How to be a sustainable fashion lover - and why it matters

By Bel Jacobs
30th March 2022

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220329-how-to-be-a-sustainable-fashion-lover-and-why-it-matters

Upcycling, visible mending and organising are among the ways fashionistas are giving their wardrobes a longer life. Bel Jacobs explores how caring for our clothes also means caring for the planet.

In her 2021 book Loved Clothes Last, Orsola de Castro, founder of the global campaign Fashion Revolution, issues a cri de coeur. "In my years of scouring second-hand clothing sorting warehouses I have seen hundreds of perfect pieces abandoned simply because of a broken zip. After all, what is the point of spending time and money repairing a broken zip when ultimately it is quicker, cheaper and infinitely more fun to buy a new piece, with a fully functioning zip? But can we please stop and consider what we are doing when we give up hope on the one that broke? And what happens when we choose to mend it instead?"

De Castro's questions are just two of many confronting fashion in the 21st Century. It is increasingly hard to downplay the environmental and social damage the industry causes. Natural resource use rates are stratospheric, as are pollution and waste levels, while global supply chains are riven with exploitation. Finally, the sector is responsible for between two and eight percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, depending on which study you read. These are breathtaking facts, given that, after a certain point, this is an industry trading in non-essentials. Very few of us in fashion-consuming capitals around the world really need more clothes. Yet nonetheless, out they are churned, between 80 to 100 billion pieces a year.

Fashion is scrambling to meet the challenge with intricately researched roadmaps and reports that include a raft of plans to increase energy efficiency in supply chains, switch to renewables, invest in material innovation that sidesteps synthetics, ramp up social justice initiatives and address animal cruelty. But, while these efforts are well-meaning, they are pitted against an industry already megalithic in its impact. Most of those 80 to 100 billion items of clothing – a conservative estimate – already end up incinerated or in landfill after just a few wears. The pandemic delivered a blow; now, global fashion sales are on track to pick up momentum to just over 2019 levels, according to McKinsey Fashion Scenarios.

It has, after all, been just over a generation since we have lost the fine art of clothing maintenance. Where once our grandparents lived lives of thrift and repair, most consumers today have become acclimatised to a wear, break and chuck model. De Castro's perfect pieces with broken zips are symptoms of a profound disconnection from how clothing is made. But it is now more important than ever to ask why so much of our clothing is petroleum-based; whether the rayon in that jumper was sourced from ancient forests; what animal's fur has gone into that pom pom; why only a minority of garment workers are paid a living wage – and whether we still want a hand in driving all this destruction. De Castro subtitled her book "how the joy of re-wearing and repairing your clothes can be a revolutionary act". It's true. We need a revolution.

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Much more at the link.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220329-how-to-be-a-sustainable-fashion-lover-and-why-it-matters

❤ pants