My Vision
My vision is a world where fashion is joyful, practical, and accessible, without compromising the well-being of the people who create it or the health of our planet. Fashion can be exciting and creative without being exploitative. It doesn’t have to be dull or punitive, but it must be fair to everyone and everything on this earth. This vision is not an impossible dream, but achieving it requires collective effort.
Let’s assess where we stand now, and I’ll share how I plan to make a difference—and how you can join me in this journey.
Many of us may imagine sweatshops as something that only exists in distant lands, but they are closer to home than we think. Shockingly, even luxury brands like Dior and Armani, typically not associated with fast fashion, were recently found exploiting illegal immigrants in sweatshops to produce luxury items like a $2780 Dior handbag at a manufacturing cost of just $57. Safety measures on machinery were even removed or disabled to speed up production.
In the UK, sweatshops in Leicester were found violating lockdown rules to continue production, paying workers as little as £3.10 per hour under unsafe and illegal conditions
Transparency in the fashion industry is sorely lacking. Greenwashing—where companies make misleading claims about sustainability and environmental practices—is rampant. A key area where fashion brands are particularly secretive is in their production levels. The Fashion Transparency Index revealed that only 12% of the 250 brands surveyed disclosed how much they manufacture.
The rapid turnover of fashion items is a hallmark of today’s industry. Traditional two-season collections are gone. By the time you spot a pair of trousers you like in a magazine or online, they’re already outdated and on the sale rack. To ensure enough stock is available in all sizes for the brief period it’s on the main shop floor, manufacturers produce far more than they can sell. This wouldn’t be as problematic if collections were available for months, but with new collections arriving weekly, the overproduction and waste are staggering.
Recently, take-back schemes have become more common, where shops and manufacturers offer to accept unwanted items. I have one myself, called Revolution. But the question is, what happens to the items you drop off? Are these schemes merely to make you feel good and encourage you to buy more? Sadly, in many cases, the answer is yes.
Between August 2022 and July 2023, The Changing Markets Foundation tracked 21 clothing items returned to 10 brands (including H&M, Zara, Primark, and others) across the UK, Belgium, France, and Germany. All items were in good condition and suitable for reuse. The results were alarming:
- Seven items were quickly destroyed—burned for fuel, downcycled into stuffing or rags, or simply dumped.
- Five items were sent to second-hand shops, but only one remained in its country of origin. Two were sent to Ukraine, adding to the waste burden in a war-torn country.
- Four items were exported to Central Africa, with one ending up in a dump in Mali via the UAE.
- The remaining items were caught in the global used clothing trade, languishing in depots around the world.
Selling unwanted clothing on platforms like Vinted does promote reuse, but it doesn’t necessarily discourage ongoing purchases. “I’ve sold all this; what should I buy with the money I’ve made?” is a common mindset.
As of August 2024, Zara alone has 6.8 million items listed on Vinted. These won’t all be sold, and many will likely end up donated to charity or in one of those bins mentioned earlier. With around 60% of donated items never sold, charities are left to handle their disposal, often following the same path as items in take-back bins.
Fashion is a dirty business, and it needs cleaning up. But how? We all have a role to play. It’s better for a hundred people to do something imperfectly than for one person to do it perfectly.
Be that imperfect person trying to make a difference.
- Where was it made?
- Who made it?
- Under what conditions was it made?
- What is it made of? Can it be composted when it’s no longer usable?
- What will I do with it when I no longer want it?
why buy from me?
All items are second-hand. While I can’t vouch for the original manufacturer’s ethics, these items already exist, and I’m removing them from the waste/landfill cycle.
All items are made from natural fibres—mainly silk, wool, linen, or cotton.
I will take back any item you purchase from me when you no longer want it, regardless of condition or reason. I repurpose the fabric and reuse notions like buttons and zips. When the fabric is beyond repurposing, I remove all labels and compost it.
It’s not about not buying—it’s about thinking before we buy. Ask questions and embrace slow shopping. Here are some resources that can help you answer these questions:
Every small step we take can make a difference.
