I am calling for Transport for London to prohibit advertisements for fast fashion brands on it’s network. After seeing Kings Cross Station plastered in Shein Black Friday advertisements, I am compelled to act.

Fast fashion, as convenient and appealing as it may seem, holds a dark side that many remain unaware of:

Hazordous Chemicals

• Fast fashion relies heavily on untested chemicals and toxic dyes. These dyes, often derived from petroleum, pollute water sources and endanger aquatic life. With minimal industry regulation, the true impact of these chemicals on human health and the environment remains largely unknown. Sadly, workers producing these mountains of clothes are being exposed to these chemicals too.

Mountains of Waste

• Cheap clothes and unsustainable textiles lead to huge mountains of waste. We produce 92 million tonnes of textile waste every single year. It is estimated this will reach 134 million by 2030. In the UK, each person contributes to 7kg of fashion waste ending up landfills. Synthetic textiles, the textiles of choice for fast fashion, such as polyester can up to 200 years to break down. Each year mountains of wasted clothes end up in Ghana, with 15 million items pouring into Accra each week. 40% of this is deemed worthless and ends up in landfills and in mountains on the beaches.

Human Rights Abuses

• Fast fashion exploits workers. If you pay so little for a piece of clothing, someone else is paying. In 2021, an investigation found Shein’s employees were working 75 hour weeks, with many workers only getting 1 day off a month. Some earn as little as 4 US cents per garment they produce. The European Parliament labelled some conditions as “slave labour”, with sadly many children being forced to work. Poor working conditions, excessive overtime and dangerous factories are rampant in fast fashion.

Climate Change

• Today fast fashion is responsible for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. The House of Commons even found that textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined. The amount is likely to increase, with projections of a 50% increase by 2023. As well as the clothing waste ending up on landfills and on beaches, plastic microfibers seep into our oceans polluting marine life, with the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles dumped every year.

Sadiq Khan and Transport for London - are you happy to profit off advertisements for the industry causing this?

Shein, for example, produces fashion that is disposable, with people able to buy 10 new pieces of clothing for under £50, or even less. They add between 700 - 2000 new styles a day, with one investigation showing one Shein supplier in China produces 1.2 million pieces of clothing a day. Where does this end up? Often drenching beaches in Ghana, where the local community cannot handle the amount of textile waste landing on their shores. 

Shein isnt the only one. In my daily commute, I have seen advertisements for other companies like Pretty Little Thing and Boohoo - both deemed “Not Good Enough” when it comes to sustainability, by Good On You, who rate fashion and beauty brands based on worker safety, living wages, greenhouse gas emissions and animal welfare. 

The relentless exposure to such advertisements on TFL not only boost the sales of these fast fashion brands, but also subtly normalizes these environmental and human rights violations, manipulating commuters into supporting an industry built on damage and destruction. 

It is important that we take a stance against this. We need to show these brands and TFL itself that the profits from the advertisements are not worth the harm that they indirectly cause. TFL says it wants to keep London moving “to make the city as safe, sustainable and inclusive as possible, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals” but pushing fast fashion on commuters undermines this.

I urge Transport for London and Mayor Sadiq Khan to acknowledge the potentially adverse impacts of facilitating these fast fashion advertisements. It is time to remove these advertisements from our daily commute and instead use this space to advocate for sustainable practices and respect for human rights. Let's prioritize our planet and its inhabitants over fleeting trends.

Transport for London and Sadiq Khan - TfL doesn't allow tobacco advertisement, advertisements including unhealthy body images, or adverts for food “high in fat, salt and/or sugar”, banned by TfL since 2019, so why do you allow adverts for fast fashion?

Image from JCDecaux