Eddie showed us what a $10 t-shirt actually costs.
Workers paid 4 cents per piece. 2,700 liters of water. Clothes worn seven times before they're tossed.
Easy to feel bad for the workers. Feel guilty about the planet. Then move on.
But one question kept nagging: What's in it for me if this changes?
Turns out, the system that exploits workers also exploits consumers. And the waste? It's not somewhere else. It's here.
We're All Stuck on a Replacement Treadmill
Here's what I realized: fast fashion keeps us buying.
Not because we're materialistic. But that the clothes are designed to fall apart.
I can remember family members having a washing machine and dryer set from the '70s, they were that avocado green color that was so popular then... they lasted until the turn of the century! Today, most appliances barely make it to year two before something breaks. Same with TVs, phones, everything. Nothing is built to last anymore—and clothes are the worst of all.
There's a reason people call Forever 21 "one season wear." Because that's literally how long it lasts.
That $15 shirt? Starts falling apart after three washes. The seams split. Within a few months, it looks terrible. So, you replace it. Again. And again.
Feels like getting a deal. Actually, we're paying more—just in installments.
The Waste Comes Back to All of Us
We all know fast fashion creates waste. But it feels... somewhere else.
Other countries.
Other people's problem.
Wrong. We produce 92 million tons of clothing waste per year. Most of it synthetic. That synthetic clothing breaks down into microplastics. Those microplastics end up in oceans. Fish eat them. We eat the fish.
Studies show microplastics are now in our water. Our food. Our bodies.
The pollution from dyeing fabrics doesn't stay in those rivers overseas. Rivers flow to oceans. Oceans connect. The water cycle is global.
And the carbon emissions? The fashion industry creates 10% of global emissions. That's the heat waves we're living through. The wildfires. The storms.
The waste comes back. We're breathing it. Drinking it. Living in it.
Even the Companies Can't Keep Up
Forever 21 just filed for bankruptcy. Again. Second time in six years. Closing all 354 U.S. stores.
The company that pioneered cheap fast fashion in America can't compete with even cheaper fast fashion (Shein, Temu). They tried partnering with Shein to survive. It didn't work.
The CEO who bought them out of their first bankruptcy called it "probably the biggest mistake I made."
Think about that: A company built on selling clothes for pennies, paying workers even less, churning through inventory as fast as possible... can't sustain itself.
The model doesn't work. Not for workers. Not for consumers. Not for the planet. And now, not even for the companies.
The race to the bottom has a bottom.
What We Actually Get If This Changes
Clothes that last. Stop replacing constantly. Save money and time.
A planet we can live on. Less pollution in our water. Less plastic in our food. A more stable climate.
Off the treadmill. Stop feeling like we're always behind, always needing more.
A system that pays workers fairly makes better clothes. A system that values durability gives us our time back. A system that reduces waste gives us cleaner air and water.
What's good for them is good for the planet is good for all of us.
Can't Unsee It Now
Eddie showed us the system. Can't pretend we don't see it anymore.
The $10 t-shirt isn't cheap. Someone else paid the labor cost. The planet paid the environmental cost. We're all paying the replacement cost, the mental cost, and the health cost from the waste that comes back.
The clothes thrown away after 7 wears don't disappear. They break down into microplastics we're eating. The pollution from making them doesn't stay overseas. It's in the water we drink. The emissions from producing 100 billion garments a year? That's the climate crisis we're living through.
This started as being about helping workers on the other side of the world.
It is. But it's also about protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the planet we're stuck on.
What We Can Actually Do
I started thinking about solutions. Buy less. Take care of what we have. Choose quality over quantity. Good advice. I genuinely believe it.
But then I looked at my own closet. Clothes I don't wear anymore.
Too small. Wrong style. Worn out. Where are they supposed to GO?
If I donate them to a thrift store, most won't sell. The thrift stores are already drowning in fast fashion that falls apart. If I throw them away, they go to a landfill. Become the microplastics I'm trying to avoid.
So, where's the recycling? The circular system? How to actually DEAL with the 92 million tons we're producing. Eddie showed us the system is broken. I realized: the waste comes
back to us. But neither of us answered the obvious question:
Where does textile waste actually GO? And is there a better way?
Next week, we investigate the solutions that already exist—why nobody can find them, and how you actually can
Let's do this,
Edie 🐢💚