With the climate crisis such a big issue which affects us all around the globe, I’ve really struggled to find a way to squeeze this threat into a blog. We all know the ice caps are melting and the weather is getting more violent with its rain and wind. It can be argued that we are trying to reverse the damage we have already done – the prime minister and his team flying all over the world to attend COP meetings is really helping. However, I do truly believe people are ignorant of the crippling effects fashion is having on the world.
A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation explained that 20% of water pollution is caused by dyeing and finishing textiles and garments. In addition, Earth.org highlighted that nearly 10% of global carbon emissions come from the fashion industry, including through the plastic pollution caused mainly by packaging and the factories where the clothes are manufactured. Following on, the textile waste caused by fashion equates to over 300 million tonnes a year.
Now I don’t want to take anyone for a fool. We are all aware that shopping in places like Shein and Primark is not good for anything. The clothes are often made with cheap fabrics that only last a few wears, thus contributing to textile waste. Consumers should also consider allegations of child slavery in some parts of fast fashion and emissions caused by shipping the clothes to all different countries – for example, from factories in Indonesia to stores in the UK.
But how are working class people, with little money, able to afford sustainable clothes when they are statistically three times the price of clothes from ‘successful’ fast fashion brands? Sure, there’s charity shops and Vinted. But do working class people not deserve the luxury of choosing clothes that are in the shops rather than having someone’s hand-me-downs?
I propose that a way of helping the climate crisis linked to fashion is if more sustainable brands like Plant Faced Clothing and Stella McCartney found ways to keep making their clothing sustainable, but in a way that is affordable to working class people. But what’s the issue of the world ending between profit margins, eh?
Maybe we all should go back to the Victorian times, when the majority of people from lower incomes made their own clothes or mended them until a garment was threadbare. It is reasonable to state that the ideology of people only wearing something once or it being seen as a negative that a person is seen in the same dress twice (the horror) is benefiting no one. Perhaps, if fashion and sewing or even knitting was taught in every state school, people would have more understanding of the wastage and resources it takes just to make a t-shirt. 
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