Throwaway Fashion

Today is the second blog in my series on the environment and anti Black Week.

This may come as a shock to some of you given my shabby dress sense, but back in 2003/2004 I worked for one year in the fashion industry.

It certainly was not haute couture, but a ski, motocross, surf clothing brand called Oxbow, based in Bordeaux, France.

I was working in the marketing department and our aim was clear: to sell as many products as possible.

It was during this year that I first experienced quite how much waste there is within the fashion industry.

We were getting feedback from customers and retailers that our products were not as durable and high quality as they had been just five years previously. And yet no one seemed to care.

Over the last 20 years there seems to have been a move in both directions.

On the one hand we have the examples of brands such as Patagonia and Northern Playground who make high quality products and offer a repair service so that these garments will last many years.

But more worryingly has been the incredible rise of fast or throwaway fashion.

Both the High street and the Internet are awash with unbelievably cheap garments which are of the lowest quality. There are too many websites and brands to even start listing them off on here.

I remember many years ago buying some socks from a such shop in Oslo and wearing a hole in them on the very first use.

I have heard also the confessions from friends who sheepishly have admitted to buying a T-shirt for a Friday night out and then throwing it before they use it again.

I believe that for new clothes there should be a minimum price standard which incorporates a tax or surcharge for the Environmental damage caused in making it.

Please buy good quality products and learn to sew or repair them when they get damaged. The industry in its current form is not sustainable for a healthy planet.

Doggies: Jello, Freia, Quila, Oscar and Stella