Fast fashion is suffocating the world: “We cannot destroy the planet by dressing ourselves”

There are still many kilometers of fabric to be made before Mexico achieves a significant change in the negative impact that fast fashion is having on the environment.

However, women with different profiles and similar consciences are trying to reverse some of the damage caused by this global phenomenon, using innovative ideas, purposeful entrepreneurship and sustainable advice.

“We cannot destroy the planet by dressing ourselves,” Mireille Acquar, one of the few specialists in sustainability and fashion business in the country, told Excelsior. She describes this business model as “mass fashion” that serves to “clothe and shoe 80% of the population that does not have access to high-end products.”

There are around 7.8 billion of us on the planet who need to wear clothes and shoes (…) Production and consumption have been the key pieces or the key concepts of why this industry has become unsustainable,” added the expert who advises companies in training to help them become more sustainable.

In Mexico, official data on the impact of this problem are null or non-existent, and both international organizations and experts point to a lack of regulation of standards such as the General Law on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA) for the prevention and comprehensive management of clothing waste.

Meanwhile, the damage has worsened in Mexico due to the use of applications that import clothing from Asia at a very low cost.

According to Acquar, “e-commerce is growing and this is favouring access to ultra-fast fashion” and, to a large extent, these business models are growing because “they don’t pay tariffs, they don’t pay taxes”.

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