Shaping Sustainable Fashion: changing the way we make and use clothes
1 Jan 2011
Shaping Sustainable Fashion explores the issues of fashion, sustainability and specifically the way in which fashion clothing is produced, used and discarded. Today the fashion industry relies on the fast and efficient manufacture of new seasonal trend-driven products for an identified consumer in a competitive marketplace. The continued cycle of buying, using and disposing of fashion clothing is based upon a system of production that has serious consequences for our society and environment. The trend for fast fashion has generated an exponential rise in the sale of fashion garments that are often worn too little, washed too often and quickly become discarded, with an estimated 30kg textile waste per person reaching UK landfill each year (Allwood et al, 2006). Moreover, while this trend is typically associated with garments available in the high street, it seems that all levels of the fashion industry there continues to be a focus on the production of market driven and disposable goods. The intention of this publication is to bring to light a multiplicity of sustainable strategies that are being employed to reduce the textile waste generated during the manufacture and use of fashion clothing.
