The fashion industry is responsible for approximately 10% of global carbon emissions & 20% of industrial water pollution. Additionally, about 92 million tonnes of textile waste yearly.
OPENING
Since the Christmas season is just around the corner, people will spend money on items they can’t afford. I’m not writing this post to judge anyone or shame people for their choices, but to share a story, a story of a Red Dress I bought in 2005.
THE RED DRESS
The Red Dress cost me an arm and a leg. The purchase was aspirational, as I couldn’t afford such an expensive item.
However, I put the rational thinking aside and paid for the dress with my credit card. One of the reasons I wanted this dress so badly was the deep red colour and how the silk felt wrapped up around my body.
I knew I wouldn’t wear it often, but it didn’t matter to me. I loved the silk dress and how it felt wrapped around my body.
To this day, I only wear this dress on very special occasions, fancy parties or weddings. I’m pretty sure that 2025 Magda wouldn’t have spent that much on a dress, as my consumer aspirations are very minimalist and practical at this point in time.
But in 2005, I was a different person, with very different aspirations and dreams I wanted to follow.
In 2005, instead of Internet temptations, women’s magazines tempted many women’s imaginations while systematically draining their wallets (I was one of those women). Nowadays, 24/7 Online shopping and influencer culture drain people’s pockets.
CONTEXT
Before my shopping craze that lasted from 2005 to 2007, I was a student on a very tight budget and low income, which meant that I was constantly on the hunt for a bargain if I wanted to buy any clothes.
I had zero environmental or sustainability awareness in my 20s, and, in all honesty, I don’t remember anyone in the 2000s expressing serious concerns about the environmental impact of fashion. I also don’t remember the fast-fashion brands being on steroids, creating an artificial demand by forcing 52 “micro seasons” on consumers instead of following the traditional four seasons.
Even as a student, I liked good-quality clothing, so shops like H&M didn’t really interest me. I was after good texture and durability, which cost more, so I started shopping exclusively during sales.
Unfortunately, once I graduated, I developed a rather destructive habit of changing the majority of my wardrobe every year (why I did that, I have no idea). It didn’t help that I ended up working with someone who actively encouraged me to accumulate consumer debt. (We all have to be very careful who we ask for financial advice, what advice we listen to, and what the people’s personal motivations are for giving such advice.) And the debt I accumulated because I couldn’t really afford the expensive items I purchased, such as the Red Dress, which cost me £500 back in 2005.
It wasn’t the only expensive clothing item I bought that I couldn’t afford. By 2007, I had purchased between 20 and 30 designer clothes that I hardly ever wore or felt comfortable wearing. Some of those items I kept, while the rest I gave to friends and donated to charities.
MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!
Let’s say I spent £10,000 on 20 items between 2005 and 2007.
What if instead of buying the physical items, I had invested that same amount in low-cost index funds?
According to Copilot, if I had invested £10.000 in index funds in 2005, I would have had £48,000 – £68,000 by now. That is, without doing anything or adding any additional capital to this pot, just re-investing the dividends.
Well, I didn’t do that, and maybe I should have, we will never know.
CONCLUSION
If I was to advice the 20-year-old Magda I would have told her to do research, a lot of research into finances and alternative ways of living, learn basic financial literacy (it’s shocking that school don’t teach that), be curious and ask questions and of course don’t be afraid of money and don’t be scared of taking financial risks especially in your 20’s.
I paid £ 500 for the Red Dress in 2005. If I divide £500 by 20 (the number of years I’ve owned the dress), it equals £25 a year to use it, which is not a bad ratio.
However, what if, instead of paying £500 up front for my Red Dress, I had bought 20 dresses for £25 each every year from 2005 until 2025? I would have ended up with 20 clothing items in total instead of one. I can assure you I don’t need 20 dresses, and most of them would have ended up in a charity shop.
Sometimes the initial price is worth it, especially if you are one of those people who isn’t obsessed with seasonal fashion. Nowadays, I consciously make choices and save up money to buy only clothing items that will last me a long time, feel wonderful wrapped around my body, and be kind to the environment and Mother Nature.
FASHION FACTS
Why has clothing production moved overseas?
– The Global South has offered lower wages than the Global North, which helps companies to increase their profits.
– Some countries have less strict labour laws and environmental regulations, which reduces manufacturing costs.
– Easy access to the raw material sources, such as cotton or synthetic fibres, cuts the supply chain and speeds up production.
– China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam can quickly scale up production.
Let’s talk numbers
- Annual Production: 100–150 billion garments
- Daily Production: 274–410 million garments
- The numbers above show that each person on Earth would need to buy, on average, 12–20 garments per year.
The end of life for clothes
- Domestic resale: Charities and thrift stores resell some of the clothing items. However, because of the poor quality of the items produced, the charity shops struggle with sales and the number of donations.
- Global resale: Many donated clothes are exported to the Global South, where they’re sold in large secondhand markets. Luckily, the Global South is working hard towards not being a dumping ground for the Global North’s pollution.
- Some clothing is recycled into: industrial rags; insulation material, or new fabrics (though only a small fraction is actually reused this way, as many garments are made of mixed fibres, which are difficult to recycle).
- In some countries, over 70% of clothes end up in landfills or are incinerated (used clothes are incinerated for energy recovery, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions).
- 92 million tonnes of textile waste are generated annually worldwide.
Why can’t poor-quality clothes be recycled?
- Most cheap clothing is made from blends like cotton-polyester, which are difficult to separate with current recycling technology. Each fibre type requires a different recycling process, and separating them is labour-intensive and costly.
- Low-quality garments are often dyed with harsh chemicals and finished with coatings such as wrinkle-resistant or waterproof finishes, which can contaminate the recycling process or degrade fibre quality.
- Fast-fashion garments are made from inferior fibres that break down faster and can’t be spun into new yarns.
- Too many add-ons, such as plastic logos, zippers, sequins, glitter, elastic or spandex, make it hard to recycle the item without manual separation, which is too costly for large-scale recycling.
- Recyclers prioritise better-quality textiles that are easier and more profitable to process.
Producing just one cotton T-shirt requires
- 2,500 to 3,000 litres (660–800 gallons) of water. The water is mainly used in cotton farming.
- Around 270 grams (0.6 pounds) of cotton is harvested from about 1 square meter of a cotton field.
- 2–5 kWh of energy is used in farming, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and transportation.
- Making one T-shirt produces about 2–6 kg of CO₂ (how the T-shirt is produced and transported matters)
You Might Also Be Interested In
Legacy of a Red Dress: From 1980s Fashion to the Truth About Fast Fashion Waste (short film)
RECOURSES
No One Knows How Many Clothes Are Made. Why Won’t Brands Tell Us?
10 Concerning Fast Fashion Waste Statistics
How Many Garments Are Produced Each Year?
Global Apparel Industry Statistics (2025)
Your J.Crew Outlet Clothes Aren’t ‘Discounted,’ They’re Just Cheap
In Trendy World Of Fast Fashion, Styles Aren’t Made To Last
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