By Angel Baikakedi, Allison Boden, and Lise Shiroma

As it stands today, the global fast fashion industry poses a direct challenge to building just economies. While it has made clothing more accessible than ever, it does so at a greater cost to the environment and labor systems. Driven by rapid production cycles and low-cost manufacturing, the industry externalizes its true costs by reinforcing structural inequalities between the Global North and Global South.

Addressing fast fashion requires an intersectional approach grounded in multiple SDGs, primarily SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), and SDG 13 (climate action).

Fast fashion relies on low-cost labor, often sourced from the Global South, where labor protections and regulations are weak. While this practice lowers production costs and increases profit margins, it comes at the expense of garment workers. For example, in Indian sweatshops, the average wage is 58 cents per hour and in Bangladesh, it is as low as 33 cents per hour. These wages trap workers in cycles of poverty rather than lifting them up, undermining SDG 1.

Directly related is the industry’s threat to SDG 3 through unsafe working environments. Workers generally operate in unregulated, poorly ventilated facilities, with limited access to water and personal protective equipment (PPE), which causes illness, injury, or even deaths from building fires or collapses. These life-threatening conditions are a direct result of systemic exploitation through a business model that prioritizes profit over people.

Furthermore, fast fashion undermines SDG 5 by perpetuating systemic gender inequalities. Women constitute roughly 75% of garment workers in the industry, making them disproportionately exposed to the industry’s gender-based violence and harassment. Reports from Bangladesh show widespread psychological, verbal, and sexual abuse within factory settings. Women also face coercion and threats, often used to keep them from speaking out about their working conditions.

Fast fashion, as a result, exacerbates global and domestic inequalities (SDG 10). In the US, textile-heavy landfills are 2.8 times more likely to be located in areas with higher BIPOC populations. As two-thirds of the US’ annual 34 billion pound textile waste is directed to American landfills, it puts BIPOC communities at higher risk of health issues caused by landfill gases and polluted waters. The consequences of American consumerism also extend beyond the US, as the Global North’s excess consumption is ultimately exported to the Global South, primarily Africa, as unsalvageable textile waste, shifting the environmental burden to already vulnerable populations.

The environmental footprint of fast fashion is severe. Textile production is highly water-intensive, requiring anywhere between 2,000 and 4,000 liters of water to produce a single pair of jeans. Production facilities typically don’t employ safe filtration or disposal practices, so microplastics, heavy metals, and chlorine released in the course of production risk contaminating natural water sources, with implications for SDG 6.

Beyond water pollution, fast fashion contributes significantly to climate change, impacting SDG 13. Omitting the obvious emissions of delivering the jeans to your door, their polluting life cycle continues, with each wash releasing 50,000 individual microfibres. The industry is a key driver of what has been described as a “triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature, land and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.”

At its core, fast fashion thrives on overconsumption. Consumers purchase more clothing than ever before, while garment usage has declined 36% over the last 15 years. All the while, an average American accumulates 81.5 pounds of textile waste annually. Additionally, about 50,000 tons of secondhand clothing are exported from the US to the Global South each year, with the majority of it ending up in landfills or incinerators. This highlights the urgency of SDG 12. Without addressing consumption patterns in the Global North, efforts to improve labor or environmental standards in the Global South will remain incomplete.

Ultimately, addressing the harmful effects of fast fashion is fundamental to building just economies. This requires a shift towards more responsible consumption and production practices that prioritize sustainability, accountability, and equity. Local initiatives, like ReThread DC, are contributing to this effort by creating a culture of recovery and reuse through clothing swaps, as well as free mending and upcycling workshops. Reduce your footprint by joining an upcoming event or signing up to be a volunteer.

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Angel Baikakedi is an MA candidate in International Economic Policy, Allison Boden is an MA candidate in International Affairs, and Lise Shiroma is an MA candidate in International Affairs in the Elliott School, George Washington University.