How much waste is resulted from fast fashion? | 平價時尚所製造的浪費
The amount of ready-made garment is increasing significantly in recent years. Global brands like H&M, Forever 21 are chasing fast turn around time to give people rapidly fashion trend. New stock are launched every week to provide consumers the latest style. However, you probably don't know that in America, about 193,000 tons of textile goes to rubbish bin annually which means nearly 82 pounds of clothes are thrown away per person every year. It seems like mass production of fast fashion actually becomes a kind of disposable stuffs. The clothes we buy today is 5 times more than 1980's, which just few decades before. You might think that the clothes we discard are mostly sent to charity as donation. Actually 10%-20% of secondhand clothes is sent to local charity shops for reselling and earning revenue for charity organizations. The rest of 80% is for recycling or shipping to overseas for some poor countries which are the first places to produce it. Clothing industry has already become the second largest polluter in the world that just second to oil industry. Fast fashion has led to unfair labor rights as well as the pollution and waste problems.
近年來成衣的製造數量成長幅度很大,指標品牌如H&M, Forever 21為了提供更緊密的時尚趨勢, 即時的款式 他們將新品週期縮短, 每週都有新品發表上市。你可能不知道的是, 在美國, 一年約丟棄193,000噸的布料, 也就是說, 一人一年約丟棄近82磅的衣物, 感覺這樣大量製造下的平價服飾已經便宜的可以比擬拋棄性產品。現今我們買的衣服是1980年的5倍, 歷經短短30幾年卻差異甚大。你或許認為儘管我們買的比過去更多, 但同時舊衣回收率也比以前高, 而實際上 － 10%-20%的舊衣被轉賣, 盈餘用以營運慈善組織; 80%交由回收或是運至貧窮國家, 這些國家有時候甚至是這些衣服的製造者。服裝製造業已然成為第二大污染產業, 僅次於石油產業。平價時尚產生的問題不只牽涉勞工議題, 甚至是污染及浪費。
Recently I found an interesting viewpoint from Lucy Siegle, a journalist and environmentalist, writing lots of articles of ethical and green living. She said that in order to make your wardrobe more sustainable and ethical, there are few things you can do before buying clothes that could change your way of shopping:
Ask yourself: Will you wear it 30 times?
The rapid turnover of trends characterising Fast Fashion means clothes are disposable. Along with the deflation of clothing prices this has put the supply chain under unprecedented pressure leading directly to outrages like Rana Plaza and Tazreen. Just asking yourself if you will wear a prospective item 30 times is a great place to start shopping smarter and more intentional.
Break the fashion cycle that fast fashion told you.
The traditional spring/summer autumn/winter of international fashion weeks is just for show. Zara, the Spanish fast fashion behemoth broke the mold, introducing mini seasons every week. 50-100 new micro seasons a year is the new normal. So slow down your fashion cycle.
英國記者Lucy Siegle長期關注環保議題並在The guardian專欄倡導良知與綠色消費。他指出, 在你消費之前有幾件事是你可以做的, 確保你買的衣服是來自道德的製造及有永續性：
在消費前反問自己, 是否可以穿這件衣服30次？
快速的時尚週期性把平價時尚定位為一種可拋棄性的衣服, 而低定價伴隨而來的成本壓力轉而被壓縮在製造商, 於是釀成像Rana Plaza倒塌事件及Tazreem火災意外的悲劇。購物前先預期這件衣服能否穿至少30次, 達到有計劃性的消費。
勿跟隨平價時尚品牌給你的時尚週期
傳統的國際時尚週是以一年四季作為週期指標, 而像Zara這些平價品牌巨頭打破慣例引進了"快時尚", 平均每週都有新品上架, 所以一年有50-100個季節週期可以注入更多新元素, 這使得消費者也跟隨著品牌的腳步加快了購物需求。所以放慢你的時尚週期, 可以減少不必要的衝動性消費。
I believe that the majority of ethics are reflected by what brands offer for their consumers, in other words, brands could bring huge impacts to rise consumers awareness as a sustainable way. More and more people start to value sustainability as a precious asset that not every global brands could provide transparent manufacturing. As an ethical consumer, we hope everyone to think about that if every pence you spend will generate more unnecessary waste to our earth.
在研究這個議題的過程, 我相信良知消費是由品牌而起並進而延伸至消費者, 也就是說, 品牌本身即有足夠的影響力能帶給消費者永續發展的意識。越來越多人開始檢視品牌背後的製造過程, 並視永續發展為一個珍貴的企業資產。作為一個良知的消費者, 我們呼籲開始正視你花的每一分錢是否替這個地球製造更多負擔。