Fast Fashion's Dirty Little Secret (Hint: It's Oil)

Whether you consider yourself a fashion maven or not one thing is true: you wear clothes. It's a basic rule of most societies. But in recent years, it's become clear that the clothes that keep us warm in winter and protect us from the sun in summer are also harming the planet. According to the EPA in the United States we threw out close to 13 million tons of clothing in 2018 alone. One factor? Clothes have gotten really cheap. And that's partly because these days much of it is made from fossil fuels. We take a deep look at our clothes, their climate impact, how they got so much oil in them and what we can do about it.  Calls to Action Try the Fashion Detox, it's a 10 week break from buying clothes with deep reflection.  Learn How to Buy Clothes that are Built to Last Check out the Guppy Friend washing bag Learn more about Extended Producer Responsibility regulations. You can see what is happening in the UK here, and about the concept more broadly here.  You can check out FabScrap to learn more about what they're doing around textile waste. Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. Find all the actions we’ve recommended on our show here! Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Episode Guests Cora Harrington (Instagram: @thelingerieaddict Twitter: @lingerie_addict), Mike Kaback, Jessica Schreiber (Instagram @fab_scrap Twitter: @fab_Scrap) Credits How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production. It's hosted by me, Alex Blumberg. This episode was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Rachel Waldholz, Anna Ladd, Hannah Chinn, and Daniel Ackerman. Our supervising producer is Katelyn Bogucki. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Our intern is Nicole Welch. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music by Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, Bobby Lord and Billi Libby. Our fact checker for this episode is Claudia Geib. Special thanks to Jesse Feitel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices