Costs of fast fashion fuel a rise in thrift shopping

Isabella Jibilian:

One study found that a polyester garment can cast off more than 1,900 fibers in a single wash which then make their way through sewers and into waterways.

And Jahn really reached a tipping point after seeing reports about the frequent human rights abuses when making fast, cheap clothes.

In Bangladesh, environmental and labor laws are frequently ignored in the $1 billion export leather industry. Wastewater with harmful chemicals is dumped into neighborhoods streams. The water scene here is actually dyed blue because of the process. Workers process skins without protective gear exposing them to known cancer causing agents like Chromium, and child workers are frequently seen operating heavy machinery. Fast fashion also causes problems long after it’s been made. Author and journalist Adam Minter has written about the global recycling industry for the past two decades.

Adam Minter, Author and Journalist: I mean, one of the things that’s happened over the last 25 years really is that garments have become more difficult to recycle. And that’s where you start seeing large amounts of textile waste.