Did you know that there are enough pieces of clothing on the planet now to clothe the next six generations?
The late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood once said “Buy Less. Choose Well. Make it Last”, and that is what Bristol -based Amelia Twine wants to teach people.
Ms Twine is the founder of Sustainable Fashion Week, which now in its third year comprises clothes swaps, workshops and talks promoting an ethos of “re-wear, repurpose, regenerate and reconnect”, taking place between September 25 and October 8.
With a sharp focus on “The ReWear Revolution”, the former retailer said: “There’s nothing wrong with saving up and buying something new but it is investing in something really as low impact as possible and supplementing that with buying second hand.”
Speaking to BusinessLive Ms Twine explained that she wants to educate people on how to shop second hand, keep clothing alive and make investments on items with a “good supply chain story”.
Fast fashion has come under fire for several years now. With Gen-Zers wanting to shop more sustainably and profits slumping at major retailers like Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing and ASOS, there is an argument that things are changing.
Read more: Former Topshop and Versace execs' sustainable fashion brand seeks South West premises
However, brands including H&M and Zara have seen their profits rise, alongside fast fashion online retailer Shein’s growth. The majority of cheap, trend-driven clothing ends up in landfill. It has been reported that Shein, in particular, adds on average 6,000 new styles to its website every day.
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The European Union recently backed a number of new regulations to end fast fashion, including policies designed to make clothes more durable, easier to reuse, repairable and recyclable.
Ms Twine explained how she believes there is a lack of knowledge surrounding how clothing is created. She said: “I think if people knew the potential harm of polyester, which I think now counts for 63% of all clothing ever made.”
Over 60% of our clothing is made from plastics. “It has harmful effects on our bodies,” explained Ms Twine. “Plastic clothing has fire retardant chemicals put on which is really harmful for our bodies and on our bed sheets where we are sleeping.
“I think if people knew this, I wonder if the consumer knew that plastic clothing might affect hormones, would they think differently?”
Another reason that Ms Twine gave for people buying fast fashion is convenience.
She said: “I don’t know anyone who isn’t working too hard with too little time for themselves, with too little for nature, so in that capacity, in that context, convenience becomes the biggest challenge. It is the biggest obstacle to climate action and sustainability because we are all too exhausted to think beyond the next 24 hours.”
Ms Twine created an online retail store, Give Well Love, in 2018. She told BusinessLive how the intention was to make sustainable fashion more style focused and seen more broadly.
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“So not just looking at individual brands but kind of connecting them together. In doing that I became more aware of two things. One, we need to stop producing new, as much as possible, so we need to create a very minimal amount of new clothing with the best possible supply chain story.
“And two, was that the prices of sustainable fashion, even though they are the right prices, are according to the supply chain being properly managed all the way through, including garment workers wages. Those prices were inaccessible to lots and lots of people who wanted to not be excluded from the narrative of sustainable fashion.”
'Over 60% of our clothing is made from plastics'
Ms Twine ran Give Well Love for two years and was already planning Sustainable Fashion Week before she closed the shop.
Launching in 2019 with the aim of making sustainable fashion more accessible.
“It explores the different entry points from people of all backgrounds and it explores all the myriad of ways we can change our habits about being sustainable rather than just buy,” explained the founder.
Sustainable Fashion Week said that it has been predicted that the resale market will be worth more than the fashion industry by 2030.
Co-op’s report, Twenty Years of Ethical Consumerism, showed that more people are buying vintage and second hand clothing. Before the pandemic, charity shop sales had increased from £133m to £732m in 20 years.
However, Sustainable Fashion Week faces an uphill battle of spreading its messages and growing.
Last year it hosted 83 events across the 海角视频 and aims for 100 this year. However, because Ms Twine is running and organising the event by herself she is less resourced and working harder.
Ms Twine explained how the commercial nature of the activities is the “most challenging aspect” because it needs to remain accessible.
She said: “It has to be for the community and it also has to have active community participation, which means it has to be kept low cost.”
Sustainable Fashion Week hopes to create a commercial model to sustain itself long term. In the past Ms Twine has been reliant on brand participation and has not yet received any funding.
Therefore, the week drives a community focused programme and is looking for both companies and individuals to get involved.
It is this format that Ms Twine believes will enable the business to grow with an increased number of participants. She hopes that within communities participants will create programmes and benefit from Sustainable Fashion Week, eventually increasing its potential for international growth.
'I would like it to keep growing until it becomes a global fashion week'
Ms Twine therefore is looking for sponsors and organisations to get involved with the third year of events. In the first year she had lots of individuals taking part, last year it was individuals, community groups, plus small organisations and brands.
She said: “This year we seem to be connecting with organisations as well as big organisations like National Trust are taking part in our events. We have been chatting to organisations like the V&A who aren’t able to get involved this year but will next year.”
Sustainable Fashion Week is just about to launch its first-ever affiliate programme, which will give individuals and organisations access to a directory of suppliers of products and services to people interested in sustainable fashion activities, alongside various informative blogs and opportunities to advertise in the SWF newsletter and Bristol Hub at SFW.
Ms Twine said: “I would like it to keep growing until it becomes a global fashion week. If I had more support and resources what we would like to do is create a coordinated global week of action involving people from across the supply chain.
“I want the community to feel resourced and skilled and to know where to go for support in changing their fashion habits and ultimately what the value of that can be.”
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