Extinction Rebellion want London Fashion Week cancelled – they’re barking up the wrong tree

The protest group Extinction Rebellion have announced it plans to draw attention to global warming by “shutting down” London Fashion Week, which opens on 13 September.

ER’s Boycott Fashion group says, “we need to change our culture around consumption … people have no idea how environmentally destructive fashion is”. Well, that’s just not true. Most of us know fashion is wasteful and we know we buy too much, but what can be done about it?

The lure of cheap fashion is as addictive as drugs. Most designer-sold sustainable lines cost far more than the high street and will only be bought and worn by the middle classes.

High street behemoth, Zara, (whose Join Life branded eco-aware clothing will account for a quarter of sales this year) has pledged to only sell sustainable clothes by 2025, while ASOS and Net-a-Porter have both launched “sustainable” lines – but that’s a drop in the ocean.

It’s the sheer volume of sales and the waste generated that’s the real problem here. Clothing purchases in the UK are higher than in any other EU country at 26.7kg per person each year, compared with 16.7kg in Germany.

Instead of taxing consumers, the law should focus on producers. Companies must be legally compelled to sign-up to paying a living wage for workers and reveal what they do with unsold goods. The industry is responsible for more tonnes of greenhouses gases than international flights and shipping combined.

I agree with designer Katharine Hamnett, who said this week that it would be more effective to ensure fashion made outside the EU complies with the same standards as goods made within the eurozone. That way workers get paid fairly and pollution and toxic emissions are monitored. The scandal of over-production and dumping needs to be highlighted so consumers can choose which brands to boycott.

Picketing fashion week is a meaningless gesture.