Leeds City Council’s climate emergency committee met to discuss how fast fashion was causing huge amounts of clothing consumption that is harmful for the environment.
Continue reading
Continue reading
Figures reveal that 1,100 Leeds school pupils were absent one day because of Covid
He stated that the impact of the fashion and textile industries is far greater than most people realize. These impacts are immense.
Many of the effects we make are felt around the world. We are working hard to create real solutions in the Future Fashion Factory.
He also said that the UK was Europe’s largest fashion consumer, with the average person buying 27kg of clothes per annum, compared with 16 kg in Germany, and 9 kg in France.
The Future Fashion Factory is an alliance between fashion retailers and academics from Leeds University. It aims at helping to develop technology to allow for more environmentally friendly methods of clothing manufacturing.
One of the suggestions was to replace some crude oil byproducts in clothing with plant extracts and move to a more just–in-time manufacturing model, rather than creating large quantities of stock at once.
Coun Neil Buckley, Con (Con) stated: We produce three times as many clothes as France. We are a similar-sized nation, and the French don’t strike me as being particularly scruffy.
Ten years ago people believed that globalization was the best way to go and that everyone would be better off.
If you ask sales or marketing people, the worst thing about goods not being made in stock is someone giving you an item and then saying, ooh, no stock. And so it goes on to your competitor who has stock.
People want it now in the real world. They want it to be available for them to purchase in Primark or Next. They want it to arrive that week even if it is ordered online.
I love the high-quality, ethically-minded garments. However, I don’t have the money to buy them. I’m curious about the 4.99 price tag for tee shirts. We all know they are made by Bangladesh and that they are made out of strange material that was made from oil.
Prof Russell said that the UK’s biggest driver of clothing consumption was the culture and fashion of fast fashion. This is where retailers respond quickly to trends by producing cheap clothes in the most recent styles. This was not the case in other countries.
He said, “I totally agree that not having stock is the worst thing you could do. But this is an important point in how we design/manufacture.” It was impossible to design and manufacture within a week using the traditional method of designing and manufacturing.
This is the idea of smart, connected factories. A customer orders, the order is processed and shipped within a week. This is a completely different way to think about how we manufacture.
It is a way to reduce our supply chains and bring manufacturing back home to the UK.
Global supply chains are primarily concerned about low-cost products. It is important to ensure that they are not low-cost because they are being treated incorrectly. It is a concern for large retailers.
Coun Buckley suggested that individual clothing items would cost astronomical to produce, but that technological advancements could offset some of those costs.
Coun Helen Hayden (Lab), speaking about her experiences with clothes retail websites, said: We need to have that cultural change. My generation views shopping as a social occasion and that it is important to have a new outfit for every occasion.
I don’t want Bangladeshis without jobs because we made our own yarn. It must be ethically driven and people should have decent jobs.
Support the YEP today and become a subscriber. You have unlimited access to local news and the latest about Leeds United. A digital subscription allows you to see fewer ads, load faster, and access exclusive newsletters and content. Click here to subscribe.