The amount of clothing purchased globally has doubled from 50 billion items to 100 billion items in the last 15 years. At the same time the global population and economy have grown at less than half that rate!
Finding ways to get more use out of each piece of clothing is essential to reduce the impact of our fashion choices on the planet. Circular Fashion argues that we need to transform the way clothes are designed, sold and used to break free from their increasingly disposable nature. Pre-loved and vintage clothing sales, clothes swaps and rental schemes are key ways to address this. Buying second hand is also supported by labour rights campaigners as it helps to slow down the ever-increasing speed that we use clothing, and so reduces the negative impacts of the fast fashion cycle on workers in the supply chain.
However, without care and consideration, second hand and rental businesses can create their own problems. In the case of rental marketplaces featuring ‘on-trend’ brands, styles still become obsolete alarmingly quickly, contributing to the problem of excess textile waste. It’s important that all clothing can be recycled or upcycled and pressure should be applied to brands to do this. As a society, we also need to make sure that we maintain pressure on brands to produce more durable clothes, in a more ethical way.
The second-hand market can also contribute to some worrying outcomes for people and the planet if not managed carefully. Only a small percentage of donated clothing is of sufficient quality to be re-sold, with cheap fast-fashion less likely to survive the sorting process. Developing countries are inundated with unwanted clothes, so much so that some countries such as Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have banned, or are considering banning, used clothing turning up on their doorstep. The excess clothing problem is outsourced to countries with less capacity to deal with it and can often destroy the local clothing industry.
With these issues in mind, Good On You strongly supports circular economy initiatives. We don’t currently provide ratings for second hand and rental clothing businesses, but we will be taking a closer look at these issues as part of our ongoing review of the Good On You brand rating methodology. See here for more information on our ratings.