Safia Minney
Fast fashion often costs as little as your lunch and is nearly as disposable. 1.4 million tons of clothes are dumped every year in the UK and the vast majority are non-biodegradable. Fair Trade fashion, made from organic, hand-woven cotton, is creating much-needed work in rural areas and sharing the benefits with cotton farmers and textile workers whilst reducing clothing’s environmental impact.
Using traditional skills creates employment, and handweaving fabric (the second largest employment sector in India) saves a ton of CO2 for each handloom each year. What we need is production by the masses, not mass
production. The only natural resource we have in plentiful supply is peoples’ hands.
Buying vintage, second-hand and swapping clothes with friends helps too, but if you’re buying new, Fair Trade goes a long way to make your fashion sustainable.
Safia Minney is Founder and CEO of People Tree and People Tree Foundation.
Read more:
www.peopletree.co.uk
