{"id":59440,"date":"2023-04-24T17:42:43","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T15:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=59440"},"modified":"2024-12-16T18:32:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T17:32:00","slug":"enough-circularity-greenwash-slow-fashion-is-the-way-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/59440\/enough-circularity-greenwash-slow-fashion-is-the-way-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Enough of the circularity greenwash: slow fashion is the way forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This time last year I was standing on a riverbank that was literally made of clothes waste, sifting through the rags with fellow researchers in Nairobi, Kenya<\/a>. Something caught my eye in the homogenous mass of waste – a label which said ‘Conscious’. A sad end for an item of clothing, which could have been made better, loved more, passed on and repaired \u2013 and when it was really no good anymore, taken apart so that the precious resources it was made of could be recovered and recycled.<\/p>\n\n

People in Kenya and other countries of the Global South are being overwhelmed by the growing flood of used and rejected clothes from wealthier countries<\/a>, at volumes well beyond the needs and demands of local markets. Over the years they have become less and less useful; while the imported clothes used to be of good quality, now they are poorly made, or stained, broken and unusable. They are nothing less than plastic waste dumping<\/a>, bringing a series of disasters – polluting waterways with microplastic fibres, catching on fire in the huge landfills and poisoning the air, or blocking the drains during downpours and aggravating flooding<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\"Fast
Greenpeace visits places of textile production, distribution, markets and waste disposals. Used and new clothes are sent to Kenya from Europe and China to be sold as so called ‘Mitumba’ but often they end up as landfill and waste disposal due to the huge amount. Here: Textile waste near Gikomba market in Nairobi. Greenpeace Kenya volunteer and slow fashion influencer Janet Chemitei and Greenpeace Germany campaigner Viola Wohlgemuth show some of the labels they found.
\u00a9 Kevin McElvaney \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Fast fashion exploits workers and will never be green or sustainable<\/h2>\n\n

But fashion is no stranger to disaster. Ten years ago today, 1134 people died in the collapsed clothing factory Rana Plaza in Bangladesh. Considered the biggest modern catastrophe in the fashion industry, these people died making clothes for Western consumers.<\/p>\n\n

This tragedy has come to symbolise the devastating impacts of fast fashion, not only on workers in supply chains but from the whole life cycle of fashion which exploits people and nature from the cradle to the grave. It led to the creation of Fashion Revolution<\/a>, now the world\u2019s largest fashion activism movement, which has the engagement of many non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including Greenpeace.<\/p>\n\n

Garment workers, most of whom are women (making up approximately 80% of the workforce in the garment industry) have been raising their voices and mobilising for years<\/a> to ask for change, better working conditions, greater union rights and fair and living wages. Survivors of the Rana Plaza collapse are also speaking out and calling out brands that haven’t contributed to compensation or changed their business practices.<\/p>\n\n

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This week, survivors of the Rana Plaza collapse spoke out during a press conference in Dhaka calling out brands that haven't contributed to compensation despite sourcing from the Rana Plaza factories. Over 50 survivors were present at the event organised by @ngwfinfo<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Z447nQzYMF<\/a><\/p>— Clean Clothes Campaign (@cleanclothes) April 20, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>