"Increasingly, consumers really care about the environment and the social impacts associated with clothing. And clothes, almost more than any other product, fill magazines and get column inches. Not only are consumers really getting their teeth into this, but fashion journalists are increasingly keeping pace with the green game"
Joan Ruddock, Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste
Representatives from the fashion, clothing, and textile industry as well as environmental and ethical groups met yesterday (5 August) to see how they can work with government to improve the sustainability of clothing.
Clothing and textiles have significant environmental effects and in 2006, UK clothing and textiles produced up to two million tonnes of waste, 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 and 70 million tonnes of waste water.
In fact over the full life cycle of clothing, there is a range of environmental, social and economic impacts. The growth in fast fashion and consumption is an important contributor to these impacts.
Clothing imports into the EU as a whole provide a massive 42 per cent of the global market. Home manufacturing of clothing has declined significantly over the years as a result and currently only 10% of our clothing is manufactured at home, the rest is imported.
Katherine Hamnett's Cotton Campaign – model Lilly Cole
Opening the event, Joan Ruddock, Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste, said:
"Increasingly, consumers really care about the environment and the social impacts associated with clothing. And clothes, almost more than any other product, fill magazines and get column inches. Not only are consumers really getting their teeth into this, but fashion journalists are increasingly keeping pace with the green game.
"There are plenty of examples of people in the industry already seeing sustainability as an opportunity, not a threat. There are people taking an active role in ethical sourcing, designing and producing clothing throughout the supply chain.”
The clothing industry
UK clothing consumption, valued at £23 billion, is high at around 2 million tonnes per annum. For the period 1996-2005, consumer expenditure on clothing and textiles has grown 34%, with further increases in demand predicted.
The fast/discount fashion/value clothing sector accounts for one fifth of the UK market and has doubled its growth during 1999-2006.
Clothing is a high value sector globally worth over £500 billion. It contributes 7% of world exports and employs approximately 26 million people, supporting a significant number of economies and individual incomes around the world.
The UK textile and clothing industry is small in comparison to the global industry, accounting for approximately 0.78% of UK GDP, 3.3% of UK manufacturing (valued at £9.5 billion) and employing approximately 170,000.( HM Customs & Excise, from the British Apparel & Textile Confederation (2005))
Speaking at the event, Katharine Hamnett, one of the industry's most ethical and environmentally aware designers, said:
"Sustainable clothing doesn't have to be more expensive. It can be more affordable and it should be more affordable."
Save the future is the slogan of Katharine Hamnett's Cotton Campaign (see photograph). Ms Hamnett is working with the Environmental Justice Foundation to establish EU Regulations to stop the import of cotton made from child labour. This year she accepted the position of Professor at the University of the Arts in London.
Following this event, the clothing and fashion industry will be invited to be involved in developing the sustainable clothing roadmap coordinated by Defra. The roadmap examines all stages of clothing's life cycle (from raw materials to end of life), charts the environmental and social impacts arising at each stage, and proposes ways of limiting those impacts where most effective.
Further information
Further information is available at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/consumerprod/index.htm
Katherine Hamnett's video address is available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y0NYGdfJQQ