With most high-street brands implementing their final reductions on their clothes this January, we are unconsciously buying what we think is a great bargain. But what is our insatiable appetite for clothes doing to our environment?

The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, just under oil. Sainsbury’s reported that an estimated 235 million items of clothing were sent to UK landfills in 2017.
For one designer, Lauren Golding, she believes that fast fashion is an immediate issue that the industry needs to tackle.

She said: “I would say essentially, it’s [fast fashion] terrible for the environment but the fashion industry is taking steps towards making it better.”

Some brands are already making leaps and bounds in helping the environment rather than damaging it further. Adidas has launched their first pair of trainers made out of 100% recycled ocean plastics and fashion designer Stella McCartney has started only using recycled fabrics in its’ runway collections.

The H&M group which includes brands the brands &other Stories and Monki, are offering customers the option to recycle their old clothes for instore discounts, and H&M are launching their conscious collection that source sustainable fabrics and materials. It seems that there has finally been a shift within the fast fashion industry.

However, not all companies have the luxury of using sustainable only materials for their brand. Lauren Golding still says she struggles being able to use it where she works in Mango.

“The fabrics that are sustainable or recycled are often more expensive and if I used them I wouldn’t make the mark up I need to sell the garment at the price they make us sell at. In a nutshell, I’d lose money on the product just by making it sustainable, it’s a sad fact.”

She goes on to say that Mango has launched a conscious collection that is 100% recycled but in her opinion it’s not enough.

She believes that brands like Primark are able to make a profit when the fashion industry is down 40% simply because customers want cheaper clothing.

She said: “We need to educate the customer to buy more consciously but we have a long way to go until brands like this start to act consciously because that means becoming slightly more expensive.”

She believes that brands like Primark are able to make a profit when the fashion industry is down 40% simply because customers want cheaper clothing.

We reached out to Primark for a comment on their sustainability but there was no response.
With costs of clothes becoming higher and the demand from social medias to parade outfits online, it is becoming increasingly harder to stay up-to-date with trends.

The value of clothes unused in wardrobes has been estimated at £30 billion according to WRAP charity and yet there is an insatiable consumer need to buy more.

This may be due to the impact of the 52 fashion micro-season which was created to keep up with the high turnover of styles that are entering the fashion industry.

Lauren Golding said: “We need to educate the customer to buy more consciously but we have a long way to go until brands like this start to act consciously because that means becoming slightly more expensive.”

The public’s need for endless consumption is effectively doing more damage to our environment but with some brands spear-heading the fight against the pollution that the fashion industry puts out, there are small steps being taken.