MeghannMix: It’s finally time to leave the fast (fashion) lane

SUMMERTIME is all about ice-cream, getaways and that seasonal, sometimes disposable, wardrobe.

I, like most people, love a new dress, cute shorts, coloured top, comfy sandals just as much as the next person but there’s a much larger issue at hand.

According to Fashion Revolution, a global non-profit fashion activism movement, the fashion industry produces 150 billion garments a year. The human population is only 7.9 billion people, so that’s almost 19 times the humans that exist on our planet.

Globally, 92 million tonnes of textile waste is created each year, and waste water from garment factories in China contribute to 70% of the country’s water being polluted (source WelcomeCollection.org). That is a staggering figure.

Last year, a photo was released of Chile’s Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world and it is being used as a dumping ground for textile waste.

It has been reported that 59,000 tonnes of fashion waste arrive each year into the Iquique port in Northern Chile and then disposed of in the desert. Clothes that were purchased for very cheap, probably from online fast fashion brands, only to be discarded after a few wears.

I’ve stopped buying clothes from these online companies for many reasons. Quality being one of them, wrong sizing, ill fitting to name but a few and plastics in our clothing. Microplastics are shed from synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon, lycra, rayon and spandex. When we wash clothes, these microplastics end up in our water system and in the ocean.

Another detrimental side to fast fashion is the garment workers. To cut costs, most production is outsourced to Bangladesh, China, India or Vietnam. These workers are expected to work in dangerous and sometimes life-threatening conditions, receiving barely any wage and being treated poorly. Child labour is even reported in some cases, according to The Guardian.

My mother has a charity shop and I see first-hand the amount of waste that comes in the door in terms of fast fashion clothing that isn’t fit to resell, Christmas jumpers and pyjamas discarded after one wear (and one Instagram photo) that pile up in the New Year and T-shirts from charity runs that are no longer wanted because a new one is offered the following year.

What can we do to stop this?

A good start is to make a decision to refrain from shopping and supporting online fast fashion brands. Commit to one month of no shopping at all. Unsubscribe from emails and delete apps to these online shops. Start thrifting. Checkout local charity shops. Use DePop or Vestiare to buy secondhand clothing.

Better still, love the clothes you already have. Invest in timeless pieces. I have so many items of clothing belonging to my mother, father and granny because they bought investment pieces, clothes made to last and they have stood the test of time. I’ve a wardrobe of vintage and sentimental clothing which means more to me than any disposable piece of trendy or fashionable piece.

Want to learn more about fast and slow fashion?

Checkout the podcast I host with my friend, Sharon Sweeney, it’s called The Break Up Dress and is available on all podcast platforms. We delve deeper into the serious issues of the fashion world.

Rogha na Seachtaine

READ: Ghosts by Dolly Alderton. I love her style of writing. She really captivates the reader. Nina Dean, who is in her 30s, is a strong, formidable woman navigating her way through singlehood and her career.  

WATCH: Black Mirror is back with a sixth series on Netflix. It was created by Charlie Booker and looks into an extremely high-tech era and the dark sides of the digital world. Is he in some way looking into the inevitable? It's dark but makes you question how you use social media. It also stars some massive Hollywood names.

WIN: This month you can win a beautiful sparkly tennis bracelet from the Fashion Level at Matthew Stephens Jewellers. This is a stunning piece that glistens and will catch your eye. To enter, email SPARKLY to meghannmix@limerickleader.ie.

Contact Meghann by email - meghannmix@limerickleader.ie