A year ago, Abigail Whyte set herself a fashion challenge – and discovered that making the switch to sustainable is simpler than we might think
Who doesn’t love the look and feel of a new outfit? To swish about in front of the mirror, do that sticky-out leg pose, then inevitably wear it every day for about a week because the novelty is just so irresistible. I know that’s not just me.
And in this trend-driven market – where every new season brings a dazzling array of new garments on store mannequins; the season’s ‘must-haves’ in the latest trendy colours, most of it cheap as chips – our hunger for fast fashion is sated. Temporarily.
Yet, while we’re thrilled with our bargain buy, someone is usually paying somewhere – often a young woman working long hours in appalling conditions in a country south of the equator. When do we ever get to hear their stories?
Sadly, one story that grabbed the world’s attention in April 2013 was the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, in which 1,138 garment makers were killed when the building they were working in collapsed. Factory owners had ignored warnings about the building’s safety, choosing to prioritise impending deadlines for big global brands over the lives of their workers. 1,138 voices, most of them of young women, silenced by crushing rubble and dust. And all for the sake of that £5 top we just ‘had to have’.
In the wake of the disaster, Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro founded Fashion Revolution, an international campaign to empower consumers to confront these big brands, demand greater transparency in their manufacturing process and encourage them to make positive changes, whether it be to improve pay and working conditions for their employees, or to lessen their environmental impact. After all, the fashion industry is the fourth highest industrial polluter in the world, causing 8 percent of global carbon emissions, and depleting rivers of their fish stocks with microfibres, toxic waste and chemicals from their factories.
It was while scrolling through my Instagram feed during Fashion Revolution Week last April that I saw an eye-catching image of one of their followers with their top inside out and the brand label showing, using the hashtag ‘#whomademyclothes?’. I clicked through to the website and found a fantastic resource with lots of advice on how to encourage big brands to make changes, the stories of companies and makers that are already making a difference, and how to shop for fashion ethically and sustainably.
