How much does clothes actually cost?

‘Did you know that the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is burned or landfilled every second? And right now, less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing, meaning 99% of all textiles and fashion are waste… that’s about 100 billion dollars worth of materials wasted each year. It’s crazy!’ - Sustainable fashion designer Stella McCartney.

But how much does clothing actually cost?

When we happily pay pennies for ‘bargains’ – we unwittingly let the costs to nature, people and the planet mount to breaking point says Green Peace. With revelations of modern slavery at clothes workshops in Leicester during the first coronavirus lockdown show that fast fashion is not only fuelling human rights abuses – but threatening UK public health too and this is sponsored by these so called 'bargains'.

Fast fashion is quickly sold and quickly binned, much like single-use plastics. It takes 200 years for polyester to decompose.

Do all clothing have the same cost?

Some brands work hard to have as little impact on the environment as possible by offering:

- recycled textiles

- circularity- this is wear you can send back your used items to be recycled and receive a discount code for a new one as an incentive

- making sure their sources are certified and socially responsible

- offering pre-order or produce to order- this means it will take longer for you to receive your order, but mitigates waste

- no plastic packaging

- toxic free fabric dyeing

So next time you see something you would consider a bargain consider the true costs of that bargain and let's together take steps toward a faire and healthier world.

Hope this has been food for though and I would love your feedback, leave me a comment!

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Eco regards,

Rebecca Lyall

Eco.lure Eco and Ethical Clothes