Standing in front of my overflowing closet, I feel my guilt-ridden conscience come forward. Hangers click together as I push past sequined tops, flowy dresses and t-shirts I haven't touched in months.
Under the bed, a bin of "out of style" clothing taunts me with the ghosts of past fashion trends, while on my phone sits full shopping carts from Amazon, Shein and ZARA, waiting for my impulsive final click. The weight of it all — the options, the excess, the cycle — feels crushing.
Clothing has seeped into every part of our lives, dictating our identity, our habits, even our impact on the planet. And yet, as I stare into this mountain of fabric I have let into my home, I wonder if this cycle will ever end.
The need for excess clothing made quickly and cheaply, the want for a new wardrobe every six months because the 'coastal grandma aesthetic' is out and 'mob wife core' is in, and the constant want for more, more, more — I wonder if we will ever change the way we live, or if we're too far down this path of unsustainable fashion and environmental damage.
The fashion industry and the environment
Fast fashion dominates over half the fashion industry, making up $150.82 billion in sales, according to a 2024 report by Uniform Market. The cheaply-made clothes produced by fast fashion giants like ZARA and Shein offer affordable, on-trend clothing, fueling consumers' need to spend less and buy more.
The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of water after agriculture and is responsible for up to 10% of annual global carbon emissions. Virgin polyester, a cheap synthetic fiber, has doubled in production since 2000, releasing microplastics into the environment with every wash. Denim production alone consumes around 7,600 liters of water per pair of jeans.
"The fashion industry is responsible for a great deal of the damage to the environment," Deborah Young, a professor at ASU FIDM, said. "We are the second-most damaging industry after oil and the second-most consuming of water after agriculture. So I feel strongly that since we broke it, we have a responsibility to fix it."
Landfills are overflowing with discarded clothing — 11.3 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills in 2018. The industry thrives on rapid turnover, with brands producing up to 52 'micro-seasons' per year. These habits fuel a culture of disposability, where garments are designed to last only a few wears before being discarded.
Young estimates that by 2050, the Earth's population may outgrow its water needs. Therefore, fashion needs to reevaluate its water usage.
"We have to change our wicked ways even if it's not what we want to," Young said.
The fashion industry's vast scale makes sustainability seem daunting, yet brands like Gap and Nike seem to be stepping up, unveiling plans to go fully green within the next decade through innovative, eco-friendly production methods.
But can the fashion industry truly ever become sustainable?
What does "sustainable production" mean?
Sustainable fashion is the practice of sourcing, designing and selling clothing with minimal impact on the environment. This includes reducing resource usage and ensuring that the end products can be integrated back to nature.
But sustainable production is not as straightforward, and for many companies, the switch to sustainable practices is a costly one.
"Unfortunately, we are at a place in society where doing the right thing can oftentimes be more expensive," Lisa Shrigley, an associate professor of fashion visual merchandising with ASU FIDM, said. "I think most people in the industry would agree with me that the reason that they can't be as ethically responsible as they would like to be is it's really expensive."
Each quarter, fashion companies continue to strive for more sustainable production, releasing new eco-friendly production plans. Yet, despite efforts to evolve sustainability practices, much of the fashion industry still benefits from unsustainable production models.
"There will be the giants that will continue because they'll get away with it, because I think the answer to all of this is education, and we're not educating everybody," Young said. "There are people who are opting out that don't want to know. They just want what they want."
Educating consumers can have a major influence on brands changing their production habits, as more buyers become educated, practicing habits like mindful consumption and voting in favor of sustainability laws can have lasting effects on the fashion industry.
Polyester and fast fashion's origins
The fashion industry owes much of its success to the abundance of cheap, synthetic, fossil fuel-based fibers such as polyester, which is now ubiquitous in the fashion industry. Polyester production has increased from 20 to 60 million tons from 2000 to 2018 and is expected to exceed 90 million tons by 2030.
"(Polyester) is so widely used and so deeply ingrained in our industry," said Dionne Thompson, a professor of fashion design. "I don't think that there is a switch that you can just turn off and on that easily. But from what I have read and I have seen again, there are moves being made to figure out what polyester substitutes are."
Polyester first started to be used in mass production around the 1950s due to its affordability but also its stretchy nature, allowing clothing to be less tailored, making production faster. This allowed companies to produce clothing at massive rates.
"We live in a very expensive world, and people love fashion, and if you can create a way for them to get the fashion faster and less expensive, you've answered a lot of their issues," Thompson said.
Polyester is still a widely used textile fiber and it's also among the most harmful, generating over 700 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2015 — equivalent to the annual emissions of 180 coal-fired power plants.
Americans own too many things
Fast fashion wouldn't be the powerhouse it is today without America's culture of consumerism. The constant push of new trends and the accessibility of cheap clothing, encouraging consumers to buy into short-lived trends, fuels overconsumption.
"People buy too many clothes," Zeke Bowers, a sophomore studying fashion, said. "We just need to make less."
Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok only amplify this cycle and influence users to buy more. The average American family spends about $1700 on clothing annually while individually discarding around 68 pounds of clothing per person each year. Consumerism has created a culture where garments are purchased, worn once or twice, and then discarded.
"We as the consumer are led to think that we need all of this stuff all the time, when in reality, that's not how it used to be, and we were fine," Anna Melkozernova, a professor of textile production, said. "I think it has really created just kind of an out-of-control problem with consumerism."
This cycle of consumerism not only impacts the environment but also puts pressure on individuals to keep up with each fashion cycle, often at the expense of quality and ethical production.
Industry changes and response
Some brands are beginning to acknowledge the need for sustainable production and are investing in a variety of programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a push towards secondhand clothing.
From Coach's "(Re)Loved" program to department stores like Nordstrom offering free tailoring, fashion companies are advocating for consumers to make their existing clothing last longer rather than buying new garments.
There has also been an increase in the consumption of clothing made of responsibly produced materials and processes, and brands like Free People have started disclosing 'clean' products on their websites.
"There are certain designers like Stella McCartney (who) are taking it seriously and working with labor and labor rights, and making sure that things are made ethically," Melkozernova said. "But, I think it's still so much in the early stages that it's … going to take a really long time for there to be any kind of lasting change in the whole industry."
The growth of pre-loved fashion has been slow but steady. Starting from flea markets to now a niche retail model, this culture is on the rise — especially for premium and luxury products. Yet, consumerism is not the only thing responsible for pushing the industry to change its habits.
"I think part of the solution is on the consumer, but I think largely it falls on the manufacturers because there's just no there's no consistent regulation and accountability in place in the industry," Melkozernova said. "They're not held to any standards, like legally, really, and that needs to change for there to be any kind of lasting change."
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Shopping vintage and secondhand can help fashion's environmental impact, but experts say that companies need to be held accountable by systemic regulation to produce any lasting change.
Greenwashing
As more consumers are pushing brands to become more sustainable, some brands are scrambling to market themselves as eco-friendly for a quick cash grab — but many of these claims are misleading. Companies like H&M and Shein have been accused of 'greenwashing,' a practice in which a company makes false or vague sustainability statements while continuing harmful practices.
"Something needs to be done and it needs to be exposed," said Jill Stein, a graduate student researching fashion innovation with the College of Global Futures. "I am really surprised at how many people are still unaware ... of the deleterious effects of the fashion industry on the environment."
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Buzzwords like 'conscious collection' and 'planet-minded design' often mask the reality that only a fraction of what some companies produce meets sustainable standards. This is why experts say laws enforcing stricter regulations of production methods and textiles are needed to prevent companies from capitalizing off false sustainability claims.
"I think they have to be held accountable on a systematic level by the legal system in order to have this kind of lasting change because they're not just going out of the goodness of their heart; it's about money and business," Melkozernova said. "People are not going to make any change unless there are rules in place that they have to follow."
One recent account of a company allegedly engaging in greenwashing involved Shein, a fast-fashion giant that attempted to rebrand itself as eco-friendly by offering factory tours to influencers. Their efforts failed to acknowledge the brand's role in mass-producing fast fashion clothing at high rates.
Similarly, companies like Nike and Adidas have been called out for promoting sustainable collections while relying on cheap human labor and environmentally damaging textiles.
"Nike has had to step up. And I do mean, had to step up," Young said. "Nobody goes into this willingly. Nobody wants to spend all of that money for fun. It's because their consumers are starting to ask questions."
Until there are stricter regulations in place to ensure corporate accountability, greenwashing may continue to mislead consumers into believing they are making false ethical purchases.
Luxury doesn't mean better
Due to its high price point, many consumers turn toward luxury fashion because they assume it's more sustainable. However, some high-fashion brands also engage in environmentally harmful practices similar to fast fashion.
"I think a lot of people are maybe not aware of exactly how harmful it is, and they don't have the luxury of going to college and learning about the impacts these companies are having," Melkozernova said.
Luxury brands frequently use non-biodegradable materials like polyester. In addition, these brands often destroy unsold merchandise to maintain exclusivity rather than having their products on sale. Companies like Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Gucci have come under criticism for burning or shredding millions of dollars worth of unsold goods.
"I'm really passionate about sustainability and in fashion with how wasteful everything is, I think we especially need to be careful," Atticus Doan, a business sustainability major with a fashion minor, said. "If you care for something, you're going to take care of it, and it's going to last longer, and you're going to want to wear it more often. You're going to get more use out of something."
For a luxury brand to truly be sustainable, it needs to take responsibility for its supply chain, prioritize ethical labor and implement circular fashion initiatives like resale programs.
Consumers should also push brands to become more transparent about their sourcing and production practices; until then, buyers should be wary of higher price tags.
Will the industry ever change?
Fast fashion isn't going away anytime soon. Shein's business is only rising in numbers and even if a company like it dies, consumers will move on to the next cheap and fast way to buy clothes.
"It's no secret, and it's no surprise. Everyone is aware that fashion is a contributor to world pollution, like so many other industries," Thompson said.
The industry's economic influence and consumer demand for cheap clothing make change difficult. However, awareness is growing. If consumers prioritize quality over quantity and governments enforce stricter regulations, the fashion industry could shift toward sustainability.
"Let's just do better every year because it's too much to take on all at once," Young said.
Looking back at my closet, drawing in seas of out-of-date prints and questionable impulse buys, I have to ask myself: Will we ever break free from this cycle of fast fashion, or are we just doomed to keep hoarding, purging and panic — buying every trending item declared the new aesthetic?
Edited by Andrew Dirst, Alysa Horton and Natalia Jarrrett.
Reach the reporter at thutche1@asu.edu.
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Tiffany is a freshman studying fashion design in business administration. This is her second semester with The State Press.
