Thursday, January 31, 2019

Unsustainable Fashion

Fashion retailers JD Sports, Sports Direct and Boohoo, Amazon, TK Maxx and Missguided were  described by the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) as being among the "least engaged" in sustainable fashion and labour market initiatives.
The inquiry was prompted by the popularity of "fast fashion... cheap clothing, with quick turnover that encourages repurchasing". Disposable fashion has come under fire, not only for the amount that ends up in landfill, but also because it can release toxic chemicals in production and plastic fibres when it is washed. 
The "most engaged" were named as Asos, Marks & Spencer Tesco, Primark and Burberry. All of them use organic or sustainable cotton and old materials and encourage customers to return old clothing.  The "moderately engaged" retailers were Next, Debenhams, Arcadia Group and Asda. 
EAC chair Mary Creagh said: "It's shocking to see that a group of major retailers are failing to take action to promote environmental sustainability and protect their workers."
The committee concluded that the UK fashion industry's current business model was "clearly unsustainable.


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