These bottoms are getting a bum rap.
Bootcut, low-rise, skinny or straight — jeans reign supreme as a stylish staple in most wardrobes worldwide.
For decades, denim designs have graced the dapper derrière likes of Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, Taylor Swift and Kanye West.
The haute timelessness of the togs notwithstanding, recent research from Guangdong University of Technology found that wearing a pair of fast-fashion jeans just once creates a whopping 2.50 kg of carbon emissions. The environmental wear-and-tear of the pants is equivalent to driving 6.4 miles in an average gasoline-powered car.
“This study took jeans as an example to reveal the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption and its additional climate impacts compared to traditional fashion,” wrote the authors of the new report, set for publishing in May 2024.
“Jeans production and cross-broad transportation contributed 91 % of the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption,” added the experts.
And they’re not just pulling your leg.
To determine the CO2 effects, scientists followed the life cycle of a pair of jeans that were quickly produced, shipped, worn, washed and discarded after about seven uses.
The stages are all part of speedy sequences that most modern clothes follow owing to the increasingly buzzy “fast-fashion” trend. The movement sees retailers such as Shein, Zara, BooHoo and Forever 21 using an excess of resources and energy to crank out cutesy swag at accelerated rates.
It’s a hurried process to answer the growing demand of chronic shopaholics who want the latest and greatest looks at low costs.
However, making fast-fashion finery emits ghastly amounts of greenhouse gasses (GHG) — which cause global warming and climate change — into the atmosphere.
In fact, the study noted that the industry is projected to emit nearly 2.8 billion tons of GHG emissions annually by 2030.
Traditional fashion — typically more pricey apparel made with high-quality materials and environmental sustainability in mind — emits around 0.22 kg of CO2, per the findings. Fast fashion produces 11 times more of the pollution due to hasty manufacturing, international distribution via air travel, repeated washes and swift trashing.
But analysts say there’s hope for Mother Earth, yet.
“Product service systems could slow the rapid production and consumption cycles of fast fashion and help move fashion to a circular system by providing recycling, second-hand, and rental services,” penned the pros, suggesting companies ease up on spitting out junk and budgeted fashionistas turn to thrifting.
Rocking previously-worn garb is a shift ex-“fast-fashion addict” Lottie Lashley, 25, recently made after learning of the “un-environmental” process her quickie clothes followed.
Rather than blowing around $120 a month with buzzy brands, the Londoner now shops with a much more eco-friendly eye.
“If I do buy stuff consciously,” said Lashley. “I need to know I’m going to wear them again and again.”
