As consumers grow tired of cheap, disposable items and ‘haul culture’, six people tell the story behind the piece of clothing they’ve cherished longest
A peek in the average British wardrobe will confirm that we are living in increasingly throwaway times. The popularity of “haul culture”, the ubiquity of Primark on high streets and the rise of ultra-low-cost online retailers has got the British public hooked on fast fashion. But it is entirely unsustainable. We send £140m of clothing to landfill every year in the UK, much of it made by workers scratching a subsistence wage in poor conditions in countries such as Cambodia and Sri Lanka. And the environmental cost is ruinous: the fashion industry is the world’s second biggest polluter, after the oil industry.
There is, however, evidence that this era may be drawing to a close. It is estimated that the secondhand or resale market could be bigger than fast fashion within a decade as we become more aware of the social and environmental impact of cheap clothes. And the slow-fashion movement – encouraging people to buy ethically made items of clothing sparingly, repair them when necessary and keep them for life – is growing in popularity. Here, we asked Guardian readers if they were slow fashion pioneers and to share the much-loved items that have been in their wardrobes for years.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2wLOIX1
