'Who made our clothes?'
Main topics:
- Never been able to buy clothes cheaply.
- Throw away fashion.
- Fast fashion - trends change so quickly.
- Less than 20 years ago, they only followed trends from catwalks or by fashion magazines + fashion editorials.
Where do our clothes come from and why so cheap?
- Wash care labels should show Country Of Origin (COO). If they don't, they're ashamed to show their manufacturers which could be due to the workers conditions. Primark are an example of this.
- Clothes are made far away because it's cheaper as they have regulations + unions.
- Most of our clothes come from China - they're experts in clothes as they're very experienced.
Manufacturing hot spots:
- Mauritius
- Taiwan
- Indonesia - printed clothing
- Korea
- China - make everything!!
- Bangladesh - knitwear to start with, jersey wear and kidswear
- India - embroidery, hand beading
- (UK) - new to the scenes - Scotland - knitwear - Vivienne Westwood's knitwear, prime example!
- Romania
- (Turkey) - new to the scenes
- Vietnam
- Sri Lanka - woven, printed clothing
- Pakistan
A lot of these manufacturers are in developing countries...
WHY? Cheap workforce, poor, often suffer from natural diseases as well as war, no minimum wage, no workers rights, no free educations/healthcare.
Why are women and children chosen for these jobs?
- Even less rights than men.
- Paid less than men.
- Children paid less than women.
- Below THEIR OWN living wage - can be 50p p/day.
Ethical brands:
- Stella McCartney
- M&S
- H&M
- Annie Greenabelle
- Nancy Dee
- Monkee genes
- Stuart + Brown
- Bibico
- People Tree
- Choolips
- Beyond skin
- Frugi
- Patagonia
- Thought
- Gather and sea
Why are they important in fashion?
- Next generation of fashion movers can change the current fashion generation.
- TV documentary about sweatshops.
- Why should we care? THE TRUE COST.
Fashion pollutes -
- Clothing industry - 2nd largest polluter in the world - 2nd only to oil.
- 70 million barrels of oil to produce polyester each year.
- Complicated - different supply chains - carbon foot print.
Environment -
- Chemical waste dumped directly into water systems.
- Fossil fuels consumption, CO2 pollution.
- Fish stocks killed off.
- Land fill.
- River polluted by clothes dye.
Fair trade -
- Farmers and workers receive a fair pay for work that they do.
- Decent working conditions.
- Local sustainability.
Throw away fashion -
- How much do we throw away? 2 million tonnes of textiles a year.
- Textiles have come fastest growing waste product in UK.
- 74% of those 2 billion clothes we buy a year end up in landfill.
- 50% of clothes that end up in landfill are recycled.
- Average women keeps a piece of clothing in her wardrobe for only 5 weeks.
Fashion clothes miles: - carbon footprint.
- Cargo ships from far East can take up to 4 or 5 weeks to travel across the globe.
- Same for India and Bangladesh.
- Turkey is a week via a truck or 2-3 days via fast truck.
- UK stock can be transported in a day.
- 1000's of air miles adding to CO2 emissions and are already carbon footprint.
Bamboo as a material -
- Needs no help from a man.
- Need no extra watering.
- Fastest growing plant.
- Grows like a weed.
- Crops mature in 3 months.
= ECO FRIENDLY.
What can we do?
- Check labels
- Try and buy clothes from naturals like cotton, viscose and wool.
- Don't buy acrylics, polyester, nylons as they are difficult to recycle.
- Buy clothes nearer to home, even if that does mean it costs more.
- Look out for organically produced cottons.
- Ask stores why they don't have fair-trade.
(LOVE YOUR CLOTHES MORE)
- Buy hero pieces rather than one off pieces.
- 30 wears challenge - try it.
- Rework and change unwanted clothing.
- Never been able to buy clothes cheaply.
- Throw away fashion.
- Fast fashion - trends change so quickly.
- Less than 20 years ago, they only followed trends from catwalks or by fashion magazines + fashion editorials.
Where do our clothes come from and why so cheap?
- Wash care labels should show Country Of Origin (COO). If they don't, they're ashamed to show their manufacturers which could be due to the workers conditions. Primark are an example of this.
- Clothes are made far away because it's cheaper as they have regulations + unions.
- Most of our clothes come from China - they're experts in clothes as they're very experienced.
Manufacturing hot spots:
- Mauritius
- Taiwan
- Indonesia - printed clothing
- Korea
- China - make everything!!
- Bangladesh - knitwear to start with, jersey wear and kidswear
- India - embroidery, hand beading
- (UK) - new to the scenes - Scotland - knitwear - Vivienne Westwood's knitwear, prime example!
- Romania
- (Turkey) - new to the scenes
- Vietnam
- Sri Lanka - woven, printed clothing
- Pakistan
A lot of these manufacturers are in developing countries...
WHY? Cheap workforce, poor, often suffer from natural diseases as well as war, no minimum wage, no workers rights, no free educations/healthcare.
Why are women and children chosen for these jobs?
- Even less rights than men.
- Paid less than men.
- Children paid less than women.
- Below THEIR OWN living wage - can be 50p p/day.
Ethical brands:
- Stella McCartney
- M&S
- H&M
- Annie Greenabelle
- Nancy Dee
- Monkee genes
- Stuart + Brown
- Bibico
- People Tree
- Choolips
- Beyond skin
- Frugi
- Patagonia
- Thought
- Gather and sea
Why are they important in fashion?
- Next generation of fashion movers can change the current fashion generation.
- TV documentary about sweatshops.
- Why should we care? THE TRUE COST.
Fashion pollutes -
- Clothing industry - 2nd largest polluter in the world - 2nd only to oil.
- 70 million barrels of oil to produce polyester each year.
- Complicated - different supply chains - carbon foot print.
Environment -
- Chemical waste dumped directly into water systems.
- Fossil fuels consumption, CO2 pollution.
- Fish stocks killed off.
- Land fill.
- River polluted by clothes dye.
Fair trade -
- Farmers and workers receive a fair pay for work that they do.
- Decent working conditions.
- Local sustainability.
Throw away fashion -
- How much do we throw away? 2 million tonnes of textiles a year.
- Textiles have come fastest growing waste product in UK.
- 74% of those 2 billion clothes we buy a year end up in landfill.
- 50% of clothes that end up in landfill are recycled.
- Average women keeps a piece of clothing in her wardrobe for only 5 weeks.
Fashion clothes miles: - carbon footprint.
- Cargo ships from far East can take up to 4 or 5 weeks to travel across the globe.
- Same for India and Bangladesh.
- Turkey is a week via a truck or 2-3 days via fast truck.
- UK stock can be transported in a day.
- 1000's of air miles adding to CO2 emissions and are already carbon footprint.
Bamboo as a material -
- Needs no help from a man.
- Need no extra watering.
- Fastest growing plant.
- Grows like a weed.
- Crops mature in 3 months.
= ECO FRIENDLY.
What can we do?
- Check labels
- Try and buy clothes from naturals like cotton, viscose and wool.
- Don't buy acrylics, polyester, nylons as they are difficult to recycle.
- Buy clothes nearer to home, even if that does mean it costs more.
- Look out for organically produced cottons.
- Ask stores why they don't have fair-trade.
(LOVE YOUR CLOTHES MORE)
- Buy hero pieces rather than one off pieces.
- 30 wears challenge - try it.
- Rework and change unwanted clothing.
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