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Working towards a circular fashion economy…

Published on by beccaryan06Leave a comment

A circular fashion economy is one of the main things we as a society need to focus on in order to achieve a more sustainable future. The great debate is the question of whose responsibility is it to achieve this circular fashion model?

The answer is simple. It’s everyone’s.

We need a circular system where there no, or a limited amount of, wastage. Yes, manufacturers have a responsibility to provide us with clothing but once it is in the shops, it’s up to us what we do. Whether we buy it. If we buy it, do we look after it? Do we wear it? How do we get rid of it? Do we bin it? Does it go to landfill? How long is its life span? These are all good questions that we really need to think about.

There are small things that we can all do that will overall have a very positive impact on the environment. Small things that overall make a big difference.

Triarchy Atelier remake old denim jeans into new, exciting garments
  • Never send any clothing to landfill.
    No textiles should ever be sent to landfill yet around £140 million of clothing ends up in landfill yearly (1).   A large amount of clothing is recyclable and if it’s not, then it can be used and remade into something else. If you no longer have a purpose for your garments, there are plenty of other options of how to get rid of them that don’t negatively impact the environment. Some shops will even take the items back to repair it.
  • Remake old and damaged clothing
    By remaking old and damaged clothing into something new and exciting, it creates a unique opportunity for you to have one of a kind pieces that you’ve customised. You also don’t have to worry about the hassle of returning clothes that you’ve bought if it doesn’t fit because you can make it exactly to your size.
  • Only buy something if you need it and know you’ll wear it.
    It’s so easy to go out and buy stuff that you don’t need just because you like it, it’s trendy now and it’s a good bargain. Truth is, trends come and go in a matter of months thanks to social media. Think carefully about whether you’ll wear it once that trend has faded. So, it’s much better to resist the urge to buy new unless you need to.
Clothes swaps
  • Do clothes swaps with families and friends.
    If you’re bored of some of your clothes, swap them with your friends and family. This way, you both have new and exciting outfits and it hasn’t cost any of you a penny! There are also lots of sites where you can swap clothing, with Facebook becoming a popular place for people to do this.
  • Sell unworn and unwanted clothes.
    Want to earn a bit of extra cash? Why not sell your clothes online or do a car boot sale? Not only will your clothes get another use, you’ll also have a bit of extra money in your pocket. Sites like eBay and Depop make this process easy.
  • Buy locally and support private businesses.
    Supporting small businesses and buying locally means you’re supporting your community. You also know where your clothes have come from and sometimes, you can have it customised to your liking.
  • Read the care labels before you buy.
    By reading the care label, you can get a good understanding of a lot of things. You can see where the garments came from, what they’re made of and how to care for them. Caring properly for your clothing is the best way to make them last longer and keep them looking their best.
  • Buy 2nd hand.
    Charity shops and 2nd hand stores are a great way of not diving into fast fashion but still having something new. You’re also donating to a great cause.
  • Look at the quality of the garments before buying.
    The seams are a good indicator of whether or not the garments will last. If you think you’d be able to rip the seams apart easily then it’s not going to last very long at all.
  • Ensure you buy from sustainable and ethical fashion brands.
    There are many brands that put sustainability and ethical fashion practices at the forefront of their brand. These brands provide you with clothing that doesn’t impact the environment and provide you with solutions of what to do when your garments break or get damaged.
Vintage clothing
  • Buy vintage clothing.
    Vintage clothing is a great way of bringing some uniqueness to your wardrobe. Vintage clothing has a meaning to us and we tend to treat it with much more care.
  • Buy clothing that can be paired with multiple different outfits.
    Buying clothing that can only be worn with a certain thing means that it will be sat in your wardrobe for months at a time collecting dust. Instead, try buying diverse clothing that can be worn with lots of different outfits.

Not only do we, as the consumer, have a responsibility to save our planet, manufacturers and companies need to start to do more to change the way they produce their clothing. They need to provide us with better clothing that lasts longer. They need to look at their use of materials and how much they recycle. They need to ensure that all of their workers are treated fairly and are paid a liveable wage. They need to consider what they do with any unsold garments. They need to look at their carbon footprint and consider if it’s necessary to use that much. And lastly, they need to make their consumers understand what they are trying to do as a company to reduce their impact on the environment. If we all stop buying from fast fashion brands, then maybe companies will listen to the Earths’ cry for help and change their ways. This is all a part of bettering our future on this planet by involving a circular fashion practice in our lives.

While buying more sustainable clothing, you may notice that it is going to be a bit pricier than fast fashion. That is inevitable. Fast fashion is designed to be cheap. But it isn’t designed to last forever. In the long run, buying more sustainable fashion that lasts longer will work out to be more cost effective whilst remaining your stylish self.

By spreading these tips and working together, we can change the way the fashion industry works and aim for a more sustainable future for all. With all of this in mind, it really is up to us to change. The time is now. The future is ours, it’s up to us what we do with it.

REFERENCES

(1) Lucy Rogers (2015) BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30227025

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The real implications of fast fashion…

Published on by beccaryan06Leave a comment
Fast fashion trends in stores

We are all guilty of diving into those sale rails to find ourselves a good bargain. Who doesn’t love a good bargain? Shopping makes us feel good. But as time goes by, we realise we’ve barely worn the items we bought and that we didn’t really need it in the first place. We don’t have any kind of emotional attachment to it and there’s not many memories linked to it so what do we do? We get rid of it and buy ourselves some new clothes.

That is the unfortunate cycle of fast fashion.   

Fast fashion is an ever-growing problem that our society is facing right now. It is a big contributor to the many sustainability and ethical problems our beautiful planet is facing. But what exactly is fast fashion?

To put it simply, fast fashion is the process of lots of cheap clothing being made quickly in mass to keep up with new trends. Many of the shops we walk past daily are fast fashion retailers; H&M, Zara, Primark and New Look and many others are all involved with fast fashion practices. They produce lots of new clothing which constantly provides us with new trends.

Zara

Zara is one of the world’s leading fast fashion retailers. They have over 2000 stores in 77 countries. Staff produce around 30,000 designs a year, some of which include mirror images of items produced by designer brands at a much cheaper price. When using cheap labour to make their products, Zara tends to use workers in European countries however, some of their garments and products are made in house, so they can monitor the quality of production. Within 3 weeks of designing the garments, products can be seen in store. This is a much quicker turn around with the average in the industry being 6 months. Fashion used to have four seasons where brands bought out new clothing ranges; Spring/summer, autumn/winter and half way between both of these. Zara brings out new clothing twice a week, meaning they have 104 seasons a year!!! They use the idea that items shouldn’t remain warehoused for longer than 72 hours. This way, the products can be in the hands of the consumer as quick as possible. Although it is great for us to have products in our hands that are very similar, if not identical to high end brands at a much cheaper price, it is ripping off those high end designers. They put in months of research to have their ideas stolen. Is that really fair? (1)

Saving the planet is a topic that has largely been in the news recently. The UK has recently declared that we are in a state of “emergency” with climate change. Plastic usage is often highlighted in the news as a big problem to do with climate change and whilst that is true, people often forget that your clothing choices can contribute to climate change. While it may be great and exciting to have so many options of clothing to choose from at such a low cost, it’s important that we know that it’s affecting the environment. It’s not too late for us to make a change.

Here are some facts about the impacts the fashion industry has on the environment.

  • 20% of water pollution globally is a result of manufacturing clothing. (WRI)
  • It takes around 2700 litres of water to produce the quantity of fabrics needed to produce a single cotton t-shirt. (WWF)
  • Fabric dyeing uses a massive amount of water, around 4.9 trillion litres of water yearly. (WRI)
  • In 2017, 235 million items of clothing were sent to landfill. (BBC)
  • In 2015, the fashion industry produced 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions. (BBC)
  • Including the water that it takes to grow the cotton and the manufacturing process, one pair of jeans requires 7600 litres of water to make. (Curiosity)

Not only does fast fashion come with sustainability issues, it also comes with ethical issues. With fast fashion at our doorsteps, it is often easy to forget where these garments have come from and the extremities that companies put their workers through for us to have cheap fashion readily available for us at the click of a button. Many high street retailers use sweat shops. Sweat shops are factories that have poor working conditions, pay extremely low wages and the employees are forced to work long hours, often without breaks. They often use child labour and there have been many incidences reported regarding physical, verbal and sexual abuse. Despite this, not all sweatshops are bad. There are some that pay their workers a reasonable amount and treat them fairly. If sweatshops are utilised properly, they can actually help the developing world by providing income for the country. But more often than not, workers are exploited and that is something that needs to change.

H&M’s Conscious collection

Companies are starting to change and they are starting to become more transparent with their company practices. Small sustainable collections are starting to appear within big brands. H&M are raising more awareness about their conscious collection which uses sustainably sourced fabrics and Zara are promoting their Join Life collection which focuses on “ health, safety and environmental sustainability standards”(2). This is a good start but more needs to be done and it needs to be done now!

So, while you may be over the moon that you managed to find a bargain top for a fiver in H&M or Primark, it is important we know where our clothes came from and what they, and the workers that produce them, have been through. In a later blog post, I’ll be talking about what we can do to reduce the impacts of fast fashion! A sustainable, ethical and happy planet is what we all strive for. If we can reduce the impacts the fashion industry has on the planet, we are a step closer to a more sustainable future. With a few adaptations to our spending habits this is achievable. So, before you make that impulse buy, stop and think. We all have our part to play in making the world a better place.

REFERENCES

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