YOUR CHOICE MATTERS

your Matters Choice

Sustainability can be defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This could be in terms of agriculture, infrastructure, energy uses, transportation, including the fashion and beauty industries.

Sustainable fashion is said to be fashion that is manufactured, marketed and used in the most sustainable manner by taking account of both the environmental and socio-economic aspects. These aspects can include social justice (wages and working conditions), landfills, pollution, etc. It is similar to beauty in sustainability which looks more into the product and ingredient sourcing and how safe it is for the people and the planet. The fashion and beauty industry has grown into becoming a billion-dollar industry, serving employment jobs for more than 430 million people across the world with is approximately one eighth of the global workforce. Let alone, the fashion industry is also the second most polluting industry in the world behind oil. The industry com

petitiveness has also been growing leading to the term we call today as “fast fashion”.

The basic understanding of fast fashion is the process of manufacturing fashion at a very fast pace to provide clothes for the people that serve trends all at a low cost. How it gets to be at such a low price is by using the cheapest materials and lowest production cost so that these brands can have a fair earning in the outcome. It leads to extensive air, water, and land pollution caused by the chemicals, toxic and electricity which may cost the lives of animals too. Not only does it harm the environment but it also means that the garment workers are left in very poor and inhumane working conditions as well as getting paid below the minimum wage. A research shows that it is estimated that only 2% of fashion workers are paid a liveable wage (Segundo, 2019).

A study of the garment industry in Bangladesh shows that the 3.5 million people working in the 4,825 garment factories in the country only earns a monthly wage of £25. This is a huge setback as roughly £45 is the estimate wage to be able to have enough money for food, shelter and education for their family. The workforce that consists of 80% women are put under unsafe, cramped and hazardous working conditions which is very inhumane. Some are even forced to work 14-16 hours a day seven days a week. These conditions lead to many factory fires as well as injuries. Social justice is also not taken account of as sexual harassment and discrimination has grown larger in these working areas and also many reported cases of which these women do not have the right of maternity leave as they are not endorsed by their employers.

With Beauty, this industry is constantly fighting for ways to serve the population products that can give out very good results. With the increase in demands, it has also led to increase in materials/ ingredients in our scarcity world and waste which have a very bad impact on our environment and people. Statistics has shown that packaging from beauty products has taken up more than one quarter of the landfill waste annually.

“The bigest threat to our Earth is the belief that someone else will save it.” - Robert Swan, Author

seven teen goals

In 2015, the United Nations released 17 different goals as part of their 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the aim of reaching peace and prosperity for people and the planet by 2030 by having a better and sustainable world.

These goals are all hand-in-hand, relating to inequality, poverty, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. I believe that my topic can come down to all of the goals in this campaign, as the fashion industry is very large and has many affects to our world that not many people are aware of.

Thousands of people working in the textiles are paid with literally under the minimum wage just so that brands can have very low cost to ensure high profits for themselves. Some of these wages does not reach close to $1 a day, but with this manufacturing and availability of jobs for them, these people have no other choice to do so.

As what I have mentioned earlier, the rise in fast fashion to ensure a place of the latest trends on the rack as fast as possible for consumers has led to very irresponsible uses of the energy. Because to do mass production as fast as possible, it requires a lot of energy that not many brands take account of with the mind-set and goals they’re in. therefore the industry is responsible for the annual CO2 emission of 1.2 billion tons.

The cycle of trends coming in and out leads to the extensive purchasing consumption or always wanting to buy something new when a trend comes out and then throwing things away when they’re not “trendy” anymore. Studies have found that an average consumer throws away 31.75kg of clothing a year and globally, we produce around 13 million tons of textile waste each year and that 95% of this waste could be reused or recycled.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Educate yourself! Learning and understanding the terms used in the industry that are often mistaken will make u more aware and able to understand what really these brands are talking about. It will make you understand better what the consequences from our doings are. Researching! To see what brands out there are actually taking a more sustainable and responsible path. Support! The brands who are on the mission to turn the industry around and setting a new reputation for them are the answers for the better world. The more we support and purchase items that are sustainable or brings better outcome to our world will eventually reduce the irresponsible manufacturing and outcome to our planet. Support organisations who fight for a change.The National Garment Worker’s Federation (NGWF) who fight for better rights for the garment workers in Bangladesh since the 1984. Fair Wear Foundation is another non-profit organisations that work with brands, factories, trade unions, NGOs and governments to verify and improve the working conditions for garment workers in the biggest 11 garment production countries.

Photograph, own work © Samantha Ting, 2020

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