6 minute read
Wardrobes of Sin
from CARBON ISSUE 8
When shopping do you ever think, ‘what did it take to make this?’ What about, ‘what got taken out of the world to create the cute top I had my eye on this season?’ No? Well then, it might blow your mind to realise how many resources your clothes have actually used up while being created.
Words, Images and Design: Izzy Short
Clothing is a necessity of course and there are approximately 7.7 billion people in the world, who need the essentials of clothing in their lives. Hence why the fashion industry is such a huge global priority and also why it has one of the highest impacts on the planet. From high water usage and pollution from chemical treatments to unsold clothing and landfill deposits. The fashion industry, some might say, has gotten just a little bit out of control.
You know what sustainable fashion is, right? Let me just chuck some words out there, so you can grasp the general idea: repairing, up-cycling, loaning, buying second hand, vintage, being ethical in production, custom made clothing, staying green and keeping it clean through out the whole process of creation. That is what we want and need most right now. Then, what is unsustainable fashion?
Unsustainable fashion is what is happening most now. This topic is always getting swept under the rug in the fashion world: people are too worried about brand, quality or quantity, to take a step back and think about the serious effects that it is having on the beautiful world around.
Wastage of materials, water and energy from mass production. Pollution from millions of factories, not to mention the poor working conditions from sweat shops in third world countries. Slave labour and exploitation being an issue, as a result of the rapid speed of consumption. Animal welfare and looking at what we are using to create clothes, falls under a massive ethical and environmental problem with in the way we look at sustainable fashion. To avoid shopping unsustainable fashion, you may have to give up some of your favourite places on the high street. Some huge brands are the worst of the worst and have crossed the line when it comes to ethical fashion: for example; H&M, Zara, Forever 21, Victoria secret and Urban Outfitters all take part in slave labour - in which every 1 in 3 workers are a child under the age of 13.
So many companies are trying to change the world one step at a time with their clothing production, by looking at sustainable clothing and eco friendly resources. Brands like: Everlane, PACT, Alternative Apparel, Linen and ThredUp are just some companies who have focused on only sustainable options, by growing fibre crops and using all recycled materials.
So what might the future look like… Over the years the increase in sustainable fashion and experimenting with different materials and ideals of production have massively increased.
With still a lot of improvement to be made, there has been vast changes of more sustainable fashion production. Scientists have been experimenting and markets have been practicing new approaches and the future could look completely different from lives we are leading today.
Through secondary research we, at Carbon, gathered that we will be living a lot more ethically in the future. Let us paint you a picture: Your washing machine could be regulated by law, preventing excess use of water and energy; you’ll exercise in silk and your jumpers won’t shrink, therefore less need to buy new clothing; VINTAGE will be key, less new clothing items will be created and it will all be about recycling and reusing; self-mending clothes could become a thing to become more ethical, so if clothing breaks you don’t chuck the item away as waste, and lastly someone else will own your clothes in the future, giving your clothes for free to strangers, almost like a give-away shop.
Through an interview conducted, Carbon spoke to Holly Bullock, the founder of ‘Clothes and the rest’ Podcast. Her podcasts reveal and celebrate the truth of ethical fashion and encourages her listeners to live more consciously when it comes to fashion. Her inspiring podcasts interview a range of people from journalist and bloggers to models and entrepreneurs. She tries targeting the main issues with sustainability in fashion and her guests are always those who are making a positive movement and change one step at a time with their creativity and strong beliefs in how they feel fashion should become more ethical for the future. The podcasts she creates, to her, are a symbol of protest, quoting: “(it’s) going back to the age of the radio; and not being confronted by this unrealistic ideal of what people should look like and what we should look like.” Mentioning that without having a visual aid removes that distraction for judgement to be passed and instead is just like “listening in to someone’s conversation.”
Holly Bullock explained that her passion for broadcasting more news/ insights to ethical fashion was because it’s so much more unique, creative and sustainable for the future, that it should be a widely discussed subject. “Everyone has a story about their relationship with clothes; when I contacted people to interview they didn’t mention they only bought second hand; they didn’t think it was a big deal. But when they told me I was so interested.” Bullock explained how this is the moment she decided to focus on this subject area of fashion. As her podcasts have progressed she deliberately tries choosing people from different avenues of fashion to get a wide overview and to paint a more in depth outlook on sustainable fashion. She noted how she interviewed “a lady who does appointment vintage shopping; also, a green make-up artist, who has a creative consultancy; trying to think of all the different facets of alternative fashion.” She reaches for everything that ultimately isn’t fast fashion to cover on her show.
Through listening to her guests, Holly has learnt a lot. She mentions how, now, she actively avoids fast fashion and high street stores, since learning more and more about the industry from various people. “It’s affected me so much. It really just makes me think about what I wear and what is in my wardrobe; I buy most my things from a charity shop or get them vintage,
if I have a bit more money that month” she went on to say “there is nothing more satisfying than when someone compliments your outfit and you can say you got it from a charity shop because it shows so much more skill of picking out what you have.” She enjoys the more individual her style has become because of the way she has changed her shopping habits over the year commenting that “it’s so much more easy to just go into a high street shop and buy off a mannequin, but it’s not as easy to go into a charity shop and style stuff yourself.” Its allowed her to be unique and to her “the whole point of fashion is to have your own unique style and to be individual in the stuff you’re wearing.” Furthermore, Holly has started up-cycling her wardrobe and pulling out things from years ago that she had forgotten about, in order to still be more niche and keep her wardrobe sustainable, Holly has learnt a ‘quick’ trick from her many guests by “getting to know your wardrobe” she has learned to appreciate her clothing more.
Bullock had discussed how she felt now was the time this trend of sustainable fashion is increasingly becoming mainstream. To look more individual and unique by shopping ethically is quite a “big niche”. She mentions how “it is such a fast growing area; fast fashion is really losing out, so many high street stores are closing down, especially this year (2019), so many peoples new years resolutions are to buy less clothes.” Carbon questioned why she felt it was now, that suddenly this burst of a fashion conscience has seemed to seep through into today’s culture. With an intrigued mind she responded “definitely in the past year we’ve seen such a growth in sustainable fashion; I think people are just becoming more aware of their impact on the world. It kind of comes with ‘Veganism’ being such a big thing now, people are just waking up to their impact on the things they have around them. Also I think people are just a bit bored with what they see out there and everyone looking the same.” She went on to say, “as people wake up to their own individuality people want to look different; it’s really important. I would say, yes, the engagement with the environment is a big factor but also just the fact that people want to look different from each other.” She made an interesting point surrounding the ideal of who is interested in sustainable fashion and how now it is shifting, stating, “Previously sustainable fashion had been targeting older women, because those are the people who have been engaged with it but as the younger generation becomes more interested in it, brands are going to have to start being more current with their designs and updating” - suggesting the future will have no choice but to change seeing that it follows the interest of the consumer around how ethical the brand is being.
As mentioned before, unsustainable fashion is a massive issue, which effects everyone of all age and gender, it is one of the most economically harming industries on the planet, so why is it, that the topic is not taken as seriously as it should be? We continue to maintain an unadvised way of producing and creating harmful fashion.
What happens if we don’t make a change? Nothing good I can assure you. Just seeing all the effects fast fashion has on the world in ratio to who, currently is trying to help with the chaos, it isn’t measuring up. But every little DOES help and with more and more people getting on board in being sustainable with their wardrobe the future could, literally, look a lot brighter.
