Fashion’s Crossroads: Can Humanity Defeat the Race for Endless Growth

July 14, 2025 at 01:10 PM EST

By Ariel Rose | Editor in chief: Adrienne Carter

From Miami to London: Twelve years after the Rana Plaza collapse exposed the lethal downside of cheap clothing manufacturing, the global fashion industry is bigger and, many argue, more reckless than ever. Yet a counter‑movement is gathering strength, insisting that people and the planet must finally outrank profit.

“Growth is negative when resources are finite”, veteran designer‑activist Orsola de Castro told 1O1 Square in an exclusive interview this week, “We’re the first generation that doesn’t have to face its own waste, and the industry has taken full advantage of that amnesia”.

Used clothes discarded in the Atacama Desert, in Alto Hospicio, Iquique, Chile. Photo: Martin Bernetti

A trillion‑dollar engine with a human cost

Apparel sales are projected to reach US $1.84 trillion in 2025, employing some 430 million people across sprawling supply chains (UniformMarket). Roughly 40 mainstream brands now command about 90 % of the global market share, creating what de Castro calls an “oligopoly of sameness”, rewarding speed and scale over quality.

On 24 April, Bangladeshi unions marked the 12th anniversary of Rana Plaza, where 1,138 garment workers died after managers ignored warnings that the complex was unsafe (Clean Clothes Campaign). Survivors’ compensation claims are still winding through the court system, casting doubt on corporate pledges to never let a similar disaster happen again. Sadly, these economies still rely on rock‑bottom wages.

From fast to “ultra‑fast” fashion

If traditional fast‑fashion challenged sustainability, ultra‑fast players like Shein and Temu have pushed the model into hyperspeed, uploading thousands of new SKUs each day and shipping them directly to consumers in under two weeks. Shein’s latest move: a 15‑hectare warehouse outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, meant to hedge against the U.S.-China tariff volatility (Reuters).

Those tariffs are already biting. Both Shein and Temu raised U.S. prices in late April after Washington closed a duty‑free loophole for parcels under US $800, triggering double‑digit sales dips in the following week (ABC). Analysts warn that if higher costs stick, brands may simply squeeze suppliers harder to preserve margins.

Regulators inch toward tougher rules

Policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic are making efforts to close loopholes which let pollution and labor abuse remain, as de Castro puts it, “out of sight, out of mind”.

The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, still under negotiation, would set design durability standards, require a Digital Product Passport, and make producers pay for end‑of‑life waste (Environment). A parallel Waste‑Shipment Regulation would curb the export of unsold goods to African and South American dumps (Carbonfact).

Yet the path from Brussels directives to factory floors is long. A recent McKinsey report warns that spiraling input costs, sluggish demand, and “regulatory fragmentation” will define 2025, leaving brands scrambling for “pockets of growth” ( McKinsey & Company).

A revolution stitched together from the margins

de Castro believes salvation lies not with incumbents, but with a mosaic of smaller labels, repair services, and local textile mills. Days after Rana Plaza, she co‑founded Fashion Revolution; the group now coordinates teams in 86 different countries.

This year’s Fashion Revolution Week, which took place in late April, urged citizens to put pressure on these harmful fast-fashion systems, by asking the question, “Who made my clothes?”, and demanding that lawmakers pass binding living‑wage laws (Fashion Revolution).

Upcycling–turning factories off‑cuts or discarded garments into new pieces–sits at the heart of de Castro’s vision, “It’s as old as humanity,” she says “we just gave it a marketing name.” In Italy, some heritage mills are rehiring Gen Z technicians to program looms once abandoned for cheaper Asian output. She calls the jobs “coding with fabric”.

The Humanitarian Side of Business

To truly shift the tide, both policy and public pressure must align in order to hold brands accountable beyond their voluntary pledges and glossy sustainability reports. Binding legislation, like the EU’s upcoming durability standards, or proposals for mandatory due diligence, can help dismantle the race-to-the-bottom logic that incentivises exploitation.

But laws alone aren’t enough. Real change depends on citizens using their influence as voters, consumers, and community members to demand fairness and traceability. Campaigns like Fashion Revolution’s “Who made my clothes?” remind us that visibility is power, and that systemic accountability starts with individual curiosity.

At the same time, redefining success in fashion means rejecting the myth that endless consumption is aspirational. A garment well-worn, mended, or inherited carries more cultural and emotional weight than something bought for a single use. Designers, educators, and storytellers must lead a culture shift that reframes fashion as a craft and legacy, not just a trend. This is not about nostalgia but survival: a reimagined industry rooted in care, longevity, and balance, where exponential well-being finally takes precedence over exponential turnover.

Fashion's Dark Side: A Call for Change

While it is a cultural powerhouse, the fashion industry is also one of the most environmentally destructive, and socially exploitative sectors on Earth. Its carbon footprint rivals aviation, and its reliance on cheap labor sustains cycles of poverty in countries often left out of conversations regarding ethics and accountability. At its core, this is a humanitarian crisis veiled in glamour. Each stitch carries the invisible weight of someone’s dignity, time, and often, suffering. And yet, change is possible, if we embrace alternatives not as fringe experiments but as viable foundations for a better system. Education is key: understanding where our clothes come from, who makes them, and the true cost behind the price tag. As de Castro says, “We wear our values”. In that spirit, perhaps the most radical act of resistance is also the simplest: choosing empathy over apathy, and creation over consumption.

Will consumers follow?

Polls show rising anxiety about climate change, but price ultimately still drives most apparel purchases. When ultra‑fast‑fashion prices rose last month, the social‑media backlash was immediate, so whether environmental concern sparks a lasting shift away from disposable style remains to be seen.

de Castro is cautiously optimistic: “Nature doesn’t scale one giant ant; it replicates countless small ones. Fashion needs the same humility”.

For now, the industry sits at a crossroads between a business model designed to implode, as she says, and an emerging blueprint that values exponential well‑being over exponential turnover. The next 12 months will test which path global fashion ultimately chooses.

What comes next

EU lawmakers vote on the textile durability and waste‑shipment files in late 2025; lobbyists expect fierce push‑back from industry groups.
U.S. Congress debates whether to make the post‑April tariff hikes on ultra‑fast fashion permanent.
Fashion Revolution plans a global “Mend‑a‑Thon” this October, aiming to log one million repairs in a single weekend.

Read more and get involved

Fashion Revolution: how to host a community mend‑in | fashionrevolution.org
Clean Clothes Campaign: updates on Rana Plaza legal actions | cleanclothes.org
EU Textile Strategy tracker | environment.ec.europa.eu

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Global apparel market US$1.84 trn (2025) & 430 m workers

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UniformMarket – Global Apparel Industry Statistics UniformMarket

Rana Plaza 12‑year update & compensation fight

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Truthout – “12 Years After Factory Collapse…” Truthout
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre – Survivors’ demands Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

Shein’s 15‑hectare warehouse near Ho Chi Minh City

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