‘Buy Now’ documentary highlights waste driven by fast fashion

Everywhere you turn these days it seems that someone is trying to sell you something– especially clothes, shoes and handbags– that you don’t need. As the new Netflix documentary, “Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy” posits, this is by design. 

Fast fashion trends drive overconsumption

Clothing companies produce twice as much clothing today than they did in 2000, and the average American consumer now purchases four times as many clothing items as they did in that same time period. It’s estimated that Americans don’t wear about 50% of the clothing they own, and 65% of the clothing they purchase ends up getting disposed of within 12 months. 

The fashion and clothing industry generates massive amounts of waste—and emits pollution in the process. Scroll through our “High Cost of Fast Fashion” infographic to see just how many resources are required to make our clothes.

Clothing waste is part of the fast fashion business model

Individual consumer habits are only one part of the story. 

Around the world, the equivalent of one dump truck filled with clothing is sent to a landfill or incinerator every second. In the United States, we generate enough textile waste to fill the Mall of America—the largest shopping mall in the country—every six days.

What makes this waste all the more outrageous is that millions of these clothing items are never sold or worn. An estimated 30% of all clothes made around the world are never sold or worn, and it’s one of fashion’s “dirty open secrets” that many retailers destroy, landfill or incinerate the clothing that was never sold and has never left the store to make way for new merchandise.

The massive amounts of waste alone are cause for concern. But, throwing away brand new clothes means that the resource-intensive process required to make new clothes must then be repeated over and over again as brands update their stock for the next fashion cycle. 

‘Buy Now’ is an eye-opener. Here’s what you can do.

Given the impact that overproduction of clothing and other textiles has on the planet and human health, we should no longer allow it to happen. In particular, manufacturers and retailers should stop trashing or burning their overstock. Instead, when there is overstock, brand-new unsold clothing should be kept on shelves for longer, sold to outlet stores, second-hand stores or thrift shops, donated, repurposed and reused in other products, or recycled into new garments. 

As consumers, we can use our power to call on these companies to change, while also reducing our own environmental impact.

Add your name to our petition to Forever 21.

We have some resources and ideas for people who are interested in opting out of always buying new and embracing the buy less, reuse, recycle, refurbish and repair.