By Outi Räsänen. Oulu University of Applied Sciences
In our lifetimes—over the past 40 to 60 years—the basic styles of clothing have not changed drastically. We still wear pants, skirts, shirts, blouses, jackets, and dresses. In Finland, due to our northern climate, clothing for outdoor activities and cold weather is nearly a necessity. Perhaps the greatest increase in our wardrobes has come from the variety of recreational activities we engage in.
What has changed significantly in the past 50 years is where and how we acquire clothing. Forty years ago, it was quite common to inherit clothes from older siblings, relatives, or even neighbors. Now, however, clothing brands and stores flood both our streets and online marketplaces. You can shop 24/7, and your purchases arrive at your nearest pickup point—or even at your front door. How many of those purchases are truly well-thought-out and what is their environmental impact?
Fast fashion – environmental and social impact
There is a wealth of publications, articles, and news reports related to clothing and the textile industry of which many pertain to the environmental pollution caused by the clothing industry. Pollution in the fashion sector is not limited to the various production processes involved in making garments; it also includes the consumption of packaging materials, emissions from logistics, and discarded textile waste. Furthermore, the term fast fashion frequently appears both in headlines and within article content. (Maiti, 2025).
In online searches related to fast fashion, major platforms such as Shein, Temu, and Amazon are often among the first to surface. These e-commerce giants offer products from across all sectors of the fashion industry. Additionally, each large clothing brand operates its own online store, delivering goods around the clock across the globe.
An interview (Hakaniemi, 2023) with Professor Kirsi Niinimäki of Aalto University, published in Helsingin Uutiset, reflects the current situation regarding the environmental damage caused by fast fashion. The most striking and sobering aspect of the interview is the staggering statistics on the harmful emissions generated by the clothing industry, as well as the consumption and contamination of freshwater to the point of making it unusable for domestic needs.
Fast fashion, which we continue to consume without much consideration, causes suffering and deprivation in regions already grappling with significant challenges, including the use of cheap workforce and child labor, lack of gender equality in various areas of life, and climate-change-induced drought and heat. Local communities require water to grow agricultural and food crops—not to mention the water needs of nature itself, including plants and animals. (Hakaniemi, 2023.)
Rashmila Maiti’s (2025) article on earth.org echoes Hakaniemi’s findings: “Fast fashion accounts for up to 10 percent of global emissions. It consumes 79 trillion liters of water annually. The amount of textile waste generated each year weighs 92 million tons.”
Maiti (2025) continues with fast fashion’s effects on the environment:
“The environmental impacts are visible in soil degradation, deforestation, air pollution, water emissions, water scarcity, transportation emissions, packaging waste, and textile waste. Environmental damage during the production phase is particularly concentrated in developing countries.”
Clothes with purpose: the rise of personal style and sustainability
Fortunately, we humans evolve over time, and so does our worldview. In my youth, I was far more naive and careless with my fashion choices. Nowadays, when observing young people in cities or on university campuses, their clothing has notably changed. Young people’s fashion has become more personal—and, in some cases, boldly expressive. Some garments are clearly vintage or second-hand, creatively combined with modern items. Clothes swapping is popular among friends—one person’s unwanted item becomes another’s treasure.
When I spoke with dance students of younger generations about this topic, they quite collectively agreed they did not want anything useless or in bulk, but aimed at having a wardrobe where everything matches, so everything is used. Some also preferred vintage clothes and one student was even aware of the upcoming legislations aimed at reducing fashion-related consumption—something that positively surprised me. According to this group of younger consumers, a capsule wardrobe of the future will consist of minimalist staples and timeless favorites—garments selected from collections that emphasize fabric quality, durability and timeless design.
Clothing and accessories rental services are also a new concept and here to stay. This concept allows customers to borrow garments and accessories for a small fee. When browsing the selection at such rental services, one finds higher-quality and more sustainably produced items. The services tend to favor brands known for designing durable and timeless clothing. Marimekko, for example, is often featured. Clothing rental services function as communal wardrobes. The fashion industry may view this concept with skepticism, as their aim is typically to sell new clothing over and over again. However, this model may encourage the industry to improve the quality of the garments they produce.
Slow fashion – sales gimmick or genuine goal?
As a counter to fast fashion, the concept of slow fashion has emerged, promoting the opposite mindset. Slow fashion refers to garments that withstand trends and endure much more wear and tear than fast fashion. I still approach this term with critical and investigative curiosity. Who decides when fashion becomes slow—or fast again? Are there clear rules or certifications for when a brand can market itself as producing slow fashion?
I admit I’ve been negatively affected by the greenwashing scandals, which have thankfully been partly exposed—thanks to the still-strong investigative journalism in Finland. I remain skeptical of environmentally friendly marketing and its methods. For me, true slow fashion is when I create garments myself from scratch. The process fosters appreciation for the time and effort garment-making requires. Crafting is also a creative and even an artistic experience. In the next section, I share personal experiences in designing and making outfits.
During the CRAFT-IT4SD project, Oulu University of Applied Sciences runs three pilots combining traditional crafts, new technologies and performing arts to come up with sustainable solutions applicable in the textile and fashion industry. In the first pilot, we combined dance outfits made of fish leather and fabric made partly out of old fish nets with a game that teaches how fish skin is tanned.
Initially, handling fish leather felt unpleasant, but I quickly adapted. The first stage was the most challenging, especially for someone like me who is sensitive to odors. Warm fish leather on a table can provoke nausea. But as I carefully scraped the leather, I began to wonder how I could shape this material into something wearable. As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”—and so it was here. I envisioned various forms and compositions for the fabric. We had previously purchased Italian fabric made entirely from recycled materials, including old fishnets. Ultimately, I created nine unique tops and nine gloves for the dancers’ right hands, each decorated with fish leather and other small details.
I also repurposed old fishing nets. After four hours of dismantling and sorting their parts, I retrieved several meters of fine rope containing small metal bits. The material felt heavy but moved beautifully. I decided to try macrame for the first time with my colleague Katarina Rauhala. Online tutorials provided easy steps, and the process was much easier than I had anticipated. Once I understood the basic technique, everything else flowed smoothly. We made two tops and one flowing skirt from this rope. Each piece took about two hours to complete.
This experience and my pre-existing love of using recycled materials convinced me that in addition to every citizen’s right to forage for berries and mushrooms in Finland, there should also be a civic duty to recycle, repurpose, and repair old materials for reuse. We are already living on borrowed time on this planet. The Earth can no longer sustain our consumption—especially that of Western culture. We must become wiser. But are we going to learn by being rewarded or by being told cautionary tales?
The Marlboro man’s slow and painful death — the future of fast fashion advertisement
The educational game we created in the pilot represents learning through rewards. It teaches the player what happens to different parts of the fish, how to tan the fish skin and how to make bowties out of the skin in a fun and interactive way with rewards along the way. But as fast fashions adverts promote affordable and quickly delivered items with no information on the dark side of fast fashion, maybe educating the consumer similarly to the tobacco industry is needed in advertising textiles, too.
Products that are bad for the consumer or for those making them were previously advertised with very positive connotations. Then, advertising shifted: the Marlboro man—once depicted riding horseback in cowboy boots—was replaced by images of diseased lungs on cigarette packs. What if, similar to the images on cigarette packs, we were confronted with the suffering caused by fashion industry pollution before every online clothing purchase. Would that have a greater effect on us?
Of course, information is already available to the consumer—but one must actively seek it out. And that is not typically part of our impulsive human behavior. Could the EU, for instance, pass a law requiring buyers on websites like Shein to view a mandatory video before making a purchase—one that clearly explains the global ecological damage caused by fast fashion? After all, we already encounter forced video ads while browsing the internet, so technically, this shouldn’t be difficult to implement. Whatever the means, in addition to EU’s upcoming regulations for the industry, an increase in sustainability education and engagement on a governmental and individual level is adamant in order for the future to look brighter.
REFERENCES
Hakaniemi, H. (2023, September 9). Pikamuodista hitaaseen muotiin? – Miten me pukeudumme tulevaisuudessa, professori Kirsi Niinimäki? [From fast fashion to slow fashion? – How will we dress in the future, profesor Kirsi Niinimäki? ] Helsingin Sanomat. https://www.helsinginuutiset.fi/paikalliset/6167096
Maiti, R. (2025, January 20). Fast fashion and its environmental impact. Earth.Org. https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/