Why make fashion sustainable?
I am proud to introduce to you my good friend, Kim Soo, an environmental scientist, who has kindly authored this piece for us.
Lots of us are talking about sustainable fashion, but why is it important?
Only a few decades ago, clothing cost much more than it does now. This limited the number of clothes we bought, and meant it was much more important to make them last. When my mum first moved out of home in the 1950’s, she saved up several weeks’ pay to buy her first winter coat. Now, many of us could buy a winter coat with just one week’s pay (though it might not keep us very warm; more on this later!).
In 2019, the UK Parliament released a report called Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability which found that textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined, consumes lake-sized volumes of fresh water and creates chemical and plastic pollution. As an example, in Australia alone, 6,000 kg of textile waste is dumped in landfills every 10 minutes.
The fast fashion revolution of the last few decades has given many of us access to the latest trends, which seems great, right? Well, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t bought a pair of ready made pants in years. I’ve tried lots of brands, but none fit me. I’ve given up and now, if I need to, I get my pants made by a local seamstress. It costs a bit more, but the pants fit well, they last for years, and I know the woman who makes them!
Back to that cheap winter coat I mentioned earlier. Check the label and you will often find it’s “synthetic outer, synthetic inner” which is great if you want it to dry it fast, but not so great if you want it to keep you warm. And when you wash it, the poor quality of the fabric means it sheds threads that get into the environment (nylon threads are now found in Arctic sea ice, fish and shellfish) and soon wears out.
Every piece of clothing we wear has been crafted by hand at some point. The Fixing Fashion report says that garment production is one of the world’s biggest and most labour-intensive manufacturing industries. But since the 1980s, many leading Western fashion retailers have been ‘chasing the cheap needle round the planet’ and sourcing their clothes from countries with low labour costs and poor environmental governance, so much so that poverty pay and conditions are now standard for garment workers (most of them women) in many countries.
So, what can we do? There are lots of great resources on the web with tips on how to make fashion more sustainable. Key is to think before we buy: get to know our own style and what suits us, so that when we buy something, it works. Buy from vintage or thrift shops, re-make or rent; and if we must buy new, buy good quality pieces made from natural fabrics that last. Fashion needs to be sustainable for our planet, for our people and for ourselves.
Some useful resources:
Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability, House of Commons (United Kingdom) 2019
Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. B Corps in Australia & New Zealand
- KIM SOO
Kim is an environmental scientist who is passionate about protecting our environment and transitioning to a circular economy.
