Fast fashion and the garment industry is one of the most
terrible things happening on the planet at the moment, and consumers are just
lapping it up like these are the golden days. We will look back on this and be
pretty disgusted with ourselves.
The main problems;
Unfair labour in producing the garments with poor quality of
life and poor pay.
Consumer demand for ever increasing low prices, clothing
costs less now than it did in the 1980s; this drives down the prices for the
labour and further reduces their quality of life.
Contamination of water systems in garment productions;
companies not following regulations to ensure local water supplies remain
clean.
The overuse of water for clothing we are in no need of;
water is used for growing the crops that the clothing is made from, cotton is a
very thirsty plant and this is causing water shortages across the globe. Not to
mention contamination from pesticides to the local populations.
Cotton is also not easily biodegradable.
Microfibres washing out of synthetic clothing every time we
use the washing machine, we are drinking loads of the little blighters already
in our tap water.
An enormous amount of clothing being sent to landfill every
day when the fibres can be repurposed, no matter how holey they are.
Not buying quality.
Buying because you can.
People wearing 20% of what is in their wardrobe.
Endless seasons with no covetable clothing, I look at the
stuff in shops and think 90% of this is trash – and that is probably true.
The industry doesn’t have a heart – the big high street
companies outsource the production and find the cheapest they can which often
means poor regulation and little concern for humans, the environment etc.
1.
Boycott the high street
2.
Buy the best you can afford (this might mean
using the high street – which is fine, we all have to live within our means,
but our means don’t necessarily mean owning 10 pairs of trousers)
3.
Buy second hand – I use charity shops, vintage
shops and eBay to find preowned clothing. I also try to find the best quality
clothes as these will last well and when I am tired of them they are still in
good condition and go back into the second hand market.
4.
Keep a minimal wardrobe and make sure everything
works together as outfits.
5.
Wear the same great outfits again and again – if
you’ve come up with a great outfit then keep wearing out, people will love to
look at it again and again too.
6.
Never put textiles in the bin – you can recycle
it, often councils will collect textiles, but even your local charity shops
have regular textile waste collection.
7.
Try not to wear any manmade fibres.
8.
Repair your clothes and shoes. If you own nice,
well made pieces then you will want to do this anyway as they tend to have much
longer lifespans.
9.
I believe wool, hemp and linen are less
impactful on the environment.
1.
Slow down fashion, by demanding this style of
shopping again as consumers we can cause a response by the big companies.
