Words and photos by Mo Dukali |
We all like to update our wardrobe from time to time to keep up with the trends, but are our shopping habits costing us more than just what’s on the price tag?
The fast fashion industry has become a growing issue for the environment in recent years. The ever-changing nature of fashion trends causes high demand for the production of new clothes at a lower cost, which has negative effects on the environment by using up limited resources, releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, and filling landfill sites across the globe.
One of the most common materials used in fast fashion is polyester, which isn’t biodegradable and can take up to 200 years to decompose. On top of this, it’s estimated that more than 70 million barrels of oil are used for the production of polyester each year, making the fashion industry accountable for 10% of global carbon emissions.
If this isn’t enough, the result of washing these cheap, almost disposable clothes is the release of tiny plastic micro fibres that harm almost everything in the oceans and even end up in our food!
One idea to limit the demand for new clothing, that has become popular in the UK recently, is clothes swapping. Young people around the country have started organising small events amongst themselves where they can swap clothes with each other instead of purchasing new products from fast fashion retailers. Not only does this save them money, it also plays a big part in making sure unwanted clothes don’t end up landfills.
One student, Molly Royle, took it upon herself to organise a clothes swap event at her student accommodation in Leeds.
I wanted to find out more about Molly and what inspired her to go out of her way to organise the event.
Leeds Art University also hosted a clothes swap at their student union as part of their ‘Sustainability Week’ campaign.
Here, students were free to come and drop their unwanted clothes off at the table and pick up something else that they wanted.
The ‘Swap Shop’ wasn’t the only part of the Sustainability Week program. With other events and workshops going on throughout the week such as:
Scrap Metal and Book Exchange
Rag Rug Workshop
Paper Making Workshop
The ‘Conscious Creatives’ Art-fest Exhibition.
So there you go, you don’t have to harm the planet just to stay trendy, and be sure to keep a look out for more upcoming clothes shop events and get swapping!