Why Do We Need A Fashion Revolution?

Happy Fashion Revolution Week! If you’re not sure what Fashion Revolution Week is I would highly recommend checking out this post by the lovely Izzy who breaks it down. But essentially it is a yearly week of promoting more sustainable fashion choices and calling brands out for more transparency and sustainable actions.

Today we are discussing ‘why do we need a fashion revolution?’ And I guess the best place to start is by explaining why Fashion Revolution Week even exists. This happens on the week of the 23rd April every year in memory of the Rana Plaza incident. This was a factory in Bangladesh which in 2013 collapsed. Killing 1,130 garment workers and injuring 2,500 more. It is known as the deadliest structural failure and deadliest garment-factory disaster in human history. This factory made clothes for 29 brands including H&M, Primark, Mango, Matalan and more. This incident did not happen suddenly. The workers there knew these conditions were unsafe, yet nothing was done. This led to riots and protests of garment workers demanding better working conditions, more pay and compensation for all those effected in the Rana Plaza incident.
Sadly, factory incidences like this still go on to this day. And modern day slavery is a regular occurrence. Over 3 million people in Bangladesh, 80% of whom are women, are garment workers. They will face terrible working conditions with illegal working hours for £25 a month wage, which is way below living way. As well as facing verbal and physical abuse. These are the conditions fast fashion brands rely on in order to sell you your £5 t shirt.
Women of colour, particularly in these countries do not have much choice in terms of jobs. But why should women’s working rights equate to slave labour? They’re trying to feed their families, keep a roof over their head and gain an education just like me or you. So when you next see a feminist slogan tee on the wrack, just think why are they not empowering the women who have to make these?
Even during a pandemic, companies such as Asos who are non essential are remaining open and bringing out ‘Hero’ t-shirts whilst 3 ambulances have to be sent to their distribution centre and workers fear for their safety as they are forced to head into work with no protection. Whilst other companies are abandoning their supply chains all together, leaving garment workers facing homelessness and poverty. These are orders that have already been made. Yet these fast fashion giants are refusing to pay $1.5 billion of orders, which effect 1.2 million workers in Bangladesh. Some progress has been made to make sure companies pay up, but more needs to happen still.

Not only this, but fast fashion needs to slow down by 99% for it to become somewhat sustainable. It is detrimental to the environment across its whole lifespan and contributes to 10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. It also uses 79 billion cubic metres of water, some areas of the world have been completely dried out of their natural water supplies due to the fashion industry, and have to decide between using it for business or using it to drink.
40% of clothes that are bought tend to get returned back to the brand. This doesn’t go back onto the shelf, but straight into landfill. About £140 million of clothing goes into landfill each year, and the value of unused clothing in wardrobes is around £30 billion. With new collections coming in a fortnight people are over consuming. A woman needs to wear an item around 30 times for it to become sustainable, however on average women only wear items around 7 times before throwing it away.
Fashion is constantly speeding up. And those who feel the biggest impact of how detrimental it is only contribute to 1% of climate change. This needs to change and there are many ways you can help from donating, to changing up your shopping habits or protesting for brand transparency. Hopefully the coming week will help and inspire you to be more conscious about your clothing. I know I come from a very privileged position when I say all this. So I do just want to add that a lot of people have no choice but to shop from fast fashion brands. Sustainable shopping still doesn’t have the accessibility to be affordable and inclusive to all sizes, hopefully this will change in the near future. But for now if you can make a change however big or small, please do.
I’ll be doing some more blog posts and social media posts as we go along so definitely keep an eye out if you’re interested!
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Citations: War on Want, Wikipedia, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Common Objective, Wrap,