“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful,” Mae West, the Hollywood actress and style icon, once famously quipped. At a casual glance, you might think her quote would accurately describe the fashion industry. The availability of an endless supply of cheap clothing has unleashed a whirlwind of color and beauty, giving people the chance to express themselves ― even on a tight budget ― and stamp their identity on the world.
But the dark truth about the fashion business is that too much of a good thing is creating environmental destruction and human misery on an unprecedented scale.
Let’s be clear: There is nothing beautiful in seeing a river polluted by toxic dyes or a garment worker surviving on a pittance while toiling in dangerous sweatshop conditions.
The merry-go-round of new apparel ranges the industry spews out at a dizzying rate is fueling an addiction to clothes and a perceived need to constantly be at the cutting edge of fashion. As a result, people around the world collectively consume more than?80 billion items of clothing each year, and those items are increasingly seen as disposable.?
We need to slow things down and become more aware of the negative impacts of our actions. That does not mean taking the fun out of buying clothes. It just means becoming less impulsive in our shopping habits and thinking twice before paying $4.99 for another cheap top to add to our already cluttered closets.
To read the full story, visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/transforming-the-fashion-industry_us_57ceee96e4b0a48094a58d39?utm_hp_ref=reclaim.