The Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion on Water Quality: A Systematic Review

2022·1.7 MB·English

by  Kerrice Bailey

water
Article
The Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion on Water Quality:
A Systematic Review
KerriceBailey ,AmanBasu andSapnaSharma*
DepartmentofBiology,YorkUniversity,4700KeeleStreet,Toronto,ONM3J1P3,Canada;
[email protected](K.B.);[email protected](A.B.)
* Correspondence:[email protected];Tel.:[phone]
Abstract:Thefashionindustryisthesecondmostpollutingindustry,contributing8%ofallcarbon
emissionsand20%ofallglobalwastewater,withananticipated50%increaseingreenhousegas
emissionsby2030. Togainabetterunderstandingofthestateoftheacademicliteratureonthe
environmentalimpactsofthefastfashionindustry,wesystematicallyidentified65publicationsfrom
1996toNovember2021thatweresubjectedto(i)bibliometric,(ii)text,and(iii)contentanalysis.We
foundthatthereisagrowingresearchinterestsurroundingfastfashionandwaterquality,with74%
ofthearticlespublishedinthelast5years,andthemajorityofpublicationsandcitationsarefrom
ChinaandEuropeancountries.Wesummarisetheevaluationofproductionprocesses,suchascarbon
andwaterfootprints,alongwithrecyclingpracticesaimedtoincreasethesustainabilityofthefashion
industry.Circulareconomy,socialenvironmentalresponsibility,andsustainabilitygovernanceare
keyareasforfutureresearchinthisgrowingfield.
Keywords: fastfashion; waterquality; waterdegradation; sustainability; environmentalimpact;
textileindustry;consumerbehaviour
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:1)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:1)
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)
Citation:Bailey,K.;Basu,A.;
Sharma,S.TheEnvironmental 1. Introduction
ImpactsofFastFashiononWater Theproductionofwastecancontributetoamyriadofnegativeenvironmentalimpacts,
Quality:ASystematicReview.Water includingdecreasingairandwaterquality. Theproductionofwastewaterandtextilewaste
2022,14,1073. https://doi.org/
fromfastfashionisnoexception.Theclothingandtextileindustriesareespeciallynotorious
10.3390/w14071073
forcontributingtoenvironmentaldegradation,includinggreenhousegasemissionsand
AcademicEditor:DimitriosE. thegenerationofwastewaterandsolidwastesatthevariousstagesofproductionandlong
Alexakis supplychains[1,2]. Socialfactors,suchasthegrowingmiddleclass,growthofthefemale
workforce, andgrowingattitudesofindividuality, haveresultedinroominthemarket
Received:8March2022
fornewstylesofclothingthatarerepresentativeofnewidentities[3]. Asaresult,about
Accepted:25March2022
ninetypercentoftheworld’sclothingproductionisoutsourcedtolow-tomiddle-income
Published:29March2022
countries(LMICs),wheretheseclothingarticlesareproducedcheaply,atlowquality,and
Publisher’sNote:MDPIstaysneutral are then sold at low prices for faster production and subsequent consumption [4]. The
withregardtojurisdictionalclaimsin fast fashion system allows retailers to capitalise on the changes in consumer shopping
publishedmapsandinstitutionalaffil- behaviours,especiallyatthespeedinformationandtrendsnowhavetheabilitytotravel[5].
iations.
Thisbusinessmodelisdependentonthedesireofconsumerstostayuptodatewiththe
latestfashions,thrivingoffconstantandimpulsepurchases. Brandsnowreleasetwicethe
numberofcollectionsincomparisontothepre-2000sorthebeginningofthefastfashion
era[6]. Bykeepingboththequalityandcostofclothinglow,consumerconsumptionis
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
encouraged,whichcontinuouslypromotestheearlyorfastdisposalofclothing[1].
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
TheUnitedNationsnamesthefashionindustryasthesecondmostpollutingofall
This article is an open access article
industries,resultingin8%ofallcarbonemissionsand20%ofallglobalwastewater. The
distributed under the terms and
fashion industry is single-handedly responsible for more carbon emissions than inter-
conditionsoftheCreativeCommons
Attribution(CCBY)license(https:// nationalflightsandshippingcombinedandusesabout93billioncubicmetresofwater
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ annually[7]. Thegrowingworldpopulation,combinedwithfastfashion,hasledtomas-
4.0/). siveincreasesintextileproduction[8]. Percapitafibreconsumptionalmosttripledfrom
Water2022,14,1073.https://doi.org/10.3390/w14071073 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water
Water2022,14,1073 2of11
1950to2008,increasingfrom3.7kgto10.4kgperperson[9]. From2007to2014,textile
fibreproductionincreasedbyanadditional20.2milliontonsto90.8milliontons,andthis
numberisexpectedtogrowby3.7%compoundedannually[10]. In2015,92milliontonsof
globalfashionwastewasproducedandprojectedtoincreaseby56milliontonsby2030[2].
Althoughthefastfashionindustryisgenerallycriticisedforitsroleincreatinghaz-
ardousworkingconditionsforitsworkersinlow-tomiddle-incomecountries,itisalso
importanttoaddresstheenvironmentalissuesthatarearesultofthegrowingindustry.
Thefashionindustryconsumescopiousamountsofwaterandgenerateshugeamounts
of wastewater. As a result, the fashion industry is responsible for the consumption of
79trillionlitresofwaterannually,contributingtoabout20%ofindustrialwastewater[6].
Althoughtheliteratureextensivelycoverstopicssurroundingwatertreatmentoptions
andtextileeffluents,(i.e.,[11–13])toourknowledge,aquantitativeanalysisofthecurrent
status of research on the role of the fast fashion industry in water quality has not yet
been assessed. Our primary objective for this study was to systematically review the
literature to identify the research already conducted on the textile, garment, and fast
fashionindustriesandtheirimpactsonwaterquality. Fromananalysisof3315papers,we
identified65relevantstudiesinthefieldbyusingbibliometric,text,andqualitativecontent
analysistogainaclearerpictureofthestateoffastfashionandtheeffectsofthisindustry
onenvironmentalandwaterdegradation.
2. MaterialsandMethods
Therewere4majorstepsusedinthissystematicreview(Figure1). First,theliterature
tobereviewedwasidentifiedusingaWebofScience(WoS)searchtailoredtothetopic.
Searchtermsthatencompassallotherrelevanttopicsunderthemajorumbrellatopicwere
gatheredinordertocurateacomprehensivesetofarticlesrelevanttothetopicofstudy
(e.g., clothing, environment, and garment). The aim was to conduct a search that was
sufficientlylargeastobecomprehensivebutalsocompletelycentredonthetopicsathand.
Thetopicsearch(TS)optionofWebofSciencelooksupthesearchtermsinthetitle,abstract,
authorkeywords,andKeywordsPlusfieldsoftheWebofSciencedatabase[14,15]. The
searchqueryusedforobtainingtheprimarydatasetisgivenbelow:
(TS) = (Garment OR apparel OR fashion OR cloth* OR textile OR fabric AND
TS = (Wastewater or “wastewater” OR water) AND TS = (industr* OR commercial OR
sector)ANDTS=(environmen*ORclimateORsustainab*).
The search was conducted on 20 October 2021 and resulted in 3315 articles to be
analysed. Next,thetitlesandabstractswerescreenedforrelevancetothenatureofthe
reviewusinginclusionandexclusioncriteria. Articleswereexcludediftheywereunrelated
to(fast)fashionorthetextileindustry,focusedsolelyonwastewatertreatmentmethods,
focusedondyesordidnotmakesomeconnectionbetweenthetextileindustryandwater
qualityorenvironmentaleffects. Atotalof47articleswereselectedfromtheWebofScience
records. Anextra18wereaddedfromthereferencesofthehighlycitedarticles,resulting
in a final dataset of 65 articles deemed relevant to be analysed. To visualize trends in
thenumberofpaperspublishedannually,weplottedthenumberofpublicationsbyyear
spanningfrom1996toNovember2021(Figure2).
Subsequently, the complete records for these articles were obtained from Web of
Science, and a bibliometric analysis was performed using the Bibliometrix package in
theRstatisticalenvironment[16,17]. Togaininsightintothepatternsinpublications,a
3-FieldPlotSankeyDiagram(Figure3)wasconstructedusingtheauthorcountry,author
keywords,andsourceofpublicationwith10,10,and50itemsineachfield,respectively.
This plot summarises the relative importance of topics, the country doing the research,
andthejournalsinwhichtheworkswerepublished,usingthickerrectanglesforgreater
frequency,andmultiplethickinflowsandoutflowstoindicatemoreconnections.
WWatearte2r0 22022,21, 41,41, 0x7 F3OR PEER REVIEW 3 of3 1o2f 11

FFiigguurree 11.. FFllooww cchhaarrtt ssuummmmaarriissiinngg tthhees syysstteemmaattiiccr reevvieiewwp prroocceessssu usseeddi nint hthisiss tsutuddyy;;t hthisisi nicnlculuddesest he
the search key for the identification of articles, exclusion criteria, supplemented studies, and subse-
Water 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEWsq euaercnht bkiebylifoomrethtreici,d teenxtti, fiacnadt icoonnotefnatr tainclaelsy,seexs.c lusioncriteria,supplementedstudies,andsu4b soefq u12e nt
bibliometric,text,andcontentanalyses.
The search was conducted on 20 October 2021 and resulted in 3315 articles to be an-
alysed. Next, the titles and abstracts were screened for relevance to the nature of the re-
view using inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles were excluded if they were unrelated
to (fast) fashion or the textile industry, focused solely on wastewater treatment methods,
focused on dyes or did not make some connection between the textile industry and water
quality or environmental effects. A total of 47 articles were selected from the Web of Sci-
ence records. An extra 18 were added from the references of the highly cited articles, re-
sulting in a final dataset of 65 articles deemed relevant to be analysed. To visualize trends
in the number of papers published annually, we plotted the number of publications by
year spanning from 1996 to November 2021 (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Number of articles relating to fast fashion and environmental and water degradation span-
Figure 2. Number of articles relating to fast fashion and environmental and water degradation
ning published per year from 1996 to November 2021.
spanningpublishedperyearfrom1996toNovember2021.
Subsequently, the complete records for these articles were obtained from Web of Sci-

ence, and a bibliometric analysis was performed using the Bibliometrix package in the R
statistical environment [16,17]. To gain insight into the patterns in publications, a 3-Field
Plot Sankey Diagram (Figure 3) was constructed using the author country, author key-
words, and source of publication with 10, 10, and 50 items in each field, respectively. This
plot summarises the relative importance of topics, the country doing the research, and the
journals in which the works were published, using thicker rectangles for greater fre-
quency, and multiple thick inflows and outflows to indicate more connections.
WaWterat2e0r 2220,2124, ,1140, 7x3 FOR PEER REVIEW 5 4oof f1121

Figure 3. A Sankey diagram (3-field plot) visualisation of the top 10 countries leading research in
Figure 3. A Sankey diagram (3-field plot) visualisation of the top 10 countries leading research
the field by authors, the main research topics (keywords), and the journals that predominantly pub-
inthefieldbyauthors,themainresearchtopics(keywords),andthejournalsthatpredominantly
lish the articles. Thicker rectangles indicate greater frequency. The connecting nodes, inflows, and
puobultifslohwths einadritcicaltees m. Tohreic ckoenrnreeccttiaonngs lwesitihn dmicoartee agnrde athteicrkferer qnuoednecsy. . Theconnectingnodes,inflows,
andoutflowsindicatemoreconnectionswithmoreandthickernodes.
A full text analysis was also performed for the 65 documents using R package “ti-
Afulltextanalysiswasalsoperformedforthe65documentsusingRpackage“tidytext’
dytext’ and “tm” [18,19]. For the full text analysis, only the titles, abstracts, keywords, and
and“tm”[18,19]. Forthefulltextanalysis,onlythetitles,abstracts,keywords,andcontent
content of the papers (introduction to conclusion) of the documents were taken while the
ofthepapers(introductiontoconclusion)ofthedocumentsweretakenwhiletheheaders,
headers, footers, references, tables and figure captions, acknowledgments, and funding
footers,references,tablesandfigurecaptions,acknowledgments,andfundinginformation
information were removed. Further cleaning of the data for full text analysis was done by
wereremoved. Furthercleaningofthedataforfulltextanalysiswasdonebyremovingthe
removing the stopwords (words such as “its“, “an“, “the“, “for“, “that“, etc., which do not
stopwords(wordssuchas“its“,“an“,“the“,“for“,“that“,etc.,whichdonotaddmeaning
add meaning to a sentence), numbers, punctuations, and lowercasing all remaining
toasentence),numbers,punctuations,andlowercasingallremainingwords. Thewords
words. The words “et”, “al”, “use”, “used”, “can”, “also”, “study”, “mgl”, “mg”, “l”,
“et”,“al”,“use”,“used”,“can”,“also”,“study”,“mgl”,“mg”,“l”,“per”,“year”,and“fig”
“per”, “year”, and “fig” were also removed by further screening of the dataset. A bigram
werealsoremovedbyfurtherscreeningofthedataset. Abigramnetworkplot(Figure4)
network plot (Figure 4) was constructed with 50 as the minimum occurrence number of
wasconstructedwith50astheminimumoccurrencenumberofanypairsofwordstofilter
any pairs of words to filter out the most important concepts discussed in the analysed
outthemostimportantconceptsdiscussedintheanalysedliterature.
literature.
Finally,thecontentoftheselectedstudieswasanalysedformajorthemessurrounding
fastfashion,wastewatercontentsandcharacteristics,analysesofwastewaterimpact,and
recommendationstoslowfastfashionandtheenvironmentalandwaterdegradationcaused
bytextileeffluents.
Water 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 6 of 12

Water2022,14,1073 5of11

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waatnerd qwuaaltietry qbuaaselidtyo bnafsueldl toenxt faunlla ltyesxits .a“nTaelyxstiilse. ”“aTnedxt“ilwe”a taenrd” f“owrmatethr”e fboigrmge sthten obdigegseasnt dnbordaensc ahnd
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byinddarickaaterrdo bwys .dark arrows.
3. ResuFlitnsally, the content of the selected studies was analysed for major themes surround-
3.1in. Bg ifbalisotm faetsrhicioAnn, awlyassitsewater contents and characteristics, analyses of wastewater impact,
andT hreecWomebmoefnSdciaetniocness etoar sclhowco mfamst afnasdhyioienl daendd3 t3h1e5 epnavpireorsn,mfreonmtawl ahnicdh w47atwere rdeedgeraemdaetdion
relceavuasnetdt obtyh teesxctoilpe eeoffflutheenststu. dy;anadditional18paperswereaddedtothestudybasedon
whathadbeenpreviouslycitedintheliterature(Figure1). Fromthebibliometricanalysis,
653d. Roceusmuletsn ts were retrieved and spanned from 1996 to November 2021. There is an
ap3p.1a.r eBnibtlgiormowetirnicg Ainntaelyressist infastfashionandwaterqualitywithmostofthemanuscripts
publishedinrecentyears;ofthe65articles,48ofthem(74%)werepublishedbetween2016
The Web of Science search command yielded 3315 papers, from which 47 were
and2021(Figure2).
deemed relevant to the scope of the study; an additional 18 papers were added to the
TheJournalofCleanerProductionandWaterScienceandTechnologyhaspublished
study based on what had been previously cited in the literature (Figure 1). From the bib-
themostliteraturewithinthisfield(Figure3).AuthorsfromChinahavepublishedthemost
liometric analysis, 65 documents were retrieved and spanned from 1996 to November
articlesinfastfashionandwaterqualitydegradation,followedbytheUnitedKingdom,
2021. There is an apparent growing interest in fast fashion and water quality with most of
theUnitedStates,Turkey,andSwitzerland,respectively. Sustainabilityisthekeyconcept
the manuscripts published in recent years; of the 65 articles, 48 of them (74%) were pub-
explored,followedbyinterestsinwater,lifecycleassessment,textileindustry,andwater
lished between 2016 and 2021 (Figure 2).
footprint. Thecountriesthatarethemostinterestedinthesustainabilityoffashionbased
The Journal of Cleaner Production and Water Science and Technology has published
ontheirpublicationrecordsaretheUnitedKingdom,theUnitedStates,andTurkey. How-
the most literature within this field (Figure 3). Authors from China have published the
ever,thestudyofwaterandfashionpredominantlyoccursinChina,Belgium,India,and
most articles in fast fashion and water quality degradation, followed by the United King-
Germany,respectively(Figure3).
dom, the United States, Turkey, and Switzerland, respectively. Sustainability is the key
3.2c.oTnecxetpAt neaxlpysloisred, followed by interests in water, life cycle assessment, textile industry,
and water footprint. The countries that are the most interested in the sustainability of
Abigramnetworkplotwasusedtovisualisethefulltextwordrelationships(Figure4).
fashion based on their publication records are the United Kingdom, the United States, and
The bigram network plot shows three primary nodes as a result of the literature being
Turkey. However, the study of water and fashion predominantly occurs in China, Bel-
formedaround“textile”,“water”,and“environmental”. Itwasobservedthattextilewas
gium, India, and Germany, respectively (Figure 3).
connectedto“waste,”“industry”,and“wastewater”. Theterm“water”hadthestrongest
connectionwith“footprint”,and“environmental”with“impact(s)”. Directrelationships
3.2. Text Analysis
were observed to be formed between “circular” and “economy”, “sustainability” and
“governAa nbcige”ra,man dne“tlwifoe”rka pndlot“ cwyacsle u”s.ed to visualise the full text word relationships (Figure
4). The bigram network plot shows three primary nodes as a result of the literature being
formed around “textile”, “water”, and “environmental”. It was observed that textile was
Water2022,14,1073 6of11
4. Discussion
Throughthissystematicreview,wefoundthatthenegativeenvironmentalimpacts
asaresultofthefastfashionindustryaremanifestedthroughwaterconsumption,carbon
emissions,andenergyfootprints,particularlyintheusephaseofclothing,thesaturationof
internationalclothingmarkets,andanincreaseintheend-of-lifetextilewaste. Weobserved
morerecentresearchinterestintheeffectsoffastfashionontheenvironment,with74%of
articlespublishedinthelast5years,althoughthisisstillarelativelyunderstudiedfield
comparedtootherstressorsonwaterqualitydegradationintheworld,suchasnutrient
enrichment, climate change, and land use changes [20–22]. The fashion industry not
onlyhasconsequencesforwaterconsumptionandmanagementbutisalsoresponsible
for depleting other raw materials, such as energy and soil [23]. Here, the term textile
industryisusedasitrelatestotheproductionofbothunfinishedproducts,suchasyarn,
orfinishedproducts,suchasgarments,thusitcanbeassumeditisalsointerchangeable
when referencing the fashionindustry. The terms “fashion industry”and “fast fashion
industry” are used more specifically to identify issues pertaining to finished garments
and articles of clothing. Major players in the fast fashion industry, such as H&M and
GAP,haveplayedbigrolesinincreasingthefootprintofthefashionindustrythroughthe
shorteningoffashioncycles[24]. Theshorteningoffashioncyclesgeneratesaconstantgap
thatremainstobefilledwithnewideasanddesigns,inadditiontotheconstantneedtoget
ridofthe“old”tomakespacefornew. Majortopicareasthatareemergingintheliterature
include“sustainability”,“textileindustry”,and“waterfootprint”. Conceptssurrounding
sustainabilityarepervasivethroughoutthetextsasthisisthebasisforthemitigationof
environmentalimpacts. Below,wehighlightafewofthepredominantareasofstudyin
thisrapidlygrowingfield.
4.1. EvaluationofWaterQuality,ProductionProcesses,andProducts
4.1.1. Water,Carbon,andEnergyFootprints
Therearemanysourcesofpollutantsintextilewastewater;wastewatercanbepro-
ducedinagriculturalcultivation,feedinganimals,cleaningofmachinesafteruse,textile
pre-treatment,andwetorlaunderingprocesses[25,26]. Intotal,over1900chemicalshave
beenidentifiedthatcanbeinvolvedintextileproductionprocesses[27]. Wefoundthatthe
literaturecoversthevariousformsofwaterfootprints,includingwateralkalinityfootprints
andwater eutrophicationfootprints, asa meansofanalysing thenature oftextileefflu-
ents. ResearchershavefoundtextileeffluentstohavehigherpHthantypicallyallowed,
aswellastotalsuspendedsolids,chemicaloxygendemand,andturbiditylevels[28–30].
In some cases, the physicochemical properties of the wastewater impede its ability to
biodegrade[31]. Itisimperativetohaveafullunderstandingofhowmuchfreshwateris
consumedandhowmuchwastewaterisdischarged,consideringincreasedwaterscarcity
footprintshavebeenobservedinsomeplaces[25].Thewaterfootprint(WF)isonemeasure
ofwaterconsumptionandpollutionbybothconsumersandproducers[32]. Thewater
alkalinisationfootprinthasbeensuggestedasamethodtoanalysethehighpHofwater
bodiesreceivingeffluentfromthetextileindustry,whichcanoccurasaresultofproduction
processesthatusealotofsodiumhydroxide[13,28].
4.1.2. LifeCycleAssessments
Wefoundlifecycleassessments(LCA)tobeacommonfeatureoftheliteratureasa
meansofanalysingthesustainabilityorenvironmentalimpactsoftheprocessesorproducts
ofthetextileindustry. Thoughithasbeencritiquedfornotalwaysdirectlyaccounting
backtotheproductorigin[33],LCAsarebelievedtobeausefultooltoanalyseconsumer
behaviour, such as the annual use and disposal of garments or the sustainable chain
managementofproducts[34,35]. Forexample,oneLCAfoundthatamediumbrareceives
about30wearsand10washesoveritslifecycle;thisisprettyimportanttoconsiderasthe
productionrequiresalmost30primaryrawmaterialstobeimportedfromvariouscountries
tothelocationinwhichthebraissewntogether[36].
Water2022,14,1073 7of11
4.2. ReuseandRecycling
Therecyclingofwastewatereffluentshasbeenexploredasanoptiontoreducewater
consumption. Thecomplexityofwastewatermeansthatitscompositioncouldpossibly
providewater,nutrients,andorganicmattertosoils[37].However,notalltextilecompanies
orfactorieshavewastewatertreatmentplants,therebyreleasingunfilteredandundesirable
wastewaterintotheenvironment[28]. Sludgehasalsobeenusedtomakebricksasameans
ofrecycling;however,thesafetyofthesebricksneedstobestudied[28].
ThepopularretailerH&Mhad4.3billionUSDworthofunsoldclothingitemsin2018
asaresultoftherapidpaceofthefastfashionindustry[38]. Thisgenerateslargeamounts
of textile waste as only 15–20% is recycled annually; the other 75–80% is deposited in
landfillsorundergoesincineration[2,24]. In2015,theUnitedStateswasresponsibleforthe
exportationofover700millionUSDworthofusedclothing[4]. Thisdumpingofclothing
inAfricanandAsiancountriesaffectsthosemarkets,withsomecountrieschoosingtoban
theseimports. Inparticular,Haiti,thePhilippines,Rwanda,Tanzania,andUgandareturn
tonsofusedclothingthatissentfromNorthAmerica[24].
Reducingtheproductionofvirgintextilefibresbytheutilisationofrecyclingmethods
mayalleviatesomeoftheenvironmentalimpactsofthetextileindustry[24]. Textilereuse
extendsthelifecycleoftheitemsbytransferringthemtodifferentownersunderthesame
ordifferentconditions,creatingamarketforrenting,second-handshops,andtrading. The
moretextilesthatarerecycledorreused,thefewervirginfibreswillbeneeded,decreasing
theenvironmentalimpact[39]. Thoughtextilerecyclingeffortsarebeneficial,fibrequality
degradeswithuseandresultsmostlyinproductsofequalorlowerquality[9,39].
4.3. RegionalInterestsinFastFashion,WaterQuality,andDegradation
Thefindingsofthissystematicreviewindicatethatthereareimportantrelationships
betweenresearchinterestsinthefieldandregionalaffiliations. Inparticular,researchers
from institutions in China are observed to be key players in this emerging field. This
isparticularlyimportantasChinaisamajorplayeringlobalconsumerismandthefast
fashionindustry. Chinasolelyproducesabout2.5billiontonsofwastewaterannually[10].
China’s economy is funded greatly by the textile industry as the nation has been the
numberoneglobalexporteroftextilesandclothingsince1995[25,40]. In2016,thecountry
grossed over 963 billion Chinese Yuan as a result of its flourishing textile industry [25].
Now, the country faces grave water pollution issues, with about 32% of the country’s
water facing pollution [32]. In 2015, the textile industry accounted for 13% of the 41%
percentofwastewaterdischargeofmanufacturingindustries[41]. Anevaluationofthe
country’stextileindustrywaterfootprintindicatesthatthewaterfootprintscarcity(WSF)
andwatereutrophicationfootprint(WEF)haveincreasedfrom1996to2015;fluctuations
wereobservedasaresultofvariousgovernmentalandcompanyinterventions[25].
Europeisthemostproductiveworldregioncontributingresearchinthisfieldand
seemstohavethemostprogramsinplacetomitigatetheharmfuleffectsofthefastfashion
industry. Europeannationsseemtofocusontherecyclingoftextilewasteandresearch
focusedonfastfashionanditsassociatedenvironmentaldegradation. InDenmark,50%of
disposedtextilesarecollectedforreuseandinGermany,thenumberis70%[39]. Infact,
thereweremorepapersrelatedtorecyclinginSwedenthanintheUnitedStates[39].
4.4. MovingtowardsaMoreSustainableFashionIndustry
4.4.1. AlternateBusinessModels
Oursystematicreviewhighlightedseveraltoolsthatcouldbeusedtomovetowardsa
moresustainablefashionindustry,forexample,abusinessmodelinwhichsocietymoves
fromalineareconomy,basedonatake–make–disposeconcept,toacirculareconomythat
aimstoretainallresourcesorproductsinthesystemforaslongaspossibleinorderto
reduceend-of-lifetextilewaste[23]. Thecircularmodeloptimisestheprocessofreducing
waste through the maximal reuse of resources or generating new resources from old
materials[24,42]. Theproductservicesystemhasbeenproposedasahypotheticalpossible
Water2022,14,1073 8of11
alternativetothecurrentbusinessmodelbyreducingtheenvironmentalimpactsofthe
fashionindustry[1].Thissystemalsowoulddecreasetheconsumptionofresources,suchas
water,byincreasingthequalityandlongevityofmanufacturedclothingitems,inaddition
tosupportingtheinclusionoflending,redesigning,renting,andupgradingpractisesas
meansofreducingthequantityofindividuallyowneditems[1]. Atthesametime, the
reductioninenergyandresourceconsumptionmustbemetwithimprovingthequalityof
textileproductstoextendtheirlifespan[27].
4.4.2. Slow,Ethical,andSustainableFashion
Ecofashion,ethicalfashion,andsustainablefashionallattempttolimitthenegative
environmentaleffectsthatfastfashionmodelsotherwiseimpose[43]. Eachoftheseindus-
trieshasslightfundamentaldifferences,whereecofashionisbasedondesigninggarments
thatarebetterforsocietyandhavedecreasedeffectsontheenvironment,ethicalfashion
based on fair trade and environmental standards, and sustainable fashion focusing on
tailoringtheclothinglifecycletoalignwiththeideasofsustainabledevelopment, con-
sidering design, material, production conditions, and the consumer [43]. A summary
of the existing measures that the European Union has taken to create more sustainable
practisesbytransitioningfromalineartoacirculareconomyinthefashionindustrywas
providedby[23].
4.4.3. ChangeinConsumerBehaviour
Throughouttheliterature,manystudieshavehighlightedtheimportanceofchanges
inconsumerbehaviourthatcangreatlydecreaseenvironmentalimpacts[34]. Thenegative
environmental effects of the fashion industry do not slow down post-production. In
fact, thegarmentusephaseisalsocriticalingeneratingenvironmentalimpact, suchas
through the transportation to retail outlets and the use phase [40]. For example, the
weeklylaundryofasinglehouseholdcouldpotentiallydischargethousandsofmicrofibers,
whichhavebeenfoundtobioaccumulateinalbacore,bluefintuna,fiddlercrabs,lugworm,
phytoplankton, andswordfish, amongstotherformsofmarinelife, andcanleadtothe
disruptionofbodyfunctions,endocrinesystems,andreproductivestress,amongother
issues[44]. Usingmachineswithhighefficiencyratings,lowerwashingtemperatures,air
drying,usingfrontloading,andfullloadmachinescanreducethecarbonfootprintand
energyfootprint[36,40,45].
Thefastfashionmodelleadsconsumerstoviewclothingasdisposable;thus,while
theaverageconsumerspendslessfortwicetheamountofclothes,asignificantamount
of textile waste is also being generated, posing a threat to water quality. From 2000 to
2015,clothingpricesdecreased,yetworldwide,clothingproductiondoubled[38]. Social
mediahasbeenidentifiedasakeymarketingtool,movingawayfromsalesassociatesin
departmentstorestosocialmedia“influencers”whoeffectivelyswayfashiontrendsand
brandsviaconstantaudios,images,videos,andtext. Now,upto41%ofyoungpeople
look to social media influencers for fashion advice, and social media could be used to
influenceconsumerbehaviourtowardsrecyclingandreusinginitiatives[46]. Furthermore,
ifconsumersareabletoextendthelivesoftheirgarmentsby9months,thereisapossibility
ofa22%wastereductionand33%watersavings[43].
5. Conclusions
As various socio-cultural and economic factors influence increases in fast fashion
consumption,itisimportanttoidentifytheassociatedenvironmentaleffectsbothpre-and
post-production. Wefoundthatanewfieldisemergingtobridgethegapbetweenfast
fashion and textile industries and the environment, particularly water degradation, as
thereareincreasinglymorepapersregardingfastfashionandwaterqualityinthepeer-
reviewedliterature. Althoughtherearelimitstotheavailabilityofpublishedresearchin
thisfield,thefashionindustrycontributesgreatlytoenvironmentaldegradationthrough
waterconsumption,energyconsumption,anditscarbonfootprint. Wefoundthatstudies
Water2022,14,1073 9of11
havegenerallycoveredthesetopicsbroadly,leavingroomforfutureresearchprojects. For
example,throughourbibliometric,text,andcontentanalysis,weidentifiedthreemajor
emergingphrasesthatcouldbefurtherexploredintheliterature,including“sustainabil-
ity”,“textileindustry”,and“waterfootprint”. Werecommendfurtherresearchintothe
evaluationofwaterfootprints, recyclingefforts, andmethodologies, leadingtowardsa
moresustainablefashionindustry,includingacirculareconomy. Changesinconsumer
behaviourcanleadtochangesinthemarketforfastfashion; thus,werecommendthat
consumersre-evaluatetheirconsumptionhabits. Inpart,thiscouldpotentiallyinfluence
supplierstopractisemoresustainableproductionprocessesinadditiontomoreheavily
enforcedregulationssurroundingreleaseddischargesandsolidwastedisposal. Future
researcheffortsdocumentingthewidespreadnegativeimpactsofthefashionindustryon
the environment and the development of more sustainable practices will be integral to
mitigatingcarbonemissionsandwastewaterproduction.
AuthorContributions:Conceptualisation,K.B.,A.B.andS.S.;methodology,K.B.andA.B.;software,
K.B. and A.B.; validation, K.B. and A.B.; formal analysis, K.B. and A.B.; investigation, K.B. and
A.B.;resources,S.S.;datacuration,K.B.,A.B.andS.S.;writing—originaldraftpreparation,K.B.,A.B.
andS.S.;writing—reviewandediting,K.B.,A.B.andS.S.;visualisation,K.B.andA.B.;supervision,
S.S.;projectadministration,S.S.;fundingacquisition,S.S.Allauthorshavereadandagreedtothe
publishedversionofthemanuscript.
Funding:ThisresearchwasfundedbytheYorkUniversityResearchChairProgrammeandNatural
SciencesandEngineeringResearchCouncilofCanadaDiscoveryGrantProgramtoS.S.
InstitutionalReviewBoardStatement:Notapplicable.
InformedConsentStatement:Notapplicable.
DataAvailabilityStatement:Notapplicable.
Acknowledgments: WewouldliketothankRobertTsushimaandNikolaKovinichforfeedback
onanearlierdraft. WewouldalsoliketoextendthankstoallmembersoftheSharmalabwho
provided feedback throughout the process, in addition to the two anonymous referees for their
helpfulcomments.
ConflictsofInterest:Theauthorsdeclarenoconflictofinterest.
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