How’s this for a sobering statistic: Fashion is the second most polluting industry on the planet, behind oil. Not only does it poison rivers and increase the use of pesticides in cotton fields, it also creates an unimaginable carbon footprint. That’s not to mention the very likely exploitation of garment workers in impoverished countries where clothing suppliers are engaged in a defeatist race-to-the-bottom in order to snag the opportunity of generating dirt-cheap goods for the world’s biggest fast-fashion chains. In short, someone who cannot afford to refuse their low wages is paying the price for the low-priced garment on your back. That’s got to get you thinking about the impact of your latest steals from a high-street chain or a blog shop. Granted, cost is a big factor in determining our shopping choices, but at least they can now be informed ones.

1.  From Fashion Cycle to Fashion Feed (The Business of Fashion)

2. The Environmental Crisis in Your Closet (Newsweek)

3. The Neurological Pleasures of Fast Fashion (The Atlantic)

4. Why Fast Fashion is Slow Death for the Planet (The Guardian)

5. 5 Truths That the Fashion Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know (The Huffington Post)

Image Credit:
Photograph by Jianan Yu/Reuters on The Atlantic