In the next episode of our We Need to Talk About podcast, we’ll be exploring how an individual can rethink their relationship to clothes and make easy choices towards sustainable shopping. We’ll be looking at the psychological cycles of buying, as well as the changes that need to come from government level. We want to gather questions from readers and supporters who are experts in related fields, but also those who have personal experiences or reflections to share. In particular we’re looking for positive solutions-based ideas about how we can improve the situation.
Lucy Siegle, MP Mary Creagh, and others will be discussing this issue in our next recording. To share your questions, reflections and ideas with them, please email us at:
weneedtotalkabout@guardian.co.uk
… providing your question along with your name, age, and country of residence.
The fashion industry is big business. In the UK alone, it was worth £32 billion in 2017. According to consultants McKinsey, the global apparel, fashion and luxury industry outperformed all other market indexes in profitability between 2003 - 2013, “outstripping even high-growth sectors like technology and telecommunications”. It is believed one in six people on the planet work in the fashion supply chain, yet it remains one of the most polluting industries on the planet. In our next podcast, we want to ask: How can the fashion industry as a whole be held accountable, and what role can the government, and we as individuals, play in improving this growing issue?
The UN says that given the growth in global population, by 2050 the equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles. Huge numbers of brands still depend on vastly underpaid workers to make clothing meet consumer demand. In 2013’s Rana Plaza tragedy, a Bangladesh textile factory collapsed, killing 1,134 people, despite warnings over the safety of the structure. It transpired that the building housed five garment factories supplying global fashion brands.
In addition to concerns over worker safety, the fashion industry has come under scrutiny for its impact on the environment. During just one washing cycle, a washing machine can leach up to 1000,000 microfibres into our waterways, rivers and oceans, and be consumed by fish, other marine life, and in turn, humans. And clothing is often not recycled – it is believed that Americans dispose of about 12.8m tons of textiles annually. In the UK every year, £140 million worth of used but still wearable clothing (350,000 tonnes) goes to landfill. From an environmental perspective, fast fashion is disastrous.
The Green Carpet Challenge (GCC) is one example of how celebrities are using their influence to affect change. This pioneering organisation was founded by Livia Firth and Lucy Siegle in 2010, when Siegle challenged Firth to attend all her red carpet commitments in sustainable clothing. At first she wore ‘ethical’ designers, to the ceremonies, including Orsola de Castro, who designed a dress made out of textile waste for the 2010 Oscars. Now, the business has expanded and the pair work with some of the world’s most famous design houses to help them implement more environmentally responsible business practices.
Other prototype solutions that are being trialled include: solar textiles, garments made using biological catalysts which are capable of ‘eating’ plastic, 3D printing for clothes, compostable clothes made from materials such as orange fibre and apple leather, and lab-grown leather. But can any of these offer the practical and long-term solution we need? Is it a case of changing our shopping habits, and buying more second-hand clothes? Or should we be aiming for shifts on a bigger scale? How can we put pressure on fashion houses to implement change? And which is the most promising of the scientific innovations in this area?
We look forward to hearing from you!