“SUSTAINABILITY” - this means anything which maintains the ecological balance. If we talk about ‘SUSTAINABLE FASHION’; the fashion industry is one of the most harmful industries, tonnes of clothing waste end up in a landfill !In 2020 an estimate 18.6 million tonnes of waste was produced. Globally every year almost 13 million tonnes of textile waste is produced 95% of which could be reused or recycled. And the apparel industry accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions. IMAGINE HOW MUCH POLLUTION IS MADE !Every year we contribute in buying new clothes. But we are not aware of materials which is sustainable or not. Sustainable fashion doesn’t mean only clothes. This includes how we produce and consume clothing, shoes, accessories and other textiles.Thus Sustainable Fashion is partly about producing clothes, shoes and accessories in environmentally and socio-economically sustainable manners, but also about more sustainable patterns of consumption and use, which necessitate shifts in individual attitudes and behaviour.We are very much obsessed with this brand thing!! But Do you know the brands which you use are really sustainable or not? Okay so let me bring you to the reality. The brands which you use is actually know as Fast Fashion. Fast Fashion is a term used to describe a highly profitable business model based on replicating catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, and mass-producing them at low cost. And all the elements of fast fashion- trend replication, rapid production, low quality, competitive pricing—add up to having a detrimental impact on the planet and the people involved in garment production. These Brands seem to only care about profit, while they exploit cheap laborers in developing countries, dump toxic waste into rivers, and fill our landfills with cheap clothing. They also trick people into buying their clothes by promoting overconsumption, unrealistic lifestyles, and unattainable beauty standards.If you’re hoping your favorite fast fashion brand isn’t on this list, I assure you, it probably is. Even though you may have heard about the improvements some of these brands are making, unfortunately, that’s only the bare minimum they’re doing, and that’s probably only for some good PR.You would have heard this quotation “All Glitters are Not Gold”. So here comes the reality of WHO MADE MY CLOTHES?1. FORCED LABOUR Most of our clothes are made in places where workers rights are nonexistent. Many cases of forced labour have also been reported along the supply chain of the fashion industry. The most infamous example takes place in Uzbekistan, one of the world’s largest cotton exporters. Every autumn, the government forces over one million people to leave their regular jobs and go pick cotton. Children are also mobilized and taken out of school to harvest cotton. 2. FREQUENT USE OF CHILD LABOUR 168 million children in the world are forced to work. Because the fashion industry requires low-skilled labour, child labour is particularly common in this industry. In South India, for example, 250,000 girls work under the Sumangali scheme, a practice which involves sending young girls from poor families to work in a textile factory for three or five years in exchange for a basic wage and an lump sum payment at the end to pay for their dowry. Girls are overworked and live in appalling conditions that can be classified as modern slavery.3. UNACCEPTABLE HEALTH & SAFETY CONDITIONSThe collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013, killing 1134 garment workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has revealed the unacceptable working conditions of the whole fashion industry to the world. Employees usually work with no ventilation, breathing in toxic substances, inhaling fiber dust or blasted sand in unsafe buildings. Accidents, fires, injuries, and disease are very frequent occurences on textile production sites. On top of that, clothing workers regularly face verbal and physical abuse. In some cases, when they fail to meet their (unreachable) daily target, they are insulted, denied breaks, or not allowed to drink water. 4. ENDLESS WORKING HOURS Garment workers are often forced to work 14 to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. During peak season, they may work until 2 or 3 am to meet the fashion brand's deadline. Their basic wages are so low that they cannot refuse overtime - aside from the fact that many would be fired if they refused to work overtime. In some cases, overtime is not even paid at all. 5. MISERABLE WAGE Many fashion brands assure their customers that the workers who made their clothing are paid "at least the minimum legal wage". But what exactly does that mean? First of all, it means that many other brands do not even pay the minimum legal salary! Furthermore, in most of the manufacturing countries (China, Bangladesh, India...), the minimum wage represents between half to a fifth of the living wage. A living wage represents the bare minimum that a family requires to fulfill its basic needs (food, rent, healthcare, education..). So in summary, these brands are bragging about paying their employees 5 times less than what a person actually needs to live with dignity…6. INHUMAN WORKING CONDITION We often hear company owners saying that "for these workers, it is better than nothing”, “at least we give them a job”, and to a certain extent, they are right. But it is also right to say that they are exploiting the misery and taking advantage of poor populations who have no choice but to work for any salary, in any working conditions. Even the European Parliament is using the term “slave labour” to describe the current working conditions of garment workers in Asia.SO;BUY LESS, BUY CLOTHES FROM SUSTAINABLE BRANDS, BUY BETTER QUALITY, THINK TWICE BEFORE THROWING OUT YOUR CLOTHES, BUY SECOND HAND, SWAP, & RENT CLOTHING. ASK QUESTIONS: #whomademyclothes?Ask questions, educate yourself and act consciously. Who made your clothes? How will this product end its life? How long am I going to use this product for? Do I really need it? What is it made from? Does the price reflect the effort and resources that went into this?Until and Unless we don’t ask for transparency, the daily wagers aren not going to live in dignity or safety. There’s so much more we need to do but, at least start from here. Wear what you have. Throwing clothes isn’t the only option. There are ways to keep them out of landfills(reuse, resell, repair, donation, tailor). Learn to care for your clothes, the longer we keep wearing items, the more we reduce the emissions footprint of our closet.
