The State of Play in the Fashion Industry
The fashion industry is the second most polluting in the world , after the oil industry. It represents between 3% and 10% of global CO2 emissions. Its impact is greater than international flights and maritime traffic combined.
To this impact, let us not forget to add the problems linked to the significant consumption of pesticides (chlorine, ammonia, soda, etc.) , fertilizers and water for the production of conventional cotton.
We buy twice as many clothes as we did fifteen years ago and we keep them for less time . New collections are offered every week in so-called " Fast Fashion " stores, which is equivalent to 52 new collections per year , instead of the 4 collections traditionally offered .
Fast Fashion and Scandals
Fast fashion encourages us to speed up the pace of our purchases.
Advertising, marketing and promotional operations, as consumers we are thus pushed to renew our wardrobe very often and to make purchases regularly in order to follow the " new trends "!
And ethics in all this!
All these collections are generally produced in Bangladesh, India and China unfortunately in really deplorable conditions. ..
Personally, it is this aspect that led me to consume differently. As a consumer, I could no longer buy a piece of clothing knowing that people had lost their lives there...
In Bangladesh, about four million workers are employed at low cost. 80% of these workers are women, sometimes minors . Sanitary conditions are deplorable , and there are many cases of cancer, malformations and respiratory diseases linked to the pollution emitted by factories as well as contaminated water.
The True Cost is a report that I highly recommend! This documentary tells us about the collapse of the Rhana Plaza which caused the death of 1127 people.
In this report, several people are followed, to tell their daily life, but one profile upset me, that of a woman with her little girl who could not get by with the pittance she was paid each month ($10) . This woman who was asked to work long overtime hours had no other choice but to make her little girl sleep behind her sewing machine on the floor of the factory where she worked.
I watched these images on my way home from work, my eyes filled with tears...
Sad reality isn't it...?
You should know that when we buy a t-shirt for €9.90 or a pair of trousers for €19.90, there is necessarily the life of one or more people who have been knowingly ignored...
Is Made in Europe the solution to this problem? Well, not necessarily... Because if people agree to work for a pittance, it's because they don't really have a choice and taking away their jobs would be even harder for them .
These voices deserve to be heard! For an improvement in their working conditions as well as an increase in their salaries so that they can provide for themselves and their families.
In conclusion , fashion has done and still does a lot of damage to the environment by inevitably affecting us, but fortunately this trend is changing.
To consume is to vote ! It is essential to know what is happening behind our labels and to make your choice based on them. :)