My name is Niamh Preedy, I am an 18 year old Fashion and Beauty Journalism student at Birmingham City University and my main interests lie in sustainable fashion and cutting back of fast fashion.
I will blog my experiences as a university student here in Birmingham, as well as write about and discuss topics that I enjoy and feel passionate about.
Are you visiting Zante this summer? Make sure Banana Beach is on your list of daytime activities. Whether you want to sleep off last night’s hangover on the sunbeds, go wild in the water, or have a light lunch with a sea view, Banana Beach offers it all. It’s the largest beach on the island, with soft golden sand and clear blue waters.
How can I get there?
Located just a short 30 minute journey from the Laganas Strip, Banana Water Sports provides free transportation (when you book an activity with them) with their fully air-conditioned unmissable yellow buses, collecting and dropping you from a selection of convenient pick-up points around Zante.
Alternatively, renting a quad bike or moped is a popular choice for getting around the island, and to Banana Beach. There are many rental options along the strip so make sure to shop around for the best deals, remember your UK driving license and wear a helmet!
What activities are there?
Banana Beach hosts a huge variety of water sports, offering something for everyone. Banana Water Sports offers the largest selection of water sports, with generous discounts when booking as a group.
Parasailing, wake boarding, banana boats, fly fish, jet skis, crazy sofa, Ringo ride, knee boards, canoes, water skiing, jet packing, twisters and not forgetting pedalos, Banana Water Sports really do offer everything. With professional staff and lifeguards watching you at all times and the latest, safest equipment provided you have nothing to worry about! Take a look:
They even offer a professional photo service to capture your experience, providing you with some great take-home memories of your trip. Prices for their activities can start from as little as €15 pp, even cheaper with group discounts, and with free transport, they’re not one to miss!
If you fancy a more chilled and relaxed beach day, sunbed hire starts from €5, and prices gradually increase depending on umbrellas and distance from the shore, cabanas and daybeds are even available.
Where can I eat (and drink)?
After soaking up the beach sun or going wild with water sports, fear not as there are plenty of options to quench your thirst and whet your appetite!
Banana Baya Beach Bar located on the upper level of the beach bar, offers Mediterranean cuisine using fresh and local produce. Enjoy an extensive menu consisting of brunch options, pizza, pasta, light lunches, seafood AND desserts.
If you fancy a drink, alcoholic or not, they also have plenty of cocktail, draught beers, juice and milkshake options. From rum cocktails to vodka, nobody is going home thirsty.
Banana Beach is not one to miss, make sure you visit this summer!
Fast fashion is the second biggest contributor to world pollution (Greenmatch).
The production of clothing has doubled since the year 2000, whilst the average use of a garment is declining (Earth.org). The fashion industry uses more CO2 than the aviation industry (Earth.org). The industry produces 20% of the worlds waste water each year (The UN). 92 million tons of clothes are sent to landfill every year (Earth.org). Since 2000, fashion brands in Europe went from releasing just 2 new collections a year, to up to 24 new collections a year (European Parliament). Clothing utilisation went down by 36% between 2003 and 2018 (Down to Earth).
The irony of our clothes lasting longer than ever (in landfills), but shorter than ever (on our bodies).
— Cora Harrington (@lingerie_addict) February 21, 2022
These are just some of the alarming statistics that cloud the fast fashion industry. Speaking to sustainability expert, lecturer, founder of The Fashion Debates and recently named in the “Top 50 Sustainable Fashion Influencers List”, Olivia Pinnock says “the way that we’ve been consuming fashion is actually causing really big problems in the world”.
“I totally appreciate that we all want to look good, we all enjoy fashion, we enjoy expressing ourselves and looking good and there’s nothing wrong with that at all.”
“But I think the problem nowadays is not how cheap fashion has become but it’s also how accessible it is to us.”
“The more you immerse yourself, if you start to follow influencers who are focussed on sustainable fashion. Sadly, maybe it does mean buying less and saving up for something that is a bit more expensive. I think that’s what we all have to do.”
So, how can we immerse ourselves?
Exploring the vintage clothing market may seem daunting at first and you may not know where to start, but once fully immersed it can be exciting and save you money.
An easy way to begin finding vintage clothing is by downloading the apps Depop and Vinted. Both these apps are free to download and easy to use. Whether you know what you want to buy or just want to browse what’s on offer, these apps both offer affordable and fashionable pieces, to designer gems and one-off pieces. Perhaps try uploading your own old garments and making some money back, instead of throwing them away.
Another way of getting involved with vintage fashion, is perhaps attending a vintage kilo sale. These kilo sales travel around the country, so keep an eye out for one in your city. Rushan, aged 24 attended the Coventry kilo sale this weekend and said “it’s good that we’re not putting these things to waste, there could be something valuable here.” Attendee Zoe, 19, emphasised how you can find more unique and one-off pieces shopping vintage, “the chance that you’ll catch somebody else walking round in this is so small”.
Also try exploring your local town or city for vintage clothing shops as well as charity shops, Birmingham for example has multiple vintage shops, such as COW in Digbeth, which offers both vintage clothes as well as reworked garments, which are all one-off unique pieces.
A growing popular way to shop second hand for an extremely affordable price, is exploring car boot sales. Look out for local ones visiting your town or city and you could find some hidden gems like this:
2. Another great way to stop over-consuming fashion is to use online clothing rentals:
There are more and more initiatives like this popping up currently, and a great one is Graceful Changes. Straying away from fast fashion when shopping for children’s clothing can be very difficult, especially as children grow so fast and need new clothes often. Graceful Changes offers a solution for this issue, parents can rent clothes for their children and babies, instead of buying, then exchange the items as and when parents need to. Speaking to the founder of Graceful Changes, Josefa Buckland, she explained her brand’s ethos, “kind of at the heart is sustainability and the circular economy and I suppose it’s making in high quality ethical clothes as easy as possible for parents.”
“So, subscribers will save about 75% of the cost of if they were buying new which is a lot. The brands that I stock are high quality, ethically made and not as cheap as Primark and other high street. So that’s kind of the difference, you’re obviously getting a much higher quality product”.
For a one-off piece, perhaps for a big occasion where you’d only wear a statement piece once, Hurr Collective is a great option. Their site offers many options of designer statement pieces, available to rent for a fraction of the retail price. Each item on their website includes important statistics on how renting the item is better than buying it new and wearing it once.
If you’re finding that you no longer wear clothes in your wardrobe, instead of throwing them away try swapping. Whether this is through a swap service or with your friends, it means less is going to waste.
Big Sister Swap a personalised swapping service where you select what you’d prefer to receive back, send them your unwanted clothes and receive a package of clothes previously sent in by others.
Olivia Pinnock also suggested creating a WhatsApp group chat with your friends, where when you no longer want an item of clothing in your wardrobe, ask if any of your friends would like to swap.
4. Sustainable brands:
Although shopping from strictly sustainable and ethical brands can be expensive, a lot more pricey than fast fashion, for your wardrobe basics they can be great. Investing in an essential wardrobe basic can be very beneficial and will most likely last you much longer than cheaper high street options, saving you money in the long term.
Lucy and Yak is an entirely sustainable and ethical fashion brand, featuring a majority of items made purely from organic cotton. This brand offers both basic essentials whilst also offering some unique pieces, such as their iconic dungarees, arguably their most popular garment.
5. Don’t feel guilty for shopping from fast fashion!
There is a reason that fast fashion still exists, regardless of all the harm it causes. It’s accessible, affordable and fashionable and consumers shouldn’t be shamed for using these brands. However, we can still shop from these brands but perhaps still change our habits.
Try to only buy garments from fast fashion brands that you know you will wear more than once, a garment that you feel will last you for a long time. Try not to be influenced by micro-trends and short-term fads, that won’t still be trendy in a few months. If you have a little more time to spend browsing in the shops or online, look at fabric quantities. Try to steer clear from garments that have high quantities of polyester and go for garments that use organic cotton. Lots of brands are now starting to use recycled cotton in their garments, for example H&M, so look out for their green labels.
It’s important that we all start to question our choices in fashion, whether you make big or small changes, the change will be for the better.
With more than 500,000 people taking part in last years Veganuary, and even more set to join the initiative this January, how can you get involved?
Speaking to Pia Werzinger from the Vegan Recipe Club, she and the team have provided some tips for kick-starting Veganuary.
Give oat milk a try
“Research suggests that most people prefer oat milk as a substitute to dairy. Unlike it’s dairy counterpart, it’s low in fat, lactose-free, and high in vitamins and fibre, making it easier to digest; and it promotes a healthy digestive system!”
Chose a vegan option when you eat out or order in
“With Veganuary in full swing, many restaurants and eateries have special plant-based options as alternatives to their regular meat dishes.”
Switch to vegan ‘meat’
“You might find that some foods or dishes are a bit harder to give up. But fear not! There’s a huge market with mind-blowingly realistic vegan meat substitutes out there. They’re often a good source of protein, fibre, folate, iron, and B-vitamins, while containing less saturated fat and cholesterol than for example ground beef.”
Going vegan this January also doesn’t mean saying goodbye to fast food either, with many establishments now having an array of plant-based options. Burger King are the latest to introduce a vegan option, with their vegan nuggets.
VEGAN NUGGETS ARE OUT NOW THIS IS NOT A DRILL 🚨 pic.twitter.com/YfyouDXyqN
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) January 5, 2022
However, speaking to nutritionist Megan Jane, she suggests that veganism may not be the best diet. “Whilst a vegan diet can be associated with lower risks of certain health problems, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity, veganism requires supplementation and meticulous meal planning.”
“If meals aren’t planned properly, vegans can lack essential nutrients such as iron, calcium and vitamin B12, which can cause health problems in their own right.”
Will you be taking part in Veganuary?
The Nike Dunk trainer surged to popularity this year, breaking it’s way into mainstream fashion, rather than exclusively streetwear.
The shoe was originally introduced to be a college basketball trainer to now being described as “a shoe that’s not just your average inanimate object” by the late Virgil Abloh.
Some of this years colour-ways are shown below:
Nike also introduced a “move to zero” range of Dunks, using only sustainable materials to aim towards a more sustainable future.
“Soft Pink” on the incoming “Move to Zero”Nike Dunk Lows. 🏷 pic.twitter.com/m59MdduJOD
— Nice Kicks (@nicekicks) August 9, 2021
The Dunk has become a low-key, often more accessible alternative to the ever-popular Jordan 1 sneaker, which to no one’s surprise continued to grow in popularity this year.
The popularity of the iconic Jordan 1 is reflected through their collaboration with Dior, where only 8500 trainers were made, but now sell for as much as £15,000 despite being released back in April 2020.
This year also saw the introduction and growth of “hype” shoe shops, such as Kick Game, who have expanded their stores from just London to now Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.
But what can we expect to trend in 2022?
Speaking to @cultureforce (on Instagram and TikTok), “something that comes to my head quite quickly is after Virgil’s passing and following his super popular Off White x Dunks, which are quite crazy and colourful, I think we’re going to see more out there designs, a desire for more out there Dunks.”
“Not necessarily just Dunks, shoes in general, I think they’ll be a little bit more dramatic.”
He also mentioned the introduction of the New Balance 550s, which have “taken the limelight, because initially when they first came in they weren’t oversaturated but mimicked the silhouette of the Nike Dunk, so people who are a bit fed up with the Dunks and the Dunks hype, are keen to get on the New Balance hype and style it the same way as a Dunk.”
“Kanye is also dropping more Knit Runners, so that will be interesting to see how that evolves. We might even see the Yeezy comfort combined with that desire for the Nike Dunk to be a little bit more outrageous.”
Looking early into next year, we are set to see the release of a Supreme x Nike SB Dunk high (see below), although specific dates of release are yet to be confirmed.
The Sole Supplier suggests starting the year with “the hottest selling Nike kicks” with sneakers such as the Nike Air Force 1 or Air Max 90.
Boris Johnson has announced that there will be no new Covid-19 restrictions before the new year and has urged that “everybody should enjoy New Year”.
This comes after talks and discussion of another lockdown due to cases of the virus reaching 129,471 in the UK, and the outbreak of fast-spreading new variant, Omicron.
We will continue to monitor the data carefully, but there will be no new restrictions introduced in England before the New Year. 1/2
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 27, 2021
Despite this, celebrations are officially back on, meaning last minute plans and last minute outfits are a must! Time is running out however to get a new outfit delivered in time for the 31st, with today being the last day to order from Pretty Little Thing with next day delivery.
TODAY is the last day to order with UK Next Day Delivery to receive your PrettyLittleThing parcel before New Years Eve 💗
— PrettyLittleThing (@OfficialPLT) December 29, 2021
Shop all your last minute bits here ✨ 👉 https://t.co/qVDzfOZ7rp pic.twitter.com/QL6wnqJhE3
After today, it’s time to start jazzing up old looks you’ve worn before or re-working your existing wardrobe.
Looking to TikTok first, a recent trend shows how you can make a new top out of something most people will already own, a pair of tights. Embedded below:
@mia.fryx Actually obsessed (also tik tok I’m 18 pls don’t take this down lol) #foryou #upcycle #outfitideas
♬ FVN by LVL1 – LVL1
Speaking to celebrity stylist, Carolyn Rubido, she says “New Year’s is all about GLAM, so put on your most lavish accessories and add some shine to your make up”.
TikTok once again provides great inspiration for a New Year’s Eve glam make up look, with trends turning to lots of glitter, sparkle and even “hair tinsel” for this festive season.
@rachelpowell1996 Tinsel hair for Xmas 🤍
♬ Infinity – Jaymes Young
To make use of existing items you may already own in your wardrobe, Carolyn recommends “sheer stockings”, “a little black dress” and to “make your accessories the statement pieces!”
Whether you’re staying in or going out, enjoy the New Year!
Recent graduate , Tabitha Green, is currently in the process of setting up organisation “Birmingham Street Huns”, a buddy system where women who feel unsafe on the streets of Birmingham can arrive home safely.
The Office for National Statistics reports that over 80% of women feel “very or fairly unsafe” whilst walking alone in a park or other open space after dark, nationally. This research comes after Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by police officer, Wayne Couzens whilst she was walking home alone on the night of 3 March 2021. Couzens has since been given a life sentence.
Eventually, women who feel unsafe in Birmingham after dark will be able to contact Birmingham Street Huns by a phone number, who will then send out a volunteer to walk with them, arrange an Uber or just to talk as they go. They are also hoping to collaborate with local universities in the city and their societies to get more people on board and be more accredited.
Speaking with Tabitha, we asked what had fuelled her to set up this new initiative. “Recently in Digbeth, [my friend] Alice and I experienced some quite violent, verbal assault from 2 men. This was after we had complained to security at that venue about an assault that we had witnessed in the crowd and the security woman had said “she was asking for it” “.
This comes after highlighting how unsafe she also felt as a student living in the student area of Selly Oak, “it was awful there”, “there are a lot of men always driving and walking around looking for girls to speak to”. “I got the impression people were just praying on students because they knew it would be an area of lots of young girls post night out.”
A survey that Birmingham Street Huns carried out backed up their worries about Selly Oak. Out of 100 respondents, 91% answered that they had personally experienced some kind of assault, harassment or unwanted attention while they were out in their local area. 46% of these were based in Selly Oak.
Tabitha went on to explain how the similar initiative in Edinburgh, “Strut Safe” has also inspired her, “it would be cool if we had something more physical in our area as well”. Strut Safe have a phone line that runs from 7pm-3am on Fridays and Saturdays and from 7pm-1am on Sundays.
Issues surrounding women’s safety have never been more relevant, with new reports of women being spiked through needles in nightclubs. Local nightclubs and venues, such as The Mill in Birmingham have said they will increase their security measures to help prevent spiking.
We are aware of the recent reports about the increase of spiking on a national level.
— The Mill (@TheMillBham) October 21, 2021
Your safety is always our priority and we would like to remind you of our continuing commitment to ensure everyone has a safe night out pic.twitter.com/2eLkTOptrM
This new method of spiking women has prompted a club boycott named “Girls Night In” across many cities, including Birmingham on the 27th October.
The West Midlands Police say they “are taking all reports seriously and would encourage anyone who believes they have been a victim of spiking in any form to contact us”.
We spoke to Anna Fawcett, the fundraising manager from Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid about the issues women are facing after dark. “You can be just going to the shops, walking down the street, going for a run, you can just be socialising with your friends, it is never anything to do with what you’re wearing, how you’re behaving, we have to frame men’s violence towards women and we have to place the blame squarely with men to get men talking about that.”
“We know that it isn’t all men, but actually it’s pretty much only men that are doing this.”
The launch date for Birmingham Street Huns is still unknown as they are still looking for more volunteers, get involved by messaging their Instagram @0121streethuns.
Last nights BRIT awards saw Little Mix make history being the first female band to win Best British Group, up and coming artist Olivia Rodrigo perform live for the first time and an iconic collaboration from Elton John and Years & Years performing “It’s A Sin”.
But the red carpet looks and performance outfits also did not disappoint.
Starting with Rising Star award winner Griff, who wore a Susan Fang pastel dress to the red carpet with an eccentric fountain headpiece (pictured below).
Griff not only turned heads with this carpet look but also with her performance of hit “Black Hole”, in which she wore a dress made by herself. She documented her whole BRITS preparation, sewing process and outfit choices on TikTok (@wiffygriffy).
@wiffygriffy Documenting what happens in the lead up to the release of my mixtape called One foot in front of the other #oneclipinfrontoftheother
♬ Kiss Me More (feat. SZA) – Doja Cat
Double award winner, Dua Lipa caused a stir with her Vivienne Westwood dress paired with black stockings and suspenders, with some Twitter users even comparing her look to Amy Winehouse’s 2007 BRITs look:
Giving me Amy Winehouse vibes
— none of your business (@johndpmc) May 11, 2021
Speaking to celebrity stylist, Carolyn Rubido, she believes the similarities between Amy’s 2007 look and Dua’s 2021 look were not a coincidence, “the yellow dress with the signature beehive was all we needed in order to recognise the hat tip”.
Not only did Dua Lipa impress with her two awards (Best British Female and Best Album), but also with her acceptance speech dedicating her award to the country’s frontline workers, “it’s very good to clap for them, but we need to pay them!”
Her opening performance outfit also payed homage to Ginger Spice, wearing a mini-skirt version of the iconic Union Jack dress. Stylist, Carolyn also said it was “only right for Dua Lipa an icon herself, to pay homage in respect to those who paved the way for her”.
Global Icon winner, Taylor Swift also paid tribute to NHS workers in her acceptance speech, saying how she is “indebted to and grateful to my British fans”. For both her red carpet and acceptance look she wore a simple yet glamorous MIU MIU two-piece (pictured below). Carolyn Rubido believes that “this ensemble is a great reflection of Taylor’s personality and her work: the extravagance is in the details.”
Our last honourable mention goes to Little Mix, who, dressed all in white gracefully debuted their baby bumps to the red carpet. Accepting their award for Best British Group, dedicating it to “all the incredible female groups” who came before them.
All performances are available to watch on the BRITs Youtube channel.
Today marks the 51st annual Earth Day, the anniversary of the modern environmental movement. Although this is a celebratory day, fast fashion is still a large contributor to global warming and not enough is being done. But here in Birmingham there are lots of second hand clothing shops that we can buy from instead of fast fashion companies, so we can play our part in helping the environment.
Located in Digbeth, COW has a huge selection of second hand clothing, re-worked vintage pieces as well as offering custom orders. Guaranteed to always have a big variety of vintage Levi’s jeans, you’ll be helping the environment and staying stylish.
COW are celebrating Earth Day by giving all customers 15% off their website, announcing on Instagram: “To help combat prevalent issues that damage our beloved planet *cough cough (fast fashion)* we are encouraging everyone to celebrate the slow fashion movement with 15% off the entire website with the code SAVETHEPLANET – for today and today only!”
Moving to the centre of Birmingham, perhaps turn to The Oasis rather than the high street shops in the Bullring. Via the entrance on Corporation Street is their vintage store, with stock from designer sweatshirts to trainers, all priced reasonably. Venturing deeper into The Oasis you can also find piercing shops, art galleries and a cafe!
Just a short walk from the Bullring towards the rag market, you will find Credit Crunchers vintage shop. Perhaps the most affordable option of them all, where you just might find a hidden gem!
Going further afield, Kings Heath high street is home to vintage clothing shop “Top Banana”. The shop imports all their vintage goods from the USA, having a huge selection of Converse and Vans as well as a variety of Hawaiian shirts.
Shopping second hand is a step towards leaving fast fashion behind, but what else can we do?
Speaking to Olivia Pinnock, a sustainability specialist and fashion lecturer, she gave advice on how we can ignore and stop shopping from fast fashion brands. “Think about what is encouraging you to make purchases, unfollow brands on social media, block ads”.
“Immerse yourself, start to follow influencers who are focussed on sustainable fashion.”
“Sadly, maybe it does mean buying less and saving up for something that is a bit more expensive. I think that’s what we all have to do.”
What really goes on behind those too good to be true fashion prices, underpaid workers and an increased carbon footprint? Fast fashion has it all.
From a young person’s perspective, buying from fast fashion brands such as Boohoo, Missguided or Pretty Little Thing seems the easiest and cheapest way to get stylish clothes delivered to their door. It bears the question as to whether sustainability even enters their thought process when buying new clothes. Speaking to a focus group of students, fast fashion’s perfect customers, it seems this isn’t the case.
Out of the 9 students in the group who buy from online fast fashion brands, 8 admitted that they do not think of sustainability when shopping online. I also asked for the students’ reasoning behind their online shopping and these were the results:
As shown by the bar chart, the main reason students choose to shop with these brands is because they are quick, cheap, stylish and easy. These results are unsurprising to me as it doesn’t take much research to find extremely cheap clothing on these websites. A quick Google search or click onto their apps, sites such as Missguided waste absolutely no time in grabbing your attention with new deals, sales and discount codes.
The most popular reasoning behind shopping from these sites was the price. Nine of the students chose this as one of their reasons. Again, it is unsurprising that this was a popular choice, as for example Pretty Little Thing have a “£5 dresses” section of their website.
With £5 sections and added discount codes, also shown in the website screenshot above, prices can get obscenely low. This is without mentioning that these websites also have permanent sale sections, not just for when the new season collections come in, which is how sales were typically done in the past. These sale sections have thousands upon thousands of discounted products, from jewellery and bags to dresses and skirts. These companies also waste no time in creating new opportunities for a sale, in the months leading to Christmas the usual sale to look out for is the “Black Friday” sale. However, this year has seen the introduction of “Pink Friday”, another opportunity for a sale, just one week before Black Friday.
PLT Pink Friday is pending… 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 💖 this tweet to be the first to hear about all the latest PLT discounts 👀 #PLTPinkFriday pic.twitter.com/NVxuoqC4Qx
— PrettyLittleThing (@OfficialPLT) November 23, 2020
This “Pink Friday” saw prices for clothes reach new lows, Pretty Little Thing’s sale featured hundreds of items priced from just 5p. A coat previously priced at £45 was reduced to just 45p, while a once £25 jumper was on sale for 25p. This begs the question, how are these prices even possible?
Pretty Little thing were not the only site to be offering huge discounts, MissPap and Femme Luxe Finery were also among the many offering clothes for below £1.
The second most popular reasoning behind shopping with fast fashion brands was the speed. All of these companies offer next day delivery, whether that’s for an added price or for free when you spend a certain amount of money. A common feature for these websites is also paying a discounted price for a years’ worth of free next day delivery, arguably encouraging customers to buy more often so they get their money’s worth of delivery. Pretty Little Thing offer unlimited next day delivery for a year for just 83p a month, advertised as “faster fashion”.
But these companies are not just quick in delivery, they waste absolutely no time in getting the latest trends and designs readily available for us to buy. The “Inside Missguided: Made in Manchester” documentary makes clear just how fast these companies work to get the newest fashion onto their websites. The documentary was arguably portrayed in the manner that the only thing that mattered to the business was speed and money, rather than morals and ethics, “is there any way we could get it any quicker?” “When we create designs, we have to get them on sale rapid. Three days after seeing Sofia Richie wear a dress on Instagram, Vicky’s designed our brands version.” Missguided’s fashion buyers were also documented “haggling” items of clothing down to the last penny and “driving a hard bargain.”
“Speed is so important.”
But why is fast fashion a problem?
Fast fashion raises lots of questions about its ethics and morals, from factory conditions to its carbon footprint.
150 billion pieces of clothing end up in landfill each year while it takes 1000 years for a single shoe to decompose. The fast fashion industry also uses 5 times more CO2 than the aviation industry yearly and also uses 2.5 trillion gallons of water each year. A memorable example of the devastating effects of this industry is the disappearance of the Aral Sea, revealed on a “Stacey Dooley Investigates” episode. Stacey was driven across the land, which was once a seabed, however after the region was used for cotton production, it’s now dry land. To emphasise just how large the sea once was, it took over three hours for them to drive across it. “There used to be fish; now there’s a camel”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06n27x3
Not only is fast fashion the 2nd biggest contributor to global warming, the conditions of its workers in factories has always been a concern. An undercover report by The Sunday Times recently revealed that factory workers making clothes for Boohoo’s brand “Nasty Gal” in their Leicester factory were being payed as little as £3.50 an hour, way below the legal minimum wage. The report also reveals that during the coronavirus pandemic, their workers weren’t given sufficient safety measures such as no social distancing within the factory.
This problem is not going away fast, over lockdown online giant ASOS revealed record profits, as their usual sales quadrupled. They gained another 3 million customers to their already huge customer base of over 20 million. These figures perhaps show that without the option to shop sustainably as charity and second-hand shops were closed, young people will turn to fast fashion. This emphasises the quick, cheap and reasons for shopping with fast fashion brands.
So, what next?
Speaking to Olivia Pinnock, founder of The Fashion Debates as well as fashion lecturer, speaker and journalist, she says there is hope for the fashion industry to become more sustainable. “The big companies have loads of money, let’s not let them off the hook here. When you’re in a business model that is constantly working towards profit and growth, you sit there and think can they afford to do this? Of course, they can!”
When asked what students or young people can do to change their habits, Olivia responded, “I totally appreciate that we all want to look good, we all enjoy fashion and expressing ourselves, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. A really good tip is to think about what is encouraging you to maybe make purchases you wouldn’t otherwise make; can you unfollow brands on social media and block ads off?”
“Immerse yourself”.
Fast fashion is the second biggest polluter in the world. 150 billion pieces of clothing end up in landfill yearly, taking up to 1000 years for a single shoe to decompose, according to Greenmatch.
Speaking to Olivia Pinnock, lecturer at the London College of Fashion and the London Metropolitan University, founder of The Fashion Debates and fashion speaker and journalist, she says there is hope for the fashion industry to become totally sustainable.
“Of course I think there’s hope and of course I think there’s work being done otherwise I wouldn’t keep writing about it and talking about it. I think we should think about more sustainable rather than totally sustainable, and the best that we can do for people and planet and everybody involved in the fashion system.”
“The big aim is to be carbon neutral by 2050. We’ve already made small progress, there needs to be more. The thing that is really urgent is obviously climate change and our carbon emissions. We really need to keep pushing for these science based targets, which basically means working towards keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees.”
However, making big changes can come at a cost.
I asked Olivia whether it was financially possible for companies to become more sustainable. “Yes, for starters they have loads of money, of course they can afford to do it! I think there are financial incentives as well to going more sustainable, so while some things might cost you money, things like being more energy efficient or water efficient is going to save you money. There is a business case for it.”
But we can all make small changes to our fashion habits to become more sustainable.
When asked what affordable changes we can make, Olivia responded “I totally appreciate that we all want to look good, we all enjoy fashion and expressing ourselves, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. But once you start to research into these issues and realise what’s going on behind the things you own and the things you have given money to, that was a big catalyst for me.”
“As much as I got excited over a £10 top, once I could sit there and go but actually that doesn’t align with my values and what I think the world should be like, makes it easier to quit. But I think the problem nowadays is not how cheap fashion has become but how accessible it is to us and how often we see things we weren’t even thinking about shopping for.”
“A really good tip is to think about what is encouraging you to maybe make purchases that you wouldn’t otherwise make, unfollow brands on social media, block ads if you’re struggling with that. Start to follow influencers who are focussed on sustainable fashion. Sadly, maybe it does mean buying less and saving up for something that is a bit more expensive.”
“That’s what we all have to do.”
You can sign up to The Fashion Debates here http://www.thefashiondebates.com/
Preedy Posts