Fashion is one of the biggest industries in the world, valued at around £2.2 trillion (Indvik, 2020), but at the rate it’s growing and using resources it is already past its planetary boundary, with consumption of single items growing but their usage decreasing. (Siegle, 2019) The fashion industry is one of the main contributors to global emissions and climate change, producing 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions every week and around 11 million items of clothing being sent to just sit in landfill every week in the UK. (WRAP, 2017) Only 1% of this clothing manufactured has any sort of sustainability consideration. (Siegle, 2019) The clothing and footwear industries contributed to’ between 5 and 10% of global pollution impact’ in 2016 (Quantis, 2018) As a comparison, the fashion industry has the same environmental footprint as Russia currently, and creates more emissions than aviation and shipping combined. (Siegle, 2019) Another environmental issue associated with fashion is the cotton plants, with a study from Berkeley university stating that 90% of the cotton plants involved in textiles are genetically modified, including heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers, with 20% of pesticides produced worldwide being used on cotton alone. (Leon, 2019) In the UK in 2018, £60.4 billion was spent by consumers on clothing, the highest number seen in any reported period since 2005. (Sabanoglu, 2019) Even more shocking is the estimated annual, environmental footprint of a UK household’s newly bought clothing, equating to enough water to fill over 1000 baths and enough carbon emissions for a car to drive 6000 miles. (WRAP, 2017)
However, discussion is developing around the world on ways to reduce the impacts of clothing production, (Brooks, 2018) as we move towards even more urgent environmental challenges that are only being brought about because of our unsustainable choices. This essay will examine how truly effective the initiatives that the fashion industry in the UK have implemented to help tackle their impact on the climate crisis today. To do this, it will look at people who are exposing the fashion industry and inspiring change, including the UK government’s response, as well as campaigns implementing initiatives to help tackle the impact ranging from fashion brands, fashion consultancies and charities. Finally, it will look at the impact of the second hand / re-selling trends. This essay will conclude that out of these, re-selling and re-using clothes second hand is the most effective initiative out of the ones discussed. This is because overall, most of the initiatives so far have proved better at raising awareness and inspiring people to help the cause rather than making real differences themselves, showing an inability to follow-up their promises. Whereas second-hand selling is certainly having the most meaningful impact, due to its reduction of demand for new, fast fashion items. However, given many of these initiatives are relatively new, it may just be a matter of time for them to come to fruition and start to make a noticeable difference.
Social media plays a considerable role to the ever-growing, urgent desire to have all the trendiest clothes that you see on social media or on your favourite celebrity. There were an estimated 1.8 billion people worldwide who bought goods online in 2018. (Farmbrough, 2019) Due to the quick and easy nature of the online shopping phenomenon, no one necessarily registers the additional impacts of fast fashion, for example: cardboard packaging, the 2-3 working day delivery and even shipping worldwide. But online shopping isn’t the only culprit. There are also problems within physical retail on the high street, where big names in fashion use substantial amounts of water and pump unnecessary amounts of emissions into the atmosphere during clothing production, for example “a pair of 501 Levi’s jeans will use 3,781 litres in its full lifecycle, from growing cotton and its manufacture through to consumer care” – taken from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. (UK Parliament : Environmental Audit Committee, 05 October 2018) Also, 2700 litres are needed to produce the cotton to make one single t-shirt, according to the environmental charity WWF. (WWF, 2013) This binging culture of clothes where you buy needless amounts of cheap clothes to wear once (rather than buying less clothes to keep in your wardrobe and re wear) is only doing more harm to the environment – and if it continues, we won’t be able reverse its effects.
People who are exposing the fashion industry and inspiring change.
Extinction Rebellion
As discussion is clearly developing among the fashion community, there are examples of those who are leading the discussions and inspiring change. The first example is Extinction Rebellion. These world-renowned climate change activists originally called for a fashion boycott in May 2020, alongside protests outside of London Fashion week. This global environmental movement was founded on the 31st October 2018 with the hope that their civil disobedience will cause some much needed government action. Clare Farrell, one of their co-founders, said outside of a London fashion week protest in early 2019, that she wants to start a conversation amongst industries about what they can and should do regarding this emergency. Farrell completed this statement by wearing a jacket she made herself when she was 16. (Siegle, 2019) But now, after gaining so much popularity, they have spread their actions to a 52 weeklong protest where they are asking people not to buy any new clothes for the whole of 2020, hence to ‘#boycottfashion’. This is a key example of the organisations who are stirring the movement of sustainability, by encouraging behavioural change among consumers rather than the producers. Along with these action plans, Extinction Rebellion have launched another, different platform called ‘Truth-Teller. Life’ where you can anonymously expose your employer’s environmental crimes. (Britten, 2019) An example of a report could be suspected landfilling or incineration of old clothes stock by the company you work for. Then, once you have reported their misdemeanours, the responsibility is handed to a passionate journalist to fight the battle on your behalf. Extinction Rebellion is inspiring not only the people, but the corporations involved with fashion to change their ways and reduce their impact alongside attacking the problem.
However, questions have been raised regarding how effective ‘#boycottfashion’ is. On one hand, Extinction Rebellion’s social media presence is huge, with their main Instagram account having 661,000 followers (Exctinction Rebellion, 2019). The awareness they have spread purely on social media is undeniable. Despite this, it is hard to determine how far these followers actually have helped this specific cause. Cleary, they gather lots of people to strike in Central London but regarding fashion, how many of these supporters go out of their way to make more sustainable choices with their clothes or try to report their workplace’s unsustainable ways? It seems to be the individuals mostly making the biggest differences (for example: re-selling which is later discussed in this essay) while organisations such as Extinction Rebellion are more of a point of inspiration. Also, the strength of a link between talk and initiative is weak. It is hard to see whether companies introduce initiatives due to inspiration or are forced to in fear of losing customers who are aware. It is bold to assume that all companies become more sustainable in the good of their own consciences, not just to boost their image or protect itself from bad press. Therefore, this blurs the link between the success of Extinction Rebellion at inspiring change from its movement’s alone.
Government Response
Another exposition of the fashion industry’s unsustainable ways, is through the government’s interest and response to the issues. The House of Commons in Westminster parliament debated the issues of the fashion industry twice in 2019. First, it was discussed on 25 July 2019 covering “What plans the Government have to reduce the environmental impact of fast fashion.” (House of Commons, 2019) This only vaguely covered the issue at hand, but instead discussed the general net zero target of the government, suggesting much more specific conversation needs to be had. However, a second debate earlier that year, on the 31st January, was much more informative about the issues at hand. The main point of this debate was to find ways in which to “reduce fashion’s footprint and to ensure that fashion does not literally cost us the earth.” (House of Commons, 2019). It covered many shocking facts about the environmental crisis that the fashion industry contributes to. Firstly, the UK reportedly throw away 11 million pieces of clothing every year, valued around £140 million. (House of Commons, 2019) Alongside this being a waste of materials and money, there remains the issues of the disposal of these clothes rather though landfill or incineration. Secondly, “People in this country buy more clothes than people in any other European country: 27 kilos per person a year.” (House of Commons, 2019) Which is embarrassing for the UK to be so much more wasteful with clothes when it is one of the few countries to pledge for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. (Darby, 2019) Despite these facts being shocking, it shows that the UK are aware of the issues and want to change them and reduce their impact. This is evident in the “Waste and Resources Action Programme’s” it has launched which is their “sustainable clothing action plan to reduce their carbon, water and waste footprint.” (House of Commons, 2019). Their discussions in parliament also raise awareness to the other cabinet ministers, who also have influence and could hopefully help with the action if they wanted.
Despite the acknowledgement of the issue, it seems that the UK’s government response hasn’t translated into any physical actions to make a difference. The discussion is obviously appreciated but there is no point discussing initiatives that aren’t going to come into force. From the discussions mentioned above, the issues at hand regarding the environmental problems form the fashion industry are clear to the government, so their lack of action seems disappointing. This ‘all talk no action’ issue with discussing the problems but not acting upon them is rife within lots of the companies and organisations who understand the troubles with the fashion industry, as they feel the need to address the problem to avoid looking ignorant.
2020-5-22-1590168225