Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

Edmund Burke

Fashion Footprints...

The Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (see www.ccanw.co.uk ) have recently raised the issue of the size of our Fashion Footprint!

We have taken the issue up and found out more...

Fashion facts:

In 2009, women bought nearly 3 times the amount of garments they bought in 1999.
We don’t even wear 20% of the clothes we buy.

Two million tonnes of textile waste go into UK landfills every year.
The past wealth of Devon came from wool; now a sheep’s fleece is only worth £1 – the cost of having it sheared!
In 1970, t-shirts and tops cost £2-£10 each. They cost the same now – but as we earn about 5 times as much money now, we buy far more!

The reason that clothes are so cheap now is that most are made in countries where living standards and wages are very low.

Fabric Footprints

Your garment’s carbon footprint is the total amount of CO2 used to make and care for it, from shop to bin. Our modern textile industry is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gasses on Earth. Whatever the fibre, making fabrics causes pollution!

Natural fabrics are made from plant or animal fibres. The crops need irrigation, fertiliser and pesticide to produce profitable crops. A lot of water must be used for processing. But natural fabrics cause less environmental damage, especially if you buy organic!

Man-made fabrics are made from petro-chemicals. Did you know that you’re wearing oil?

If you ‘shop till you drop’, you’re probably making climate change worse....

so choose your clothes carefully and look after them - you can enjoy them for years!

Find out how to make, mend, alter and remake your favourite clothes, so that you always look cool!

Try Charity Shops for fantastic bargains with tiny footprints.