Rewear, recycle, and rent
PRUDENCE WADE discovers how we can resolve to dress more sustainably in 2022
MOVING into a new year does bring with it an opportunity to reflect on your life – and perhaps think about positive changes you can make. Particularly in the aftermath of climate change conference
COP26 in November 2021, many of us are thinking about how our dayto-day lives can become more sustainable.
The fashion industry is an area of concern for the environment.
“We take materials, turn them into clothes and after a short period of time they get thrown away, and the impact is huge,” says Marilyn Martinez, project manager at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s fashion initiative (ellenmacarthurfoundation.org).
“In 2018, the fashion industry accounted for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“It’s too wasteful and polluting to run in the long-term.”
Marilyn would like to see a huge overhaul of how the fashion and textile industry works.
She says: “Brands need to do more than just change a few materials or add a few new options to what they do; it’s about redesigning the whole system.”
These are her key resolutions to help make your fashion choices more sustainable in 2022.
1.Use more of what you already own
“How can you increase the use of your clothes?” Marilyn asks.
“For example, better care, repair, customisation, tailoring.”
The Duchess of Cambridge is adept at this. She regularly rewears pieces, often with a tweak here and there to freshen them up.
When she and Prince William launched the Earthshot Prize Awards in October, she rewore a beautiful Alexander McQueen gown that we first saw her in at a Bafta event 10 years ago.
2.Opt for ‘used’ first
“For fashion to thrive in the future, it needs to move to a circular economy designed to eliminate waste, keep products in use, and regenerate nature,” suggests Marilyn. She recommends thinking about new ways to shop that aren’t buying new, such as resale or rental options.
Holly Willoughby is one of the celebrities supporting the use of rental sites. The 40-year-old regularly appears on This Morning wearing a hired dress. She recently donned this £695 Saloni Camille midi dress, which can be rented at Hurr (hurrcollective.com) for as little as £86.
3.If you’re not wearing it, make sure it doesn’t go to landfill
“Think about reselling, swapping, renting, or sharing,” says Marilyn. She cites new research from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation “that showed business models such as rental, resale, repair and remaking could be worth £700 billion by 2030 and provide a third of the greenhouse gas reductions needed to put the fashion industry on a 1.5-degree Celsius pathway” (meaning global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees, an ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement).
4.Give brands feedback
“Tell brands how they could do better, give them feedback about design fails or ideas about how to improve your experience,” says Marilyn. “More and more customers are calling for better choices when it comes to clothing and as a result, we are seeing huge levels of innovation and growth in circular economy business models. Our work shows that resale, rental, repair and remaking have the potential to grow from 3.5% of the global fashion market today to 23% by 2030.”
5.Spread the word of any new ways of accessing and enjoying fashion
Marilyn adds: “The ultimate goal is to create a fashion industry where whatever choices we make about what to wear, we can have a positive impact.”