Month: April 2020

United Kingdom:The explanations below illustrate the various stages in the clothes supply chain, from upstream to downstream. The impact of resources used in production:Beginning with the first stage in the supply chain, from raw material to final product: the production of garments contributes 1/3 of the waste footprint; 3/4 of the carbon impact; and the water footprint. Useful life of clothes:Around 30 per cent of the average UK wardrobe’s clothes are unused and worth a total of £ 1,000 per household, amounting to a whopping £ 30 billion worth across the UK. If wear clothing products up to an additional nine months, it will minimize waste, carbon and water emissions by about 20 % to 30%, and reduce resource costs by £5bn (20%). Environmental impacts of laundry:Laundry generates 1/4 of a carbon footprint for a household. If each household washed clothes at lower temperatures, less regularly and in larger loads, it would save £ 10 a year for each household and cut its footprint by 7%. Reuse of clothing:Currently, just 50 percent of clothing pieces are being reused, with 2/3 of them going abroad. Statistics, however, show that 2/3 of the UK population buy or earn second-hand garments, showing a desire to reuse them.… Continue reading Textile waste around the world

It’s a little known fact that us Brits wear just 70 per cent of the clothes that we have stored away in our wardrobes, which leaves us with a total of 1.7 billion unused items. On average, a consumer keeps their garments for three years, but even more shocking than this is the fact that something might be… Continue reading Fast fashion & the destruction of developing countries

fast fashion is defined as an expression that is widely accepted by a group of people over time and has been characterized by several marketing factors such as lowpredictability, high impulse purchase, shorter life cycle, and high volatility ofmarket demand (Fernie and Sparks 1998). Thus, in order to be profitable in theindustry, fashion apparel retailers… Continue reading what is fast fashion?

Learning notes: I loved this talk. I’ve never been a big shopper and don’t care about trends but still, I’ve never thought of the impact my shopping habits have on the planet and on people around the world. I’m always looking for ways to reduce my footprint and not being a shopaholic helps. Now the… Continue reading Ted Speech

Learning notes: Education is key. Countries that have a sustainable debate the most in the public space are those who educate their children and young people about sustainability, like Germany. Sustainability should now become a value in our society as we are all affected by it and we all need to take responsibility. It is… Continue reading Ted speech