie Entertainment. (2015). The True Cost [Poster]. Life Is My Movie Entertainment. https://truecostmovie.com/
![McElvaney, K. (2025). Fast fashion and waste colonialism in Ghana [Photograph]. Greenpeace International. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/73504/4-reasons-why-fast-fashion-will-never-be-green/](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sitesv/AAzXCkdLFHjYGvdu3NLLC--ERU0UF19PfzXdIyun4oq5o30BQPuHMvoLAJEQ6Qd-_w55raMC1PxY9pEpgsDHeqrvc4DDEYstQZvWhTECu9YFAmzntKb6ic-CjpNGSE1Xdlwj5Z4blwoR0qrPUjQqORZYTxfu8F5rla7uYOEOUtR95Ln01wnVbHNH4TJjRmFhvxdjgVTOLIAIG6oEoIQBjYozPd24N9z7H347m-p3Qy0=w1280)
Bick et al. asserts that low and middle income countries (LMICs) "produce 90% of the world's clothing,"(2) often in hazardous occupational environments, and that the disposal of these garments is, likewise, sent away from affluent shores to be sorted and disposed of. Bick et al. writes that "[s]econd-hand clothing not sold in the United States market is compressed into 1000-pound bales and exported overseas to be "graded" 9sorted, categorized, and re-baled) by low-wage workers in LMICs and sold in second-hand markets. Clothing not sold in markets becomes solid waste, clogging rivers, greenways, and parks, and creating the potential for additional environmental health hazards in LMICs lacking robust municipal waste systems," (2-3).
Photo: McElvaney, K. (2025). Fast fashion and waste colonialism in Ghana [Photograph]. Greenpeace International. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/73504/4-reasons-why-fast-fashion-will-never-be-green/
Pathways Forward
Pathways towards a sustainable fashion future are under investigation, and these include environmentally friendly textile development, renewable fiber options, and recycling options for second-hand garments.
The Ellen Macarthur Foundation is dedicated to studying sustainability pathways through the implementation of circular economy systems. The Foundation touches on many arenas, such as plastic pollution reduction, nature-positive agriculture, as well as the fashion industry. Change in the fashion industry is framed through circular business models and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). While the theoretical elements of The Foundation's work are impressive, their development of business tools and techniques, their 39 key reporting frameworks, their international networking and case studies, and their transparent reporting indicate that The MacArthur Foundation is eagerly putting its money where its mouth is.
Photo: Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2024). [Cover page of Impact Report Summary 2024] [Cover image]. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. https://content.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/m/6b9b37a53360393e/original/Impact-Report-Summary-2024.pdf
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Sustainable Textiles: Shallow Dive Reflection
Sometimes, while researching any topic, it is easy to lose sight of the day-to-day reality of many millions of people who slog along, doing the best they can with the resources at their disposal. This morning, for example, I washed four loads of laundry, super-sized, extra dirty, because that is the life of a pre-schooler parent, of a parent in a multi-dog household, of a parent-who-works-fulltime. I’m grateful for the resources at my disposal; a brand-new washer and dryer combo in my spacious bathroom, a well that has never run dry, laundry soap and dryer sheets, money to buy more if needed, and a functional septic to take care of the drainage. I didn’t think once about microplastics or the potential harm that my laundry is having/ has had on the environment. I am not wracked with guilt, because I am doing the best that I can, but doing the best that I can, with my substantial resources and quality of life, should mean that I am also doing what is best for the environment and for my local community. Why does is it not?
After reading through dozens of articles and websites, it is evident that the academic reality of textile sustainability is both inaccessible to the average reader due to problematic public literacy rates in Canada[1], and because both the information and the alternative textile choices are locked behind elitist paywalls, price gouging, and lack of local availability. Both issues forge feelings of shame in the consumer, but none so impactful as the shame crafted in store aisles, a luxury-branded sustainable item in one hand, and one that is less desirable, but still functional, in the other. The average consumer is not wealthy, they live with little financial wiggle room, and many are within a few hundred dollars of losing a roof, a car, a utility, or being consumed by debt[2] [3]. Even when the masses are empowered with information, they remain disempowered in their financial means and exist in a state of shame because of it.
My overall impression of the issue of sustainability in the textile industry is that sustainable options need to be default options rather than conscious choices, researched choices, or investment choices. If the consumer needs to spend effort and mental energy in a shop, the battle is half lost. If the consumer must pick their way through jargon-rich websites and articles to understand the difference between textile options, seeds of doubt and powerlessness take root. If a consumer is already struggling financially, then expensive alternatives to synthetic fibers or pricy local alternatives to international sweat-shop prices aren’t attainable. What sustainability in the textile industry boils down to isn’t that the public needs more alternatives to synthetics, more locally made items, more articles and websites preaching at them: the public needs access to what already exists, both geographically and financially. Get that stuff in Costco, at a reasonable price, and actual sustainability is right around the corner.
[1] Statistics Canada. (2005, November 30). Percent of population at each proficiency level: Canada, provinces, and territories, aged 16 and over, 2003 [Statistical table]. In Building on our Competencies: Canadian Results of the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS). Statistics Canada. Retrieved September 21, 2025, from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/statistical-programs/document/4406_D1_T9_V1-eng.pdf
[2] Statistics Canada. (2024, approximately April). Income Explorer, 2021 Census [Infographic]. Statistics Canada. Retrieved September 21, 2025, from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/dv-vd/income-revenu/index-en.html
[3] Statistics Canada. (2025, May 1). Table 11-10-0066-01: Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by Market Basket Measure region, component and base year [Data table]. Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110006601 Statistics Canada+1
References
Bick, R., Halsey, E., & Ekenga, C. C. (2018). The global environmental injustice of fast fashion: A global environmental justice dilemma. Environmental Health, 17(1), Article 92. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7
Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. (2023). Respect for child rights and the risk of child labour in Canadian garment companies’ supply chains. Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://core-ombuds.canada.ca/core_ombuds-ocre_ombuds/assets/pdfs/rights_child_labour-droits_enfant_travail-eng-1.pdf
Cobbing, M., & Vicaire, Y. (2017). Fashion at the crossroads: A review of initiatives to slow and close the loop in the fashion industry. Greenpeace e.V. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/detox/2017/Fashion-at-the-Crossroads.pdf
David Suzuki Foundation. (n.d.). The environmental costs of fast fashion. Living Green. Retrieved September 9, 2025, from https://davidsuzuki.org/living-green/the-environmental-cost-of-fast-fashion/
Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2025). Impact report summary 2024. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved September 9, 2025, from https://content.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/m/6b9b37a53360393e/original/Impact-Report-Summary-2024.pdf
European Environment Agency. (2022, February 10). Microplastics from textiles: Towards a circular economy for textiles in Europe (EEA Briefing, No. 16/2021). Publications Office of the European Union. Retrieved September 11, 2025, from https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/microplastics-from-textiles-towards-a-circular-economy-for-textiles-in-europe/
Gray, S., Druckman, A., Sadhukhan, J., & James, K. (2022). Reducing the environmental impact of clothing: An exploration of the potential of alternative business models. Sustainability, 14(10), 6292. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106292
Mahdi, E., Hernández Ochoa, D. R., Vaziri, A., Dean, A., & Kucukvar, M. (2021). Khalasa date palm leaf fiber as a potential reinforcement for polymeric composite materials. Composite Structures, 265, 113501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.113501
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2025). Education at a glance 2025: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en
Statistics Canada. (2024, April 17). Income in Canada, 2020 (Income Explorer, 2021 Census). Government of Canada. Retrieved September 18, 2025, from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/dv-vd/income-revenu/index-en.html
Statistics Canada. (2005, November 30). Percent of population at each proficiency level: Canada, provinces, and territories, aged 16 and over, 2003 [Statistical table]. In Building on our Competencies: Canadian Results of the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS). Statistics Canada. Retrieved September 21, 2025, from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/statistical-programs/document/4406_D1_T9_V1-eng.pdf
Untold Creative, LLC. (n.d.). Human Rights. In The true cost website. Retrieved September 10, 2025, from https://truecostmovie.com/learn-more/human-rights/
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