From factory to landfill with nothing in between

9th September 2023

If you are an organisation driven purely by profit, no way are you going to bother recycling clothes. It’s too hard and it’s too costly. And the clothes these companies make are not designed to be recycled – again, too costly.

Even the plainest looking garment is likely to made of several different materials. Cotton and wool are often blended with oil-derived polyester or elastane, so the natural fibres can’t be reclaimed and re-spun.

There is another disincentive for these companies, and perversely, it is a government led one. In most countries, businesses are charged inventory tax. That means a levy on all their stock and material. So it makes financial sense to get rid of unsold stock as quickly as possible.

It’s not just fast fashion brands that are guilty of this behaviour, though. Some luxury brands are too. They think it will protect their luxury reputation. Rather than discounting their unsold stock, and risking ‘the wrong kind of people’ being able to afford them, they’d rather burn or landfill it.

Each year, it is estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste is created globally. That’s a rubbish truck full dumped every second. If we carry on at the rate we are currently going, that figure will reach 134 million tonnes. Every year. We can all do our bit to combat this. It’s simple. We need to turn our backs on fast fashion and embrace slow style.