Fast fashion: High street stores challenged by MPs to discourage disposable clothing

MPs are calling on British fashion retailers to take action amid claims that social media is fuelling a “throwaway culture” that is adversely affecting the environment.

The Environmental Audit Committee has written a letter to the UK’s 10 biggest high street shops, including Marks & Spencer, Primark and Next, illustrating the consequences of wasted clothing and inviting them into Parliament for questioning.

Chief executives were told that British shoppers are buying twice as many clothes compared to a decade ago, more than any other nation in Europe, which is causing an overload at landfill sites and subsequently fuelling climate change.

“The way we design, produce and discard our clothes has a huge impact on our planet,” said Mary Creagh, chairwoman of the committee,

“Fashion and footwear retailers have a responsibility to minimise their environmental footprint and make sure the workers in their supply chains are paid a living wage.

“We want to hear what they are doing to make their industry more sustainable.”

The global fashion industry produced 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2015, more than than international flights and maritime shipping combined, according to a submission from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

According to Traid, the charity which aims to reduce wasted clothing, retail production also uses a large volume of water and can result in extensive water pollution.

Plus, in 2016, the water footprint of clothing in use in the UK was around eight billion cubic metres (with each cubic metre equalling 1,000 litres).

The charity also reports that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothing ends up in household residual waste every year, with around 80 per cent going to landfill and 20 per cent incinerated.

As for why so many clothes are going to waste, experts blame the fashion industry’s advocation of trend-driven purchasing, which leads shoppers to dispose of items once they are “out of season” to make room for new ones.

This behaviour is also fostered by social media platforms, Creagh tells The Independent.

She argues that Instagram - the birthplace of countless boutique labels - promotes a disposable culture that is leading more companies, such as Zara, to adopt a fast fashion business model, whereby sustainable and ethical production is compromised in a bit to produce new clothes as quickly as possible in response to catwalk trends.

"People can’t wear the same thing twice," Creagh says.

"You buy something, wear it once, take a snap and get rid of it. Things have to change.”

Fashion designer Katharine Hamnett, believes the solution is for retailers to produce higher quality garments that will stand the test of time and not capitulate to the industry’s ephemeral trend cycle.

“I think the industry should make clothes people don’t want to throw away,” she said on BBC Radio 4’s Today show.

“Most of my friends hang onto their clothes for 20 years.”

Hamnett, whose eponymous label champions ethical and sustainable production, added that shops should employ better recycling initiatives that would encourage shoppers to dispose of “old” clothes in an environmentally-friendly manner that keeps them in the supply chain.

However, she pointed out that clothing can only really be effectively recycled if the quality is high enough, meaning eco-friendly shoppers are advised to dismiss cheap, fast fashion options and instead spend more on better quality garments that can then be upcycled.

Responding to the committee’s letter, Peter Andrews, head of sustainability at the British Retail Consortium argued that many of the clothes we buy today have lower individual environmental impacts that previously thought.

“This has been achieved through sourcing more sustainable materials, designing products that are made to last, and encouraging customers to return unwanted clothes for reuse,” he said.

“Looking ahead, we know more needs to be done.

“Clothing production is a global marketplace and the best answers to its environmental and social impacts will be achieved with collaborative global actions.”

The deadline for retailers to respond to the letter is 12 October, with hearings for the inquiry due to take place in November.