Fast fashion is the topic of the hour. It’s a 2.5 billion dollar industry that has been called out as being un-ethical and un-sustainable. It is an industry that is trend-led, and this desire to bring styles from the catwalk to the high street as quickly as possible is at the expense of people and the planet. Here are some facts about the industry that will hopefully make you think twice about grabbing a £2 Gucci replica t-shirt.
- The world now consumes a staggering 80 billion pieces of clothing each year.
(1 Million Women)
- Fast fashion is second only to oil as the world’s largest polluter.
(7billion for 7seas)
- Fashion consumption is expected to grow, with sales of clothing projected to rise to $2.1 trillion by 2025.
(Greenpeace 2017)
- On average a person consumes 11.4kg of apparel each year.
- In the past 15 years, the average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36%.
(Elle MacArthur Foundation 2017)
- Over 50% of workers within the fashion industry are not paid the minimum wage in countries like India and the Philippines.
- 63% of textile fibres are derived from petrochemicals.
- Approximately 300 million people who produce cotton are still living in poverty.
- Each year 1.3 trillion gallons of water is used for fabric dyeing alone.
(World Resources Institute 2017).
- Of the total fibre input used for clothing, 87% is landfilled or incinerated costing $100 billion annually.
(Elle MacArthur Foundation 2017).
These facts are shocking. The fashion industry has a lot to answer for, and is a huge contributor to climate change. However, here at Bags of EthicsTM we are trying to make a difference. We do everything we can to make sure that we don’t become one of those statistics, and so here are 10 ways in which we believe we are making a difference to the textile and fast fashion industry.
- 9/10 employees in our factory in India are women – many of these incredible women are the breadwinners of their family, and we are proud to support them.
- We only support with farmers of cotton who are supported under Fairtrade – we believe that every person who helps bring our bags to life should be treated fairly, equally and most importantly, as a valued member of the process.
- Our bags can be reused over 5000 times.
- We only use non-toxic inks.
- Where possible we ship via sea freight rather than air.
- We only use sustainable fibres.
- We do everything we can to reduce energy and water consumption.
- We are accredited by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).
- We are constantly trying to find new ways to be more sustainable.
- We try to teach people about how to live and buy more sustainably in order to spread the word and help fight climate change.
We want you to join us on our mission to make a difference in the textile and fashion industry by making our business as ethical and as sustainable as possible. Trying to buy less, wear more, and really think about where your clothes are coming from will make a drastic difference to your consumption of fast fashion, and will in turn help to fight climate change.