The Hidden Cost of Fast Fashion

Cheap, trendy clothes have never been easier to buy, but their low prices hide a heavy cost. Fast fashion brands release new collections almost every week, encouraging shoppers to treat clothing as disposable. Producing these garments consumes enormous amounts of water and often relies on underpaid workers in distant factories. Once the clothes go out of style, most of them end up in landfills, where synthetic fabrics can take decades to break down. A growing number of consumers are now choosing to buy less, repair what they own, or shop second-hand. Small changes like these, repeated by millions of people, could gradually reshape the entire industry.