Locals urged to be fashionably slow

For a Nelson op shop manager to say that they’re drowning in clothes might sound like a great business model, but it isn’t.

Becky Wyatt, who works at Habitat for Humanity ReStore, said working at the shop had opened her eyes to the amount of clothing waste.

‘‘Because I work in an op shop I obviously see the result of over consumption of clothes, they’re made to be disposable, people have stopped respecting their clothes.

‘‘We are probably able to sell five to 10 per cent of the clothes that are donated, because it’s such a large quantity and they’re not very good quality, they don’t last.’’

Whatever can’t be sold goes to landfill, because Nelson doesn’t have textile recycling.

She said it was estimated in 2011 that 1.72 million tonnes of brand new clothes were purchased and at the same time almost the exact same quantity ended up in landfill.

Wyatt, who is originally from Adelaide, said in her home town people were paid to recycle their clothing.

‘‘If we take bedding, clothes and towels to the recycling centre they pay you per kilo, because they can turn it into carpets and other recycled materials that they use.

‘‘But in Nelson there is not actually any facility to recycle textile and it’s a huge environmental issue really.

Wyatt said that during the one and a half years that the op shop had been running, they had been ‘‘overwhelmed’’ with clothing.

‘‘We get way more than we could possibly sell and most of it isn’t saleable.

‘‘The thing is that people can go down to Kmart and buy brand new clothes for $2.’’

Wyatt said that the very cheap price tag was ‘‘completely unthinkable’’.

‘‘People have to grow the cotton, mull the cotton, turn it into fabric, turn it into a t-shirt and post it to New Zealand and then it gets sold in a shop. How can they sell a t-shirt for $2?’’

‘‘It’s the garment workers and the people who grow the cotton who are really paying for our cheap clothes.’’

Buying second hand clothing and locally-made products were principles people could implement in their lives that would make a difference to the environment, Wyatt said.

Before opening the ReStore in Nelson, Wyatt was working for Oxfam Australia and as a volunteer for Trade Aid for about seven years.

She went on a trip to Bangladesh with Trade Aid to visit some of the partners to see where the products were actually coming from.

‘‘We saw people on the trip who were actually being paid properly but we heard stories of what happened to them before they were being paid fairly.

‘‘They were often locked in factories and were made to work 16 hour days and are often born into these industries and are not able to do anything else.

‘‘They’re not paid enough to have options.’’

Wyatt said the world’s demand for cheap clothes meant people were working for next to nothing.

‘‘In order for them to be so cheap somebody else is paying the cost.

‘‘I think that’s really important that we make decisions here in Nelson and in New Zealand because we’re able to make decisions, whereas these women are born with no choices.’’

Fashion Revolution Week, which runs in Nelson for the first time next week, was initiated to raise awareness of the impact of clothing on the environment.

The events are organised by Trade Aid Nelson and the newly set up group Fashion Revolution Nelson Tasman.

Wyatt said it was part of a global movement calling for greater transparency, sustainability and ethics in the fashion industry.

‘‘Our aim is to raise awareness of the environmental impact of the fashion industry and we’re encouraging people to buy locally made, buy second hand, upcycle and recycle.’’

For information, facebook.com/ fashionrevolutionnelsontasman.