The harsh reality of fast-fashion: much of the clothing sold in Mexico is as polluting as straws

The shirts, skirts and pants that are bought in many clothing stores that sell in Mexico are as polluting as straws, soda bottles and plastic cutlery.

This was warned this December by the Federal Consumer Attorney's Office, which listed a list of different fashion chains that they make disposable clothes with poor quality materials , which reduce the durability of clothing.

“Generally when we talk about disposables, images of plates, cups, straws, [...] among others, come to mind, but have you ever thought that the clothes we now buy in shopping malls are also disposable? ”, the article begins.

If before a garment could be inherited from one brother to another, and even from parents to children, now it immediately wears out, breaks or loses its color.

To this lack of quality, explains Profeco, is added the problem of the "Fast Fashion" brands, stores in which there are no longer only the spring and summer seasons, but they renew the collection every six weeks and push their customers to follow trends and discard from their wardrobes what has already gone out of style.

“The consequence is that more and more clothing becomes non-functional sooner than expected, causing more clothes to be bought and discarded more frequently, ”explains the magazine.

Among these great “Fast Fashion” brands , Profeco lists Bershka, Bestseller, Boohoo, C&A, Charlotte Russe, Cotton On, Esprit, Fashion Nova, FIVE FOXes, Forever, Gap Inc., Giordano, Guess?, H&M, Mango and Massimo Dutti. .

Also listed are Metersbonwe, Missguided, Miss Selfridge, Nasty Gal, New Look, New Yorker, Next, Oysho, Peacocks, PrettyLittleThing, Primark, Pull & Bear, Rainbow Shops, Renner, Riachuelo, River Island, Romwe, S Oliver, Shasa, She In, Stradivarius, Topshop, United Colors of Benetton, Uniqlo, Uterqüe, UrbanOutfitters, Victoria's Secret, Zaful and Zara.

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According to the agency, the vast majority of these firms produce their collections in Asian maquiladoras in countries such as Bangladesh or India, where labor is extremely cheap. And to obtain even more benefits, they use polluting materials in the manufacture of garments that take, in the best of cases, hundreds of years to biodegrade.

"In their efforts to reduce costs, textiles are not always of the best quality, much less sustainable. They mostly use synthetic fibers derived from petroleum such as polyester, nylon, rayon or acrylic. These being the same polymers with which disposable containers are made and the only difference is the shape they are given at the end, threads or solid blocks”.

The problem

The durability of the clothes is lower due to their poor quality; the useful life of the garment is reduced by the uncompromising dictates of fashion brands; and the fabrics of the garments prevent the possibility of reusing them or giving them another life cycle.

Thus, every month, new piles of clothes are discarded and accumulate in landfills, where its materials pollute the planet for hundreds of years.

To avoid this problem, Profeco recommends that consumers read the label before purchasing any textile item.

“The first step is information. This is reading the labels and understanding what is detailed on them: composition of the garment, the place of manufacture and the washing instructions and care, knowing what it is made of, where it comes from and how to take care of it will help us to know how to identify, in addition of cost, the expected durability of an item.

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