The stark reality of fast fashion
Each year more than 100 billion garments are made around the world, but around $450 billion worth of textiles are thrown away (BBC). In the UK alone, 350,000 tonnes of clothing was sent to landfill in 2018 according to Clothes Aid. But these figures, as well as the growth of the ‘throwaway society’, are set to rise exponentially, confirming that we have a global fast fashion crisis on our hands.
Back in July 2018, fashion brand Burberry decided to burn almost £30m of unsold stock in order to preserve the brand’s luxury identity instead of reducing prices. Although this caused major headlines, according to Think Sustainability this is common practise – only 1% of textile waste is currently being recycled into new clothing. At the same time, all this clothing waste is greatly contributing to CO2 emissions.
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, which is more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. At this pace, the fashion industry’s greenhouse gas emissions will surge more than 50% by 2030 (UNEP).
Our solution
For the past six years we have been focused on building a business that represents a genuine solution to this grave situation. We are proud to run a menswear service that is distinctively “slow fashion” and built around removing waste from our manufacturing process.
How? Our on-demand model caters to the exact demand of customers and avoids over- and under-production. Like manufacturing of old (pre-mass production), we have transitioned back to a model that is more circular, opposed to linear, meaning that there is very little any waste produced. As part of the process we strive to provide our customers with a better product – one that lasts and is worth keeping. Our service is built around offering an individual fit and a lot of our time is assigned to making garments that are wearable for an extended duration. This is achieved through a focus on product quality and the use of high quality, natural fibres.
Despite all our efforts to be a sustainable brand, we are aware that we haven’t solved every issue. We’re working on it.
