Briefing Paper 655 – Fast Fashion and the Environment by Lois Law
The rise of the fast fashion industry in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has had enormous social, economic and environmental consequences. It is a huge industry built on over-production, overconsumption, and the excessive use of natural resources to the detriment of the environment; and it engages in exploitative labour practices in rampant pursuit of profit.2 Fast fashion causes catastrophic environmental damage through extreme resource depletion, toxic chemical pollution, and overwhelming waste.