Fashion Is Burning
Charlotte Wylie sheds light on the deeply disturbing practice of burning excess clothing stock, and what brands are doing to curb this.
We as consumers are always being told ‘fast fashion is bad for the planet’, with more and more emphasis on individuals to become more sustainable. The reality is that although individuals being eco-friendly is helpful, it distracts from the reality that large companies cause far more damage than individuals ever could. ReFashion the Future recently mentioned how the majority of the planet’s waste comes from only 100 big companies, but have you ever wondered what it is they’re doing to cause so much harm?
One of the major problems fashion has is over production. Research from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation shows that the worldwide production of clothes has doubled in the last 15 years, with clothes being cheaper quality and being disposed of quicker. What do companies do with products they don’t sell? You might think they donate them to charities or reuse the fabrics, and some companies do. The majority, however, burn them. They incinerate them. Why? It’s a quicker way to get rid of stock, less rules than giving away to charities. Even brands that have an eco-friendly mantra like H&M have been caught burning stock they couldn’t sell; in 2016-2017 H&M were accused on burning 60 tonnes of unsold clothes. You may expect this of fast fashion companies who have to recreate styles every week to stay on trend, when previously companies would only release new styles with every season.
Fast fashion companies, however, are not the only guilty ones. Luxury designers have also been accused on burning stock, despite not producing as much as fast-fashion companies. Their reasoning is arguably worse than simply not being able to sell the products; they burn their stock to remain as exclusive as possible. Luxury brands like Burberry and Cartier do not want their products being ‘cheapened’ by becoming available at a lower price to the general public. Burberry was accused in 2018 of burning £28.6 million worth of clothes, £90 million between 2013-2015. This occurred just two months after their launched a campaign called ‘Making Fashion Circular’ which pushed for more sustainable fashion – talk about greenwashing! Similarly, Cartier have continuously been buying back over £500 million worth of watches from other retailers to destroy - some were recycled – to avoid the brand being resold at a lower price, therefore making the brand less upmarket. COVID-19 has worsened this over-production, as people have less occasions to shop for.
It is fortunately not all doom and gloom however! Brands have gotten away with this in the past, but one of the positives of globalisation is accountability. A recent survey by Hubbub shows that 65% of the British Public want the government to reduce the negative impact of the fashion industry, it is hard for companies to ignore that large of a public outcry. So we know the problem and that people want to fix it, so what’s being done?
In 2017 during the Copenhagen fashion week dozens of Danish brands adopted a commitment from a group called ‘Global Fashion Agenda’ to make ‘Fashion More Circular’ (hopefully not like Burberry did!)
Popular American brand Reformation are using their old stock as fabric for their new stock, at least 15% is used for new designs.
Companies like Nu-in are using products from recycled products and cutting down on water waste.
If you want to help encourage companies to become more sustainable, you can buy less, as well as buying more eco friendly products. Large corporations go with the trends, so the more eco-friendly people shop (or don’t shop!), e.g. buying products that have less carbon and water waste, the more eco-friendly a company has to become to keep up. The best way to get a company’s attention is to change where you shop. Greenwashing is of course a problem, one that we at ReFashion the Future are trying to address, but eventually companies will have to face real change.
The takeaway? Individuals can of course be more sustainable if they have the means to, but the majority of the responsibility should not lie on individuals. Companies need to be held accountable for the damage they cause, the responsibility cannot fall to individuals or even small local brands. Large brands cannot be trusted to become sustainable, because making money will always come first. We need governments to hold these companies responsible and to implant more laws to enforce sustainability.