Fast fashion that is quickly cast off is environmental calamity, say MPS
HIGH street stores that copy catwalk trends are fueling a “throwaway culture” that is damaging the environment, MPS have warned.
The Environmental Audit Committee has written to Britain’s 10 biggest clothing retailers to ask them to reveal their environmental record, as part of an investigation into pollution caused by the fashion industry. Companies which have received the letters include Marks & Spencer, Primark, Next, Tesco, Asda and Sports Direct.
It comes after the committee was sent evidence showing people are buying twice as many clothes as they were 10 years ago, at 27kg each per year.
The rise of online shopping means Britons buy more new clothes than any other European country, almost double the amount of consumers in Italy, Germany and Holland, the Committee said.
Mary Creagh, chairman of the committee, said: “Instagram is fuelling this as people are adopting a ‘look and chuck’ [attitude].
“We’ve got a lot more fast fashion. If you look at Italy’s fashion market, there’s much more focus on high-end clothing, and people tend to save up and buy just one or two garments which are timeless.
“Ours is much more trend-driven – like, this year it’s yellow, last year it was pink, this autumn it’s check. Pretty soon you’re exhausted. Everyone’s doing it – it’s Topshop, M&S, H&M. They’re all fast turnaround, high turnaround, relatively cheap clothing.” Among the least environmentally friendly items on sale are distressed jeans, sequinned tops and dresses and poor-quality underwear, she added. Jeans with deliberately-added rips and holes use up far more water and energy than those without, while sequins are likely to have been hand-sewn by children and are difficult to recycle. Poor-quality underwear creates large volumes of waste material which ends up in landfill as “ropey” pants get thrown in the bin, she said.
The committee’s latest report also shows ocean pollution from synthetic fibres, as a single washing-machine load can release 700,000 fibres to wastewater, according to research from the University of Plymouth. The global fashion industry produced more CO2 emissions than international flights and maritime shipping combined in 2015, according to a submission from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.
The committee is also concerned about the social impact of cheap and “fast” fashion. Up to 90 per cent of garment workers are paid below the National Minimum Wage, do not have employment contracts, and are subject to intense and arbitrary work practices, it was told by the British Retail Consortium.