Our environment is paying the price of the fast fashion which we are following blindly. Fast fashion, inexpensive and widely available of-the-moment garments, has changed the way people buy and dispose of clothing. By selling large quantities of clothing at cheap prices, fast fashion has emerged as a dominant business model, causing garment consumption to skyrocket. While this transition is sometimes heralded as the “democratization” of fashion in which the latest styles are available to all classes of consumers, the human and environmental health risks associated with inexpensive clothing are hidden throughout the lifecycle of each garment.
As a matter of fact, when clothing made of natural fibers ends up in landfill, it behaves like food waste, producing the greenhouse gas methane. From the growth of water-intensive cotton, to the release of untreated dyes into local water sources, to worker’s low wages and poor working conditions; the environmental and social costs involved in textile manufacturing are widespread.
Whereas synthetic fibers like polyester and nylon are essentially made of plastic and don’t biodegrade at all. Both types of clothing will have been bleached, dyed and printed with chemicals during the production process and once in landfill, these chemicals leach into the soil and groundwater. The social costs involved in the production of fast fashion include damages to the environment, human health, and human rights at each step along the production chain. The cast-offs of our hunger for cheap fashion are poisoning the planet.
In the two decades since the fast fashion business model became the norm for big name fashion brands, increased demand for large amounts of inexpensive clothing has resulted in environmental and social degradation along each step of the supply chain. The environmental and human health consequences of fast fashion have largely been missing from the scientific literature, research, and discussions surrounding environmental justice. The breadth and depth of social and environmental abuses in fast fashion warrants its classification as an issue of global environmental justice.
How Bethany Williams dealing with fast fashion?
“Sustainable clothing is definitely a feasible business opportunity, if one works and operates the business in the right way. However, it is an extensive process since a lot of processes are involved in ensuring that everything and every process is sustainable and environment-friendly.” said Bethany Williams the founder and chief designer of Bethany Williams fashions, she further added – “Since fashion production and consumption have terrible environmental consequences, we decided that sustainable fashion was the right way, the only way, to set the basis of our new brand, with a conscience to inspire, engage and commit. This is why our collection is based on the circular fashion model, with the eagerness to minimize waste and the use of new resources by employing recycled and recyclable materials such as fishing nets rescued from the ocean and other nylon waste.”
To us, sustainability is creating something that can stand the test of time. Our dresses are designed for circularity, they are created with their life-cycle in mind. We use certified fabrics with a focus on textiles made from recycled materials, because we believe that we should use what is already available, and we love natural fabrics that can revert back to nature. We buy from trusted suppliers, as locally as possible. Our designs are simple, versatile, and timeless, created to be worn year after year. Our dresses are quality garments handcrafted on demand by a small local team. Even, Our packaging is minimal, we simply wrap our dresses in recycled tissue paper and place them into durable and compostable mailer.
Bethany Williams strongest commitment is to keep improving every day for the sake of our environment!