Sustainable fashion
Members of Parliament:
Main topics: social justice, environmental hazards, recycling, slow fashion, donations, activist fashion
We met with
Mittal Pelag Mizrahi, researcher and lecturer on sustainable fashion. From the founders of the project "Matilbesot", the movement for fair and sustainable fashion.
Facebook page (environmental justice, sustainable consumption and fashion) Instagram page (dressed_to_save_the_world)
"People dress up to save the world"
From the meeting
The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. On the environmental side: the clothes are dyed in a process that includes 8000 different and toxic chemicals that emit greenhouse gases. The process of creating clothes consumes a huge amount of water, thousands of liters are required to produce one pair of jeans. In addition, the fashion industry pollutes fresh water due to chemicals used in dyeing and production.
Many companies in the fashion industry produce an average of 53 collections per year. Many people consume from a variety of new collections that come out every week leading to over-consumption.
A person only uses 20% of the clothes he purchased. The consumer culture leads to throwing away many clothes with high frequency. Clothes we don't need are sent for donation, but in fact a small percentage of them are sold or given away, the rest end up in the garbage.
Less than 1% is recycled because for recycling the entire object must be composed of the same material. As a result, the clothes are sent to third world countries where they dump and burn the many clothes that harm and pollute the air and groundwater.
The people at the top of the industry earn $1.27 billion. This is an industry that exploits workers and has a violent work environment many female workers suffer physical and verbal violence while working and all under conditions of pressure and work in a limited and short time.
The factories in the industry are located in third world countries, their livelihood comes from the production work in the factories in a way of exploitation and trampling on the "small and simple person", who receives a meager salary. Clothes today are very cheap, we spend less money on them and that means someone else pays for them Society and the environment.
Dealing with the challenge
How to deal with the huge amounts of clothing that pollute the planet?
1. To encourage the consumption of second-hand products
2. Raise awareness that most clothes are sent to incineration or landfill in Africa
3. Create the understanding that consumer culture is destructive to the environment.
A proper consumer culture will lead to a reduction in the production of clothes, the reduction of pollution caused by large amounts of the chemicals used in the fashion industry, fair working conditions for the small workers, a reduction in the amount of garbage, less pollution of fresh drinking water. The involvement of everyone is required the large and small companies, those operating in factories, consumers and third world countries (mainly Africa).
solutions :
Second hand - rebranding not as someone else's junk and "no choice" but as a quality style and way of life. Rebranding not as second hand but as say ReCloth. Campaigns with famous models. Redesigning of looks by stylists/design students, etc.
A global website for second hand clothes. Advertisements for second hand stores. billboards. Raise awareness - on social media to bring to the fore the fashion problem (the fact that the fashion industry is the second most polluting) and the possible solutions. Recycled fashion shows (recycled fabrics). Publicizing the damages of the industry, as today are publicized in cigarettes.
People need to recognize that this is one of humanity's biggest problems. Show that the solutions are applicable and do not require too much change. Backing is required from people involved in the global fashion industry. such as designers, Instagram followers, stylists, presenters, etc.
