Green is the new black, support for sustainable clothing grows

by S. C.

Sustainable clothing is the fashion of the future, Environment Minister Dan Norris will say today announcing new signatories to the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP) at London Fashion Week.

Mr Norris will be speaking at the sustainable clothing conference at London Fashion Week, one year on from the launch of the first SCAP. The conference brings together over 200 clothing industry representatives to discuss the ethical and environmental impacts of clothing.

New signatories this year include: British Retail Consortium, Ethical Fashion Forum, Forum for the Future, Levis Strauss, MADE-BY, Cotton Made in Africa, RSPCA, Society of Dyers and Colourists.

Since its creation the SCAP has brought together over 40 organisations, from high street retailers, to designers and textile manufacturers to battle the environmental and ethical impacts of ‘throw away’ fashion. Some of the biggest names in fashion are working to take actions which will make a significant difference to the environmental footprint and social inequalities which blight some of the consumer fashion supply chain.

Speaking at the SCAP update at London Fashion Week Dan Norris, Environment Minister said:

“I’m delighted to be here amongst the industry front runners on sustainable clothing. Because of your participation, the Action Plan and wider Clothing Roadmap initiative is progressing as planned and we’re as committed as ever to working with the sector on improving the environmental and ethical footprint of fashion.

“Over the last year, the actions the clothing sector & government committed to under the Action Plan are well underway or now completed and being showcased at today’s conference in the Southbank Centre.”

Since the launch of the SCAP, the Department for International Development (DFID), as a Sustainable Clothing Roadmap stakeholder, has launched a pioneering initiative to help clothing manufacturers improve working conditions for their producers in developing countries.

The Responsible and Accountable Garment Sector (RAGS) fund will make £3.5 million available over three years for bids from organisations who want to make the clothing business more ethical and contribute more strongly to development in poor countries.

International Development Minister Gareth Thomas said:

"London Fashion Week is an exciting time for British fashion, but it's important to remember the people across the world involved in making our clothes. Garment production has provided many jobs in poorer countries, but the industry continues to struggle with abuse and exploitation of workers.

"The Department for International Development will soon be inviting proposals to our ‘RAGS’ fund - giving businesses , unions and NGOs the opportunity to drive better working conditions in export garment production in Asia and Africa. We want responsibly and ethically produced clothing to be the norm in the UK."

Many of the actions in the latest update of the SCAP are underway:

- Asda, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury are focusing on green factories, reducing the impacts of clothing packaging, increasing their ranges of Fair Trade and Organic, increasing take back and recovery of unwanted clothing, supply chain traceability and increasing consumer messaging on low impact clothing washing practices.
- This Spring Tesco will launch a new online capsule Sustainable Fashion range in collaboration with From Somewhere, the recycling fashion pioneers. The collaboration comes after Tesco was inspired by their ranges at Estethica during London Fashion Week Feb 09 where the first SCAP was launched.
- Association of Charity Shops, Clothes Aid, Recyclatex, Salvation Army Trading Company Limited and Textile Recycling Association activities are focused on increasing consumer awareness of the benefits of clothing reuse - The Oxfam 'Clothes Exchange' partnership with M&S continues to flourish with around four million garments recovered for reuse/recycling at an approximate value to Oxfam of £2.2m by the end of 2009. The Association of Charity Shops’ “Donate, don’t waste” campaign launched nationwide on 22 February, involving 100 charities and 5,000 shops.
- Continental Clothing have reduced the carbon footprint of their organic (EarthPositive®) T-shirt range by 90%, and launched the first carbon reduction label on textile products to tackle corporate clothing waste – CRR’s uniformreuse.co.uk is online and Aestiva Ltd is working with Leeds University, C-Tech, Madera, Royal Mail, Mathias & Sons, Gnosys, and Oxfam Waste on disassembly techniques to enable cost effective reuse of corporate clothing.
- Adidas, Nike, MADE-BY and European Outdoor Group are developing innovations on sustainable design tools and techniques.
* Fairtrade Foundation UK maintain their ongoing campaign to increase Fairtrade clothing in the UK.
- 170 organisations have worked with Defra to complete key projects to show the way forward on reducing the Impacts of Clothes Cleaning, Maximising Reuse and Recycling of Clothing/Textiles, Sustainable Design and Eco-Efficiency in Dye houses serving Indian and UK supply chains.
- One of Clothes Aid’s pilot schemes that forms part of the Roadmap Action Plan has now been formally launched as the ‘Great British Clothes Clearout’ together with partner charity NSPCC. The scheme is on target to raise £2 million by 2012 by diverting 1,000s of tonnes of textiles from landfill and converting them into cash for the NSPCC.

In the UK we buy around two million tonnes of clothing - £23 billion worth - every year. The footprint along the global supply chain behind this includes high energy use from washing and tumble drying, water use, toxicity from pesticides, one million tonnes of unwanted clothing – 50 percent of which goes to UK landfill, labour, animal welfare and trade inequities .

The SCAP contains many calls to action by government, industry and consumers, including ways of reducing clothing packaging, increasing the recovery of unwanted clothing, supporting the usage of sustainable fibres and fabrics, low impact laundering and improving traceability on ethics across the clothing supply chain.

The British Fashion Council continue to support sustainable design in the mainstream fashion world through the Estethica sustainable clothing trade show at London Fashion Week.

by S. C.
24 February 2010 Teatro Naturale International n. 2 Year 2

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