Making fashion greener
Oct 11, 2017 1:05:00 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2017 1:05:00 GMT -5
According to the Valuing Our Clothes report analysing the contents of British wardrobes by the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), we purchased 1,130,000 tonnes of new clothing last year in the UK.
Meanwhile, an estimated £30bn worth of our clothing hangs about gathering dust because we simply don't have time to wear it all or don't really like what we're buying.
This is the epoch of "fast fashion" - a rapid production system that promises quick turnaround of trends and low prices, with a supply chain that snakes through some of the lowest wage economies on Earth.
Fast fashion brands dominate not just high streets, but our wardrobes and represent the three trillion dollar global fashion industry's greatest success story. But at what cost?
The environmental footprint of today's fashion industry is extraordinary, making it one of the top five most polluting industries on earth, alongside the petrochemical industry.
Many fashion industry insiders are seriously worried, not necessarily because they fret over greenhouse gases caused by the supply chain, but because there is now so much over-supply of fashion that it's becoming difficult to have a successful season - particularly as we now have 50 seasons rather than the traditional two of spring/summer and autumn/winter.
Some commentators refer to today's relentless cycle as a "supermarket of style".
Cause for optimism?
But according to fashion theory, there are 101 steps to producing a garment from processes such as dyeing and finishing to pressing the garment ready for retail.
If you're a pessimist that's 101 chances to introduce pollution, exploitation and planetary degradation. If however you're an optimist, that's 101 opportunities to take the impact out of fashion!
So for a new episode of BBC Radio 4's Costing the Earth, I travelled to Milan Fashion week to meet some disruptors (and definitely optimists) who believe we are on the cusp of a green revolution that can turn the industry around.
At the Green Carpet Fashion Awards Italia, that took place at the famous La Scala opera theatre during Milan Fashion Week it was difficult not to be blinded by the super star wattage pacing the deliberately "green" carpet (manufactured from old fishing nets and carpets).
Meanwhile, an estimated £30bn worth of our clothing hangs about gathering dust because we simply don't have time to wear it all or don't really like what we're buying.
This is the epoch of "fast fashion" - a rapid production system that promises quick turnaround of trends and low prices, with a supply chain that snakes through some of the lowest wage economies on Earth.
Fast fashion brands dominate not just high streets, but our wardrobes and represent the three trillion dollar global fashion industry's greatest success story. But at what cost?
The environmental footprint of today's fashion industry is extraordinary, making it one of the top five most polluting industries on earth, alongside the petrochemical industry.
Many fashion industry insiders are seriously worried, not necessarily because they fret over greenhouse gases caused by the supply chain, but because there is now so much over-supply of fashion that it's becoming difficult to have a successful season - particularly as we now have 50 seasons rather than the traditional two of spring/summer and autumn/winter.
Some commentators refer to today's relentless cycle as a "supermarket of style".
Cause for optimism?
But according to fashion theory, there are 101 steps to producing a garment from processes such as dyeing and finishing to pressing the garment ready for retail.
If you're a pessimist that's 101 chances to introduce pollution, exploitation and planetary degradation. If however you're an optimist, that's 101 opportunities to take the impact out of fashion!
So for a new episode of BBC Radio 4's Costing the Earth, I travelled to Milan Fashion week to meet some disruptors (and definitely optimists) who believe we are on the cusp of a green revolution that can turn the industry around.
At the Green Carpet Fashion Awards Italia, that took place at the famous La Scala opera theatre during Milan Fashion Week it was difficult not to be blinded by the super star wattage pacing the deliberately "green" carpet (manufactured from old fishing nets and carpets).