I hate to say this but it is likely that most of the clothes in your wardrobe have been made using processes and materials which are bad for our planet, and have been made by people who are often forced to work overtime, with unfair pay.
When I went to University and started to learn about the production line, I started to realise how unfair and unsustainable it was. I had a dream that one day I would help to restore the balance by making clothes to order, tailored to fit each person, so they get 100% satisfaction, there would be limited waste, and I would source only ethical and eco friendly fabrics. Producing minimal negative effects.
I’m not quite perfect yet, but I’m doing my bit - for the last 6 years I have been repairing and altering clothing for the people of Brighton and beyond, in an effort to reduce the amount of clothing thrown away, or shipped back to the manufacturer.
Before I moved to Brighton I was working in Sheffield, in a vintage clothing store.
I was taking the larger sized pieces home to my studio in evenings, where I could turn one dress into a top, and two or three skirts. I've always been attracted to colour, texture and pattern, and vintage holds some of the greatest inspirations for all three.
To me this fast fashion epidemic is a problem which needs to be fixed, and I try to find my own ways to avoid creating waste. One of my favourite things to make are purses made from shoulder pads, which I took out of the dresses before reselling them.
I have a dream, that with the amount of people studying fashion, there should be enough skilled people to set up small bespoke garment production businesses across the UK, which could cater for any style, whim and fancy anyone could conjure up. With these cottage industries thriving, this would work in favour of all, giving the public exactly what they’re looking for, and giving the skilled workforce a satisfying and rewarding job.
At present there are all kinds of ways to avoid buying new clothing, and I’m hoping to give you a few alternatives to big brands, as many of the high street shops don’t show any accountability for the impact that the process of their products being made and shipped to us is having on the environment.
Fashion is the second highest polluting industry, after Oil.
Transporting the goods once they’ve been made is a large part of the carbon footprint made by the fashion industry, so shopping local is the most logical way to combat this.
Whether you chose Eco or Slow Fashion, Upcycled Clothing, Reworked Vintage, Customised, clothes swaps, or simply buying second hand; All of these are great ways to shop greener and show you care about the environment.
In an age where people are disconnected from the fashion process and the people behind it, as with most areas of consumerism in modern life, it is easy for people to lose sight of the things that are important to bear in mind.
Environmentally friendly Fashion is often an area which is overlooked by image conscious young professionals who favour fast, cheap fashion fixes over well loved quality pieces that will last them for years. Convenience comes at a cost.
The consumers’ attitude that clothing is disposable and can be worn only a few times is partly what is causing the issue, partnered with retailers helping to drive this desire by aiming to sell as much product, as quickly as possible, and with the highest profit margins possible of course.
According to mintel.com “Half of online clothes shoppers have returned fashion items they purchased online, rising to 56% of female online clothes shoppers and 60% of women aged 25-44. But for some, the inconvenience of returning goods proves too much trouble, as a third (34%) of online fashion shoppers overall have kept products they don’t want due to the hassle of returning them, including 41% of females aged 25-44. Overall, three quarters (73%) of online fashion shoppers want more return options such as collection from home or drop-off at multiple locations.”
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mintel.com
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I’d like to know how many of those items which were not suitable but not returned 34-41% made their way to a charity shop to be resold, or just sat at the bottom of the wardrobe, gathering dust after all that effort has gone into making them.
invespcro.com states that “Global online retail sales are growing and is estimated to reach 8.8% of total retail spending in 2018 as compared to 7.4% in 2016… UK has the highest retail E-commerce sales as percentage of total retail sales (15.6%) followed by China (13.8%)
At University they told us that sales of fashion goods were expected to be at least 50% online, by 2050.
Mintel’s Online Fashion UK 2017 Report reveals that this year Brits are set to spend £16.2 billion on online sales of clothing, fashion accessories and footwear, continuing fashion’s spot as the most popular category bought online.
According to Ethical Consumer magazine 168, published in September 2017:
“Greenpeace has been at the forefront of campaigning against toxic chemicals in clothes. It launched its ‘Detox My Fashion’ campaign in July 2011, asking companies to ‘detox’ by eliminating their use of hazardous chemicals by 2020.
Since then, 76 companies have committed to detox.
In 2016, Greenpeace assessed 19 companies. Inditex, Benetton and H&M were rated as ahead of the field and leading the industry whereas the designer clothes brands Diesel, Hermes, LVMH Group and PVH and GAP were at the bottom having not made a detox commitment.”
“Cotton production is a water-intensive business. The global average water footprint of cotton fabric is 10,000 litres per kilogram. That means that one cotton shirt of 250 grams costs about 2500 litres. A pair of jeans of 800 grams will cost 8000 litres. On average, one third of the water footprint of cotton is used because the crop has to be irrigated, contributing to water scarcity and the depletion of rivers and lakes. For example, the water consumed
to grow India’s cotton exports in 2013 would have been enough to supply 85% of the country’s 1.24 billion people with 100 litres of water every day for a year. Meanwhile, more than 100 million people in India didn’t have access to safe water.
By comparison, hemp only needs 2,000 litres of water per kg.”
According to SumOfUs: “The apparel industry is a huge contributor to global climate change. Manufacturing a single pair of denim jeans produces 44 pounds of CO2, roughly equal to the greenhouse gas emissions from driving a passenger car nearly 50 miles. One study shows that clothes manufacturing alone generated about 3% of the global CO2 emissions in 2011 – roughly equal to the climate pollution created by putting 163 million new cars on the road.”
SumOfUs claimed that these outsourcing practices were contributing to poor air quality “that’s killing 4,400 people every single day in China.”
These figures are so strikingly crazy when you think about it, but this is not information that is openly discussed in the news or media etc, until disaster strikes. I wonder why?
Ethical Consumer Magazine says “We believe that consumers have the right to know if they are unwittingly using their money to support exploitation, human rights abuses and environmental destruction. This is why transparency is so important and why we are encouraging people to ask the brands they wear “who made my clothes?”.
We believe this simple question encourages brands and retailers to be more transparent, enabling greater accountability and eventually a change in the way business is done so that in future everything we wear will be made in a much more ethical and sustainable way.”
I agree, and I have seen a local independent clothing brand The Emperors Old Clothes, on Instagram using the hashtag #whomadeyourclothes, which I think is one of the most interesting #s I’ve seen so far. But then again, I am a fashion Designer myself, so I am naturally intrigued by all things of the cloth.
We are so lucky here in Brighton as we have a bounty of charity shops, independent boutiques where you can find handmade, vintage and upcycled clothing, including one of my favourite brands The Emperor’s Old Clothes - who help to reduce fabric waste by working mainly with vintage & end-of-roll fabrics and paying all of their team & models a living wage.
I've spotted them on Instagram tagging their posts with #whomadeyourclothes #slowfashion and #livingwage, which I think are some of the most interesting and important hashtags I’ve seen so far. But I am a Fashion Designer myself, so I am naturally intrigued by all things of the cloth.
Here in Brighton there is also the FAIR shop on queens road, and People Tree, and so many other ethical shops.
There are a wealth of small businesses popping up online who offer conscious, slow handmade fashion using carefully selected materials that have a limited effect on our beautiful planet.
Fashion doesn't need to cost the earth.