Pollution warning over £5 dresses that even charity shops don’t want
‘FAST fashion’ firms selling dresses for as little as £5 have been blamed for a surge in waste and plastic pollution.
With the rise of low-cost retailers such as ASOS and Boohoo, Britons now buy twice as many clothes as the rest of europe.
Most are made from polyester, and scientists say some of them shed large quantities of polluting microfibres when they are washed that end up in rivers and seas.
The clothes have so little value that many charity shops refuse to accept them and, in an increasingly throwaway culture, 430,000 tonnes a year are buried in landfill or burned in incinerators.
expert stella Claxton of Nottingham Trent University told MPs on the Commons environmental Audit Committee that most growth in UK fashion retailing is at the low-value end.
‘I saw a dress on Boohoo retailing at full price at £5 at the weekend,’ she said. ‘These garments are mainly aimed at young women who are getting pleasure from what they wear. But the value of the item is very low. so the incentive to want to recycle or pass that on in some way, or even charity shops to want that kind of product in their shops, is very low.’
she said the retailers, who often used celebrities for publicity, had a business model relying on the conof stant introduction of new lines. Britain’s backlash against plastic waste and pollution should extend to throwaway fashion, she added.
Yesterday, Boohoo was offering at least ten dresses for £5, including a ‘skinny strap Tie Front Midi Dress’, an ‘Off The shoulder Puff sleeve Bodycon Dress’ and a ‘strappy Wrap Bodycon Dress’, all them 95 per cent polyester. Alan Wheeler of the Textiles recycling Association told MPs that Britons buy an average of 27kg (4st 3lb) of clothing per year, much of it low value which at best ends up as kitchen cloths or loft insulation.
he suggested making retailers pay fees towards collection and recycling or giving them tax incentives to cut the number of fashion seasons and new ranges and use more recyclable materials.
Dr Mark sumner of the University of Leeds said it was tough for stores such as Marks & spencer, which follow ethical guidelines, to compete with £5 dresses.
A Boohoo spokesman said: ‘We acknowledge that we have a responsibility and role to play,’ adding that sustainability was at ‘the top of our agenda’ and £5 dresses were a very small part of the full range. ‘We are also working with REGAIN, a company that allows users to recycle unwanted clothing,’ the spokesman said.
ASOS did not respond to requests for comment.
‘At best they end up as kitchen cloths’