So last year... Time to end the throwaway fashion culture?

Michael Alexander examines if it’s time to put the brakes on ‘fast fashion’ for the sake of the environment and exploited workers

It is a global industry that contributed a record £32 billion to the UK economy last year.

But with more than a million tonnes of clothes worth £140 million going to landfill in Britain every year, should fashion producers be making more of an effort to end the era of throwaway or “fast” fashion?

A cross-party group of MPs thinks so. They have suggested that fashion producers be charged a penny per garment to fund better clothing collection and recycling, to make retailers take responsibility for the waste they create and reward companies that take positive action.

At a time when the British Fashion Council has reported UK designers going “from strength to strength” globally amid a rise in online retail at the expense of the high street, the environmental audit committee has recommended that ministers adopt “clear economic incentives” to encourage retailers to “do the right thing”, and suggested the government reform taxation to reward companies that design products with lower environmental impacts and penalise those that do not.

They propose extending the tax on virgin plastics, due to come into force in 2022, to synthetic textile products to encourage the use of recycled fibres. And they called on ministers to explore how they can support hiring, swapping or subscription clothes services.

The committee said an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for textiles could raise £35m for better clothing collection and sorting, which in turn could create new “green” jobs.

Their report, entitled Fixing

Fashion: Clothing Consumption and Sustainability, also recommended retailers with a turnover of more than £36m be made to comply with environmental targets, as the voluntary approach to improving sustainability is “failing”.

And they noted that consumption of new clothing in the UK is estimated to be higher than any other European country – at 26.7kg per person.

MPs on the committee also urged the government to change the law to require companies to perform due diligence checks across their supply chains to ensure their products are made without child or forced labour.

They pointed to labour exploitation in the UK, and said the “made in the UK” label should mean workers are paid at least the minimum wage.

Jane Keith, programme director for textile design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, thinks the MPs’ report is “great” and “rings true” with what Dundee fashion students are taught.

She supports the idea of a transparent supply chain and retailers being responsible for the waste they create with clear economic incentives.

She is a great supporter of the “brilliant” sustainable fashion library concept offered by Lena in Amsterdam. Shoppers can borrow vintage clothing for a monthly subscription.

“They source high-end clothes which have nothing wrong with them or have been ethically mended,” she added.

“People go into the store and they can use their vouchers to hire an outfit for a night, for two weeks, or a month, or they can buy. It means the clothes come back into the system and rotate around.”

However, it’s also about educating the consumer with a key target group being teenagers.

“This idea of children being taught the joy of making or mending clothes – that is absolutely essential,” added Jane, who is the mother of two teenagers and runs her own business.

“Teenagers often purchase an outfit for a party and don’t use it again. But it’s this throwaway mind set. If something has a hole in it, you can’t possibly wear it again! Changing that psychology in the way children think – particularly the teenage group – that’s a real key target market.”

Brechin-based bespoke milliner, make-up artist and stylist Priestley West is a firm supporter of ethical fashion.

Having originally trained at Brushstrokes, Shepperton Studios and worked across Europe on film sets and high-end fashion shows, he already donates £10 per hat he makes to charity and praises clothing companies who are part of a UN scheme to support Third World villages afflicted by HIV, famine and the like.

However, despite being a staunch critic of companies that exploit workers, he is not convinced that a penny per garment charge is the answer as it will simply be passed on to consumers by already taxed companies.

The supply chain from fabric to sale can be “so complicated”, he said, and he believes the problems of fair implementation would be “too great”.

“When the government talks of a 1p tax they are talking about some of the huge companies that can make big money,” he said, revealing that his conscience could never allow him to shop at Primark in the wake of a 2013 factory collapse which killed 1,400 in Bangladesh.

“However when it comes to designers, I don’t think it’s a win-win. There’s a complicated supply chain for products. Who would they charge?”

There is evidence that Britain’s clothes-buying habits are slowly changing. According to a report by the Fashion Retail Academy, 25.4% of consumers are now said to be wearing their everyday items such as jeans or T-shirts for more than two years before buying new ones while 24% continue to wear an item for more than 10 years.

The report suggests “fast fashion” is slowing down as consumers are 13% more likely to choose expensive long-lasting clothes over cheaper fashionable items.

However, Priestley said the reality for many families on lower incomes is that they have little choice than to buy cheaper clothes which may wear out quicker than their more expensive counterparts.

Teenagers often purchase an outfit for a party and don’t use it again

Workers picking cotton on a plantation in Uzbekistan.