When we think about the health products we use every day, we carefully check the ingredients in our skincare, shampoo, and even the food we eat.
But what about the clothes we wear?
Most of us spend more than half of every day with fabric pressed directly against our skin, yet very few of us have ever questioned what those clothes are actually made from or what chemicals they may have been treated with.
For years, the conversation around fast fashion has focused on its environmental impact. We know it contributes to textile waste, carbon emissions, and water pollution. But there is another side to the story that receives far less attention: the potential impact of clothing on our health.
The Invisible Side of Fast Fashion
Fast fashion is built on speed and affordability.
To produce clothing as quickly and cheaply as possible, manufacturers often rely on synthetic fibres and chemical treatments that improve performance, reduce costs, and make garments more appealing to consumers. Wrinkle-resistant shirts, stain-repellent jackets, stretchy leggings, and water-resistant fabrics all sound convenient, but these features are often achieved through chemical finishes that most shoppers never see.
Unlike cosmetics or food, clothing doesn't come with a full ingredient list.
A label may tell you that a garment is made from "100% polyester," but it won't tell you which dyes, finishing agents, or chemical treatments were used during production. That lack of transparency leaves consumers unable to make informed decisions about what they're putting against their skin every day.
What Chemicals Can Be Found in Clothing?
Research has identified a number of substances that may be present in textiles, depending on how they're manufactured.
These can include:
- PFAS (often used to make fabrics water- and stain-resistant)
- Formaldehyde resins (used to reduce wrinkles)
- Certain dyes and finishing chemicals
- Heavy metals such as chromium in some production processes
Many of these substances improve the appearance or durability of clothing, but they also raise important questions about long-term exposure, particularly because clothing sits against our skin for hours every day.
While exposure levels vary and more research is still emerging, scientists have linked some textile chemicals to skin irritation, allergies, hormone disruption, and other health concerns. Your clothing may not be causing immediate illness, but the absence of transparency means most consumers simply don't know what they're being exposed to.
Why Aren't We Talking About This?
One of the most surprising findings from my research was that consumer awareness is incredibly low.
Many people know that fast fashion isn't great for the environment, yet very few have considered that the same production processes affecting rivers, workers, and ecosystems may also affect the people wearing the finished garments.
In my research, many respondents reported experiencing discomfort such as itching or irritation from clothing, yet almost none had connected these symptoms to the materials or chemical treatments used in their garments. This suggests that potential exposure often goes unnoticed. Not because people don't care, but because the information simply isn't available.
Why Transparency Matters
Imagine buying food without knowing its ingredients.
Or purchasing skincare with no list of what it contains.
We would never accept that level of uncertainty.
Yet that's effectively how we shop for clothing.
Consumers deserve to know more than just the fibre content of a garment. They deserve accessible information about chemical treatments, production methods, and the safety of the materials they're wearing.
Greater transparency wouldn't just help people make healthier choices. It would encourage brands to compete on quality, durability, and safety rather than simply price and speed.
This Isn't About Fear... It's About Better Information
The goal isn't to make people afraid of every item in their wardrobe.
It's to recognise that informed consumers make better decisions.
For decades, marketing has encouraged us to ask whether clothes are fashionable, affordable, or on trend. Perhaps it's time we also asked whether they're designed to be safe.
If we can check the ingredients in our food and cosmetics, why shouldn't we expect the same level of transparency from the clothes we wear?
As awareness grows, the fashion industry has an opportunity to redefine what quality really means—not just how a garment looks, but how it's made, what it's contains, and how it affects both people and the planet.
Next in the series: I'll explore how marketing helped create today's culture of overconsumption and why it could also become one of the most powerful tools for changing it.