The hidden cost of campus culture: How UK universities are complicit in fast fashion
Written by: Nicole Bowen
Thousands of students are flooding into universities this September to start another year of academic rigour. There will be chaotic move-ins, tearful goodbyes, and of course, new memberships into an unreasonable number of student societies.
These can range from amateur comedy to bubble tea meet-ups, but sports societies significantly dominate these extracurricular activities. At Durham University alone, there’s more than 550 college teams to choose from, so no wonder over 75% of the student population participate in intramural sports.
Whether students are seasoned athletes or a beginner trying their luck at pickleball, sports teams all have one thing in common. A uniform. These uniforms are not only important for mobility and sweat regulation, but they unite teams under a common identity. However, these uniforms have been increasingly uniting students as an insidious symbol of environmental harm.
Sports uniforms are often made from polyester, elastane, and nylon, with few cotton based products within their ingredient lists. Polyester is not only made from fossil fuels which are non-biodegradable, but the material also sheds microparticles that damage the environment throughout their use. Companies typically use polyester material in their sportswear since it is highly compatible with dye sublimation techniques used to print their logos. This is a process which involves the application of possibly toxic chemicals during manufacturing, which make logos look sharp, but can pollute nearby water sources.
Oxygen levels in these bodies of water plummet as a result; species diversity is at risk and the breakdown of entire ecosystems is a threat. Though non-toxic exists to alleviate this issue, the dye-sublimination process has other detrimental environmental consequences. There is also a large amount of heat and energy needed to print high quality colours. For dyes to successfully integrate into the fabric, temperatures of up to 230 °C are required, which uses up a lot of energy.
But the picture isn’t entirely bleak. In 2019, PlayerLayer rolled out an eco-line, with notable examples including EcoLayer leggings which are made from recycled polyester and water bottles, as well as the PlayerLayer Rovers range using coffee grounds. Meanwhile, Boldwill has pushed its sustainability even further and removed plastics entirely in exchange for organic cotton and hemp, offering sportswear that’s effective and biodegradable. However, these eco ranges remain the exception in a market dominated by synthetic materials, with sustainable alternatives rarely visible on university campuses.
Students have become unwittingly trapped in this system. Every time students wash their polyester hoodies or synthetic gym wear, microplastic fibres seep into the UK’s water system. A single load of laundry releases roughly 700,000 microfibres, and the numbers are staggering when this is scaled across British higher education. With over 2 million students across hundreds of universities, even a conservative estimate would suggest university accommodation could be releasing billions of microplastic fibres weekly. Despite this, sustainability approaches on campus remain largely silent about this, focusing instead on recycling bins and energy efficiency while ignoring the plastic storm happening in every student laundry room.
The student body isn’t unaware of these devastating environmental impacts. Researchers from Sheffield Business School found that 48% of university students aged 18-24 were worried about the environmental consequences of fast fashion, and only 3% said they were not worried at all. However, 62% of students still admitted to monthly shopping at a fast fashion retailer, which shows a clear gap between intentions and reality.
More information about easier, cheaper alternatives for students who are living away from home for the first time could help close this gap. Some solutions are simple, such as washing clothes less frequently, using cold water, and air-drying which all reduce environmental impact while extending the life cycle of garments. Using microfibre-catching devices in washing machines can also reduce plastic pollution. An increasingly common way of making consumption more sustainable has been buying second-hand from charity shops and online resale platforms, which offer alternatives at a reasonable price. A more expensive option is investing in fewer, higher-quality items made of natural fibres like organic cotton and wool which are far more sustainable than buying multiple cheap synthetic pieces.
For the thousands of students settling into campus this October, the choices they make about clothing consumption will ripple far beyond their university years. Ultimately though, it is up to the institutions educating our youth to set the example.
Universities should prioritise sustainability in sportswear contracts and demand transparency about the materials and manufacturing processes. Collective purchasing power to demand better standards from sportswear companies, potentially collaborating on sustainable alternatives, as seen from the University of Nottingham with their partnership with PlayerLayer, can have real effects on student attitudes toward sustainable fashion. Even so, sustainable practices do not need to end at sportswear companies. Universities can facilitate sustainable consumption through on-site clothing swaps or on site repairs, which UCL has done successfully through Swap Shops and Repair Cafes.
As UK universities start another academic year, they face a choice that will define their environmental legacy. They can continue promoting unsustainable consumption through sportswear partnerships, or they can use their influence to genuinely transform how students think about clothing and consumption. If UK universities truly believe in sustainability, they must start with the clothes on their students' backs.
References
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