Gen Z and its climatic relationship with fast fashion

When Greta Thunberg, a 16-year old Swedish girl arrived in New York after a 14-day long sail across the Atlantic to reduce carbon emission, it made international headlines and with it came waves of passionate climate strikes around the globe. She became the face of the Gen Z — the age group born after 1996 — and inspired this generation who are known to be “environmentally woke” and “trendy” as well.

Gen Z is a huge section of the consumers of the fast fashion — cheap and trendy versions of designer clothes — which as an industry emits about 1.2 billion tons of CO2 every year, according to UNFCC. That is roughly about 5% of humanity’s carbon emissions and most of the textiles are manufactured in India.

Things don’t quite add up together. What is this paradox?

Dheeraj Subba, a 21-year-old Instagrammer from Shillong answers with a question, “How much of it actually comes from within us?” and reiterates whether Gen Zs are genuine or simply come out because it is the “new thing.”

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Mariam Longri who is a Gen Z herself feels that having lived in an era of progress in social issues Gen Z are empathetic and probably the “most conscious generation ever.” As a result, Longri says that it can work both ways. “We have done a commendable job by pressuring fashion companies but on the flip side we can be easily swayed sometimes.”

Social media and peer pressure?

In the era of “fast fashion web” public figures or “influencers” post pictures almost every day and often times followers are “influenced” to get hands-on what they wear. We hardly spare a thought before tossing a garment and hop on to a new one just for that one insta-worthy picture, says Subba.

Longri considers herself to be a minimalist and has a creative approach to not repeat the same outfit by mixing old clothes together for an event most of the time.

So, what is the solution?

According to Environmental activist Kenyum Jini, sustainable fashion and androgynous clothing is the answer to this problem. People have to be mindful about the purchase decision and educate themselves to adopt sustainable habits not just in fashion but in every aspect of their life.

Up-cycled products made out of denims by Rimagined

During early-2010s, while working as a volunteer in Solid waste management, Shailaja Rangarajan from Bangalore realized the impact of “use and throw” habits which prompted her to create the brand Rimagined in 2016 that up-cycles products from existing materials. As a 43-year-old woman, she says that people are killing the possibility to hand-over a healthy planet to the future generations.

Subba founded an online thrift store that sells hand-picked fashionable clothes from the streets of Shillong along with his used clothes that are in good condition. He also offers the public to send in pictures of the clothes they wish to sell off on THRIFTHAUL.

Clothes sold by THRIFTHAUL

However, Jini points out that the policymakers and stakeholders who manufacture the clothes around 45 seasons a year are the ones who stimulate “trendy habits” and in the process cause heavy damage to the environment. Instead, of playing the blame game, she says both sides should realize the impact and act accordingly.

As a demographic who is the target consumer of fast fashion Gen Z should utilize their power wisely or in the words of Rangarajan, “turn awareness or ‘wokeness’ into action.”