Restorying Riverscapes by Fashion Revolution

RESTORYING RIVERSCAPES Investigating the social and environmental impacts of the textile industry on rivers past and present

Cover image shows microfibres examined during a citizen science sampling day at Rudyard Lake

Contents Project overview

Project timeline

The impact of the textile industry on rivers

Local context: River Churnet

How we did it

Key findings: Environmental science

Key findings: Social science

Impact

Next steps

A call to action for the fashion industry

Support us

Project overview Restorying Riverscapes explores the history of the textile industry on the riverscape of the Churnet at Leek, Staffordshire. This project took place during Spring and Summer 2022, bringing together Fashion Revolution and scientists from Keele University and Loughborough University alongside local community groups. Its aim was to examine historical changes in the Churnet riverscape at Leek, Staffordshire linked to textile production in the area. Citizen science was a vital part of telling a different story about the history of the textile industry on the Churnet and its environmental impact. As part of the project, we invited local residents to get involved by taking sediment and water samples for analysis, examining local archives and more.

PEOPLE INVOLVED: Carry Somers Co-founder and Global Operation

s Director, Fashion Revolution

Ruth MacGilp Communications Manager, Fashion

Revolution

Holly Temple Graphic Designer, Fashion Revolution

Delphine Williot Policy and Research Coordina

tor, Fashion Revolution

Dr Antonia Law Lecturer in Physical Geography,

Keele University

Professor Deirdre McKay Professor of Sustainabl e Developm

Dr Tom Stanton Research Fellow, Loughborough

ent, Keele University

University

Alana Wheat Research Assistant, Keele University

Ray Perry Rudyard Lake Trust

Project timeline MARCH 2022: On-site research begins The Restorying Riverscapes team alongside filmmakers James Levelle and Gwilym Pugh spent the day sediment coring in Rudyard Lake and collecting water samples from River Churne. We also interviewed Geoffrey who was an apprentice in a dyeworks in Leek in 1955.

APRIL 2022: Restor

APRIL 2022: Citizens’ Scien ce workshop at Rudyard Lak e Fourteen citizen scientists collected samples, filtered them in the Visitor Centre and used microscopes and visual aids to identify and quantify the presence of natural and synthetic tex tile fibres. Additionally, we analysed sed iment from the bottom of Rudyard lake, collected in March, and identified and cou nted textile fibres using a microscope. Conversations took place about environme ntal history, the cause of microfibre pol lution, and the responsible stakeholders.

ying Riverscapes in

the news

d BBC World ared on BBC One an Carry Somers appe t Restorying s Report talking abou News World Busines ke. This event at Rudyard La Riverscapes and the million viewers. ekly audience of 99 programme has a we Midlands Today re featured on BBC Additionally, we we ter samples cting and filtering wa evening news colle wers). icrofibres (682,000 vie containing visible m

MAY 2022: Citizen so cial scientists briefed Citizen soc ial scientis ts then set out to vi sit archive s and interview n eighbours a n d family members. They report e d back online in S eptember 2022.

Social Science MAY 2022: Citizen ard Lake workshop at Rudy ents op, nine local resid During the worksh ives ch valley reviewed ar from the Churnet er rk s’ for details on wo from textile firms g s, scoping existin migration historie ttlement of local histories on the se nal d from local/natio families descende ded en ant workers desc and overseas migr g ers, and compilin from textile work er and post-industrial riv narratives of the ts e area. Participan lake recovery in th collect oral and came together to scape to tories of the river photographic his to map e narratives and create new heritag r to de ions of mills in or the historic locat ial str now-hidden indu help uncover the net. history of the Chur

MAY 2022: Citizens Social Science visit to the Nicholson Institute Participants from the citizen social science workshop and other local community members visited The Nicholson Institute Museum & Art Gallery in order to access historical records related to the textile industry and its impact on the River Churnet. The team at the Nicholson to provide further perspective on the impacts of textile production on the local area. Participants also met local historian Cathryn Walton who has published many books on the silk and textile industry in Leek.

JUNE 2022: Social science research continues Participants from the citizen social science workshop continued their research at home and uploaded their findings onto Padlet (password: churnet). This includes newspaper archives, historical images, artefacts and census data, along with a map of the local area that contextualises the research geographically.

JUNE 2022: Workshop and stall at HUG Foxlowe Green Arts Festival Fashion Revolution and Keele University hosted a stand at a stand at the HUG Foxlowe Green Arts Festival and gave a public talk to 15 people about the project and the citizen science findings. 20 visitors to the festival also had the opportunity to filter river wate r samples and view the microfibres under a microscope.

JULY-OCTOBER 2022 •

Analysis of sediment cores including carbon dating

•

Analysis of fibre counts in water samples

•

Collation of social science research findings

•

Engagement with the Fashion Revolution global community

•

Publication and launch of project report

The impact of the textile industry on rivers The fashion industry is dominated by synthetic fibres and chemical dyes, releasing volatile substances into wastewater that can pose a threat to human health and damage complex ecosystems. More than 15,000 chemicals1 can be used during the textile manufacturing process, from the raw materials through to dyeing and finishing. Yet only 11% of brands 2 publish their supplier wastewater test results, despite the textile industry being a leading contributor to water pollution. What’s more, textiles are the largest source of both primary and secondary microplastics, accounting for 34.8%3 of global microplastic pollution, with around 700,000 microfibres 4 being released in every wash cycle. Only 24% of brands 5 disclose how they minimise the impacts of microfibres despite textiles being the largest source of microplastics in the ocean.

1 Roos, S., Jönsson, C., Posner, S., et al. 2018. An inventory framework for inclusion of textile chemicals in life cycle assessment. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 24(5), pp.838-847. 2 Fashion Revolution, 2022. Fashion Transparency Index. 3 Boucher, J. and Friot, D., 2017. Primary microplastics in the oceans: A global evaluation of sources. 4 Napper, I. and Thompson, R., 2016. Release of synthetic microplastic plastic fibres from domestic washing machines: Effects of fabric type and washing conditions. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 112(1-2), pp.39-45. 5 Fashion Revolution, 2022. Fashion Transparency Index.

Local context RIVER CHURNET The Churnet has been shaped by the rise and fall of the textile industry which degraded the river and then shaped its eventual recovery. At one time, the river was said to be the most polluted river in Europe. This is a story of community resilience and integration, underpinned by cultural, linguistic and religious diversity, with Huguenot refugees adding to the large number of local textile workers in Leek’s dyeworks and mills. Our project addresses the lived experience of community building in a hands-on way, involving people in innovative activities that explore local history, migration histories and the impacts of industrial heritage on their environment, developing a more detailed and inclusive account of environmental history, one which includes refugee and migration stories as well as potential ongoing environmental impacts. Through our research, we were able to draw parallels between the resilience and recovery of the rivers and lakes and the resilience of the local community in the face of deindustrialisation. Together, we reinterpreted historic Leek in parallel with the experiences of other textile-boom regions, such as Bangladesh, where migrants have settled and helped shape the culture and where rivers are filled with wastewater carrying dyes, fibres and mordants that accumulate in their sediments.

DYE WORKS, RIVER CHURNET, 1870S

How we did it MICROFIBRE SAMPLING The textile industry dominated the North and Midlands of England during the 19th century. Textile fibres, dyes, and mordants polluted water bodies as a result. By taking sediment cores from lakes and reservoirs downstream of mills and factories, we can reconstruct the environmental impact which will have shaped the local communities and post-industrial recovery. As part of this project, we collected a sediment core from Rudyard Lake, a reservoir which was historically downstream of textile mills and also a carpet factory. Some of the sediment from this core was used with citizen scientists in April, who mounted it onto microscope slides to look for fibres preserved within it. Citizen scientists also brought their own samples of water to this event, which were filtered onto filter papers and observed under the microscope. Additional water samples were collected by the Restorying Riverscapes team. Here are our aims with these activities: Assess the preservation of natural and synthetic textile fibres in the lake sediment record as an indicator of the textile industry’s impact on water quality through time Explore the abundance of natural and synthetic textile fibres in the River Churnet to consider the impact of the textile industry on water quality in the present day Introduce citizen scientists to river water and lake sediment samples and provide training in the identification of textile fibres within these samples

MICROFIBRES EXAMINED DURING A CITIZEN SCIENCE SAMPLING DAY AT RUDYARD LAKE

LAKE SEDIMENT CORE SAMPLING AND FIBRE IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION

SEDIMENT CORE SAMPLING

A sediment corer was lowered into Rudyard lake and used to remove a 25cm long sediment core. The sediment was split into consecutive downcore sections every centimeter and stored in a refrigerator until the laboratory work could be completed. In the laboratory, 10g of each sample was filtered through a sieve to retain particles larger than 350um. The sediment was filtered onto a glass fibre filter paper. Using low power light microscopy (10x-40x, Leica S6E, Germany) all coloured fibres present on each filter paper were removed using metal tweezers and were mounted individually to be identified using polarized and brightfield light microscopy.

RIVER WATER SAMPLES FIBRE IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION Using a metal paint kettle and a long telescopic pole, water was collected from the river, as far from the bank as was safely possible. 1 litre of this sample was passed through a Glass Fibre Filter Paper using a vacuum filtration filter house. The paint kettle and filter house was washed thoroughly in between each sample site to avoid cross-contamination between sample sites. The filter paper was then stored and sealed in a petri dish. Using low power light microscopy (10x-40x, Leica S6E, Germany) all coloured fibres present on each filter paper were removed using metal tweezers and were mounted individually to be identified using polarized and brightfield light microscopy by forensic scientists at Northumbria University.

SOCIAL SCIENCE During the project, our community team visited historic sites, interviewed residents and unearthed local archives in order to learn about the arrival, work, and eventual fate of the textile industry workforce and how they would have experienced the pollution and ecological change attached to their industry. A team of residents from around the Churnet Valley became local archival researchers and interviewers to unpick the social and environmental impact of dozens of mills across Leek that pumped dye and chemical waste into the water throughout the industrial revolution. This included reviewing archives from textile firms, scoping existing histories on the thousands of Leek men, women and children who worked in the industry, as well as the contribution of Huguenot refugees to the training and employment of local Leek workers. We also compiled narratives of the post-industrial river and lake recovery in the area by collecting oral and photographic histories of the riverscape to map the historic locations of mills and dyeworks and bring to life Leek’s textile heritage.

Key findings: Environmental science

LAKE SEDIMENT CORE FINDINGS Mud at the bottom of lakes is made up of layers of sediments and particles that have washed into the lake over time. These sediments maybe made up of mud, sand and silt, leaves and vegetation or microscopic pollutants, including microfibres. The oldest sediments are found right at the bottom of this core and the younger sediments are closer to the top, where the sediment meets the water. Lake sediments can therefore be used as ‘time machines’ to go back in time. We can use lake sediment to examine how pollutants have changed through time. We took an approximately 25 cm sediment core from the bottom of Rudyard Lake near Leek to investigate how the type and quantity of microfibres has changed over time (Figure 1). The graph in Figure 1 shows some clear patterns. There is a change in the type of fibres present in the sediment through time, with the older sediment only containing natural fibres (cotton and wool), and the younger sediment containing synthetic fibres. We also see that cotton is the most common fibre type, and that this is present throughout the core. This might reflect changes in the clothes that people around Rudyard lake wore through time.

Young sediment at the top 0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 5-6 Sediment depth (cm)

6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19

Old sediment at the bottom

5 Cotton

Wool

10 Vegetable

Acrylic

15 Polyester

Nylon

20 Polyolefin

FIGURE 1: The lake sediment core collected from Rudyard lake (left), and the types of fibres found within its sediment (right). The absence of bars on the graph denotes sections of the core that were not analysed, not the absence of fibres in the core. The location of Rudyard lake is shown in Figure 2.

The abundance of fibres increases up core as well, with more fibres being found in the youngest sediment. This might be due to an increase in the input of fibres into Rudyard lake from its surroundings. Contemporary sources of fibres may include laundry and tumble drier effluent, sewage overflows, sewage treatment, and the use of wastewater-derived biosolids as fertiliser on agricultural fields. We do not know how far back in time our core goes yet, but sources of fibres in older sediments might be from the textile industries that took place upstream of Rudyard lake. Airborne deposition of fibres is common and would have occurred throughout the period of time that our core represents.

RIVER SAMPLES Rivers are nature’s highways. They don’t just transport water, but also sediment, biota, and any pollution that ends up in them. This makes rivers vulnerable to human activities that take place within their catchments. Textile fibres entering rivers can potentially interact with many other chemical pollutants which might stick to the fibres’ surfaces and then be transported long distances - potentially out to sea. Our team collected water samples on the 9th of August, 2022, during a drought. The drought meant water levels in the Churnet were low, and inputs from runoff would not have contributed to microfibre pollution. Our water samples revealed that microfibres were present in the River Churnet at every site sampled (Figure 2). Just as in our sediment samples, cotton was the most common fibre. Site 1, at Tittesworth Reservoir, had the most fibres. Just after we took our sample, people did start paddling about in the river here, splashing through the water barefoot. We do not know if people were paddling before we arrived at Site 1. We saw no people in the river when we took our water sample. We did not see any notable patterns in the samples we collected between the other sites. This suggests to us that, at the time of sampling, microfibre concentrations were relatively consistent along the Churnet’s course.

Put together, our river water and lake sediment sample findings show that microfibres have affected the Churnet for a long time. Despite the decline of the textile industry in the region, these particles continue to be present in the river today. While the nature of past and present textile fibre pollution is going to be quite different around the world, our work on the Churnet shows that fibres of all types, not just plastic, are present and persistent in the environment. We will need an international effort to make sure we understand the full and ongoing impacts of textile fibre pollution! 14

Number of fibres

4 5 Sample site

Cotton

Vegetable Viscose (Rayon) Lyocell Acrylic

5 Kilometers

Legend

Polyester

Tittesworth Reservoir Rudyard Lake River Churnet, tributaries, and connected waterways Leek

FIGURE 2: Map of the River Churnet, its tributaries, and its connected waterways (including canals) including the locations of the 9 sampling sites and the abundance of fibres in 1 litre of water for each sample.

Reflections “In order to understand the long-term impacts that textile fibres will have on rivers, lakes and the wider environm ent, we need to look to the past. My role has been to use the mud from the bottom of lakes as a ‘time machine’ and go back in time to understand how the types and quantities of textiles fibres have changed over time. By doing this, we can gain an insight of the futur e challenges and impacts presented by textile fibres in our envir onment today.”

DR ANTONIA LAW Senior Lecturer in Geography, Keele University

end “Plastic has many alternatives that also of acts up in the environment, and the imp . This many of these are not fully understood s fibre is particularly true for non-plastic to such as cotton and wool. My role has been s, type all of assess the proportions of fibres wool, including natural fibres like cotton and for cted in the environmental samples colle ce this project. Understanding the prevalen is ls eria and impacts of non-plastic mat to vital to ensure well-intentioned actions te ribu cont minimise plastic pollution do not to other environmental issues.”

DR THOMAS STANTON Lecturer in Environmental Science, Loughborough University

Key findings: Social science Leek, in the Staffordshire Moorlands, had a booming silk industry in the 1800s. The industry depended on the water of the Churnet River and the skills of local and migrant silkworkers. Our project sought to understand the impacts of these textile and dye mills on the local community and the ecology of the River Churnet and the potential for continued pollution from the ways we handle textiles and the fibres they shed today. We worked with community members to take samples of the sediment in Rudyard Lake, a reservoir fed by the Churnet, and of water from the river. We examined these to count and identify textile fibres. We worked with community members to explore, in a preliminary way, the information available on the history of the textile industry in Leek, drawing on oral histories, family archives, and documents held by the Nicholson Institute. This is merely a preliminary overview. We have received generous offers of more archival data that covers the processes and chemicals used in the mills and, of course, more oral history interviews. All of these things are directly related to the kinds and numbers of fibres in the rivers, the adsorbed toxicants on them, and the health of rivers and river peoples involved in/recovering from, textile production. Therefore, the social science data will be triangulated with the environmental findings on the historical deposition of fibres and the kinds of fibres and their treatment and possible origins. Explore the original research and reporting from our citizen social scientists Anna Bateman, David Bell and Alexander Wood:

Explore here PASSWORD: CHURNET

LOCAL WORKFORCE, GLOBAL HISTORY Local workers moved from agricultural labour into work in the textile mills after @ 1820. While the workforce was predominantly local to Leek, single workers and small groups arrived from across the country, including workers displaced after a mill closed in Devon, and single Huguenots moving up from London. By 1891, the workforce was largely drawn from a wider swathe of the surrounding area, including Macclesfield and Congleton. As the Churnet became more polluted and water levels fell due to over-extraction, dyeing work moved farther up the river e.g. to Upper Hulme, which reported no silkworkers in 1841, but 45% of workers were involved in silk dyeing in 1891. Skills training appears to have been provided in mills in Macclesfield which brought Huguenot migrant silk workers up from London to build the local industry. The most notable family of Huguenot origin in Leek, the Crusos, provided legal services to the burgeoning industry, handling the many changes of ownership of the mills. In the 1930s, as in Macclesfield, Jewish refugees – the Goeritz family from Luxemburg – invested in Leek’s Waterloo Mill (built 1894), creating Lux-Lux, a lingerie manufacturer. Oral histories report that the river was clear and had fish upstream of the LuxLux mill, but was purple with no or few fish downstream.

MUDDYING THE WATERS After the second world war, the river was significantly stressed as were many UK watercourses. Fish kills tended to be blamed initially on hot water pollution attributed to domestic clothes washing. The mills were resource-hungry and, though the Churnet was over-extracted, concerns about pollution tended to be used as a strategy for productivity gains. Where people brought forward worries about the impact of effluent, mill owners argued for the right to abstract more water to dilute the effluent more effectively. For mill owners, the biggest concern had always been sediment released into the river bu activities upstream. The mills all relied on clear water for their processes, so owners were able to prove economic loss in successful court cases, e.g. in 1879. As an indicator of the severity of the problem, Thomas Wardle invested in building a large reservoir to settle sediment before the water from the River Churnet could be used for his manufactures. Workers and Leek residents, conversely, found it very difficult to prove economic loss from the discharge of mill effluent. Court cases brought in 1860 and 1869 failed for lack of evidence of economic loss from dye discharged into the river water. The impacts of industrial discharges were compounded by the problem of sewage entering the river from overflowing outdoor privies attached to the hastily-built housing owners had provided for their workforce. The workers’ housing in Leek lacked gardens, was over-occupied, and the ash pits there were rarely cleared. So, while muddying the water threatened the industry, dye pollution largely did not. Workers’ health and local wellbeing along the river was a distant concern as compared to meeting the needs of industry.

vided Several people have pro and purple stories of purple water lisation of fish – a shocking visua pollution. tile the period’s toxic tex

FEMALE (DIS)EMPOWERMENT Looking at tenancies on Mill Street in Leek (1841 – 1891), where workers’ families resided, it’s clear that a remarkable number of households were female-headed or held their tenancy due to female members working in the mills. In the 1840s, mill work was a step up for women who would previously have been looking at a life of agricultural labour or work as domestic servants. Silk workers were ‘nobles’ in the mills. Predominantly women, they had to maintain soft and callous-free hands to undertake the highly-skilled work. That meant they were largely spared domestic chores and could keep working in the silk mills until their eyesight declined. In 1861, the Census reports 10,174 people living in Leek with 40% involved in the silk trade – about ½ of all adults. There were 4,686 men, 5,488 females and 2,451 children, so the population - 46% Male - 54% Female – skewed to women. Child mortality was high: in the 1850s out of every 100 children under five years old, 9 died each year. So there were evidently households suffering the effects of what was likely malnutrition and diarrheal disease. The workhouse in Leek had more women of working age and skewed towards single women with children and towards boys. However, overall numbers in the workhouse declined between 1841 and 1871 and people with chronic health conditions became overrepresented. By 1871, the workhouse housed hospital staff and the site then became St Luke’s Hospital. During the 1841 – 1871 period, it appears that many of the local men were either working in local industry or working in quarries or other industry outside Leek. Thus the evidence suggests women were both empowered and exploited by the new industry and the way it relied on a feminised workforce. They had opportunities to earn, but also shouldered much economic and domestic responsibility.

Reflections “Leek and the Churnet have a fascinating histo ry. People take a lot of pride in the amazing textiles the area produced . What I found most revealing, though, was just how long it could take the river to recover from its industrial heyday, with reservoirs, dred ging, agricultural practices and low water all continuing to affec t the river’s ecology. And the history we found in Leek – a diverse and feminised workforce, dilution as the solution for pollution, waters muddy with mill effluent and workers’ sewage – is revea ling. It’s quite likely not much has changed in contemporary textile prod uction in other parts of the world. The health of rivers and river com munities is fragile; it’s been a really privilege to celebrate the history of the River Churnet and the silk industry at Leek, but also learn abou t the lasting after-effects of the textile boom.”

PROFESSOR DEIRDRE MCKAY Professor of Sustainable Development, Keele University

w from the history “Restorying Riverscapes unearthed a jigsa having lived here for of the Staffordshire Moorlands for me, more about the local over 20 years it was intriguing to learn hidden past surrounding experiences and find more about the was to facilitate the the River Churnet. My role in the project s - local individuals with historic exploration and citizen scientist y to share to uncover the an untapped wealth of knowledge read the river. From visiting untold stories of the textile industry and surveying the water the Nicholson Institute and Museum to , we learnt how Leek and quality and mud samples from the river and dyeing industry.” the Churnet was shaped by the textile

ALANA WHEAT Restorying Riverscapes Research Assistant

Impact of Restorying Riverscapes We are pleased to have achieved the following outcomes during this project: •

New narratives of community and environment, centred on shared global histories, migration and resilience, located in Staffordshire but with global resonance.

•

New capacities and conversations within local communities and a novel grasp of environmental history that centres migration in local interpretations of ecological change.

•

A new appreciation of river systems and their health, including the persistence of apparently invisible industrial contaminants that can shape local environmental citizenship.

Restorying Riverscapes has been diffused widely, on BBC Midlands Today, BBC One and BBC World News as well as the Financial Times, far surpassing expectations in terms of the global communications around the initial project. Local and regional communications have already sparked discussion in the area, providing threads leading to where archival information in the community may need to be reexamined.

26 @FASH_REV

Restorying Riverscapes has also received impressive reach on social media, with content shared from Fashion Revolution accounts reaching 207,755 people, and engaged with by 9,083 people. Fashion Revolution’s social media audience is largely spread across the UK, USA, Australia, Italy, France, Netherlands and Brazil. We also received positive feedback and interesting additions to the research findings from those who attended the citizen’s science and social science workshops that indicate a high level of engagement with the issues. For most people, the Citizens’ Science Day was the first time they had seen a microfibre anywhere other than in their tumble dryer. The cellulosic and synthetic fibres in water and sediment brought to life the hidden infiltration of microfibres into our rivers and lakes. “Fantastic morning learning about this project today. Looking forward to getting involved in this important work.”

DAVID BELFIELD Citizen scientist

FINANCIAL TIMES

The Financial Times has over 1.2 million readers

@FASH_REV

Next steps: GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS Throughout the summer, Fashion Revolution’s global network were invited to submit ideas for potential global expansion of the project relating to specific rivers and lakes in their region. We received expressions of interest in continuing river research from our teams in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, North Macedonia, Germany, Canada, Guatemala and Argentina. We hope to pursue these projects in the future to expand the impact of Restorying Riverscapes.

“River Turag is an upper tributary river of the Buriganga River, and flows beside the capital city Dhaka. It is considered ecologically dead. Majo r sources of pollution of the Turag include leath er tanneries, garment factories and dyeworks.”

NAWSHIN KHAIR Country Coordinator, Fashion Revolution Bangladesh

More information about the Turag

POLICY ADVOCACY Fashion Revolution is looking forward to utilising the findings of this research to inform our advocacy work in order to lobby for policies that hold the fashion industry accountable for its environmental impacts. Fashion Revolution’s policy and research team have been coordinating with the scientists on submitting recommendations as part of the consultation process for microplastics legislation at EU level. For example, we have been advocating for changes to strengthen the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles. We have also signed an open letter to DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) in the UK Government to implement a ban on the sale of washing machines that are not fitted with microfibre filters. We hope that these initiatives will help address the issues caused by microfibre pollution in rivers.

eness on the impacts “The fashion industry is gaining greater awar rch has mainly of microfibre pollution. Although existing resea cts of microplastics focused on the negative environmental impa es will provide a specifically, we hope our research on microfibr ofibre pollution from broader perspective on the prevalence of micr to use our research in both synthetics and natural fibres. We intend the need to address our advocacy effort to inform policymakers on microfibre pollution using legislation.”

DELPHINE WILLIOT Policy & Research Coordinator, Fashion Revolution

@SUNDAE_ATHENS

A call to action for the fashion industry

Brands and retailers talk a lot about their sustainability efforts, but there remains a lack of transparency on actions and outcomes across key environmental indicators. If brands don’t measure and disclose their data throughout all operations, we cannot hold them accountable to their climate targets. The entire fashion industry needs to be bolder and more transparent about what they’re doing to address the scale of the global climate and biodiversity challenge, especially when it comes to environmental impacts in the supply chain and the consequences of unsustainable production and consumption. Environmental data collection is standard practice in many industries and, given the social and environmental ramifications of the climate crisis, this is an urgent issue for the global fashion industry considering its significant impacts on the planet. Brands cannot demonstrably reduce their environmental impacts if they do not track and share this data to enable better understanding among all stakeholders and the public on what work is being done and where more effort is needed. Ultimately, we need to see tougher legislation internationally that mandates transparency and environmental due diligence, so that brands have no choice but to take action on conserving and restoring the environment throughout their supply chain.

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