Written Response – Plastic Fashion

I was aware of many of the topics discussed in the last lectures, but not the magnitude in which these problems were affecting us and how absurd were these measures being implemented. For instance, I never realised how many clothes were actually going to waste even before being useful, and how many of these were wasted almost after being used. It’s one of these thoughts that are intuitive and make sense, but you don’t stop to think about.  One of the facts I did not know was how much of our clothes was made out of plastic. I was expecting some parts of them, but not the fabric itself to be also engulfed in this omnipresent culture of plastic. In a way, it even mimics it on the single use aspect.

At the beginning I felt conflicted with the environmental efforts some big fashion brands were making. One knows they are mostly hypocritical actions focused on green washing more than actual change, but I still felt these were somehow necessary steps in order to get a “greener industry”. What I did not realised was what the speaker Heather introduced to us, which is to rather change the entire industry, and even the need to decrease it altogether. A solution so obvious yet so unthinkable in the consumeristic society in which the past generations have been raised. 

Because of this, I understand the need to come up with actions that will help us achieve the model of a circular economy. An easy individual effort that we all can take is rooted and directly influenced from the first principle of a circular economy, which is to keep the products and materials in use. This is easily achievable by taking as much advantage from our clothes as we can. Some interesting solutions from Heather for me were these new ideas of renting clothes, which will be a fundamental tool to make the economy take as much advantage from what is already present in the market. Another idea taken directly from these principles could be to shop into stores and brands that already offer a solution for the waste. In other words, to consider what are we to do with the shirt before buying it. Finally, the obvious yet often unthinkable option: buy less clothes. Overall, just to understand the impact that a new pair of pants would have can make us have a change of attitude.