UK Government response to fast fashion The widespread damage of the fast fashion industry has come into the spotlight in the past few years, with awareness raised around the environmental degradation caused by the industry and the poor working conditions for many in the sector. This research aimed to look into what UK Government have done to tackle the damage caused by fast fashion and what strategies and policies have been implemented to do so. This research was carried out by Alice Russell of Seahorse Environmental with Dolly Theis acting as advisor. The research was commissioned by Hubbub.
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The issue The industry is one of the largest
contributors to modern slavery
The fashion industry is
2nd largest water user and polluter
the
Government (in)action over the last 30 years Only five strategies and 19 policies that tackle fast fashion
globally
13 million
Only one policy proposed with any cost or budget
landfill
Only 32% of policies directly take action rather than just raise awareness of the issue
items of clothing are sent to
in the UK every week
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Lack of regulation to enforce these policies 3
The research The types of issues created by the fast fashion industry and that should be (but aren’t) covered by Government strategies and policies include:
Waste
(the main area of focus for Government so far)
Worker/ supply chain
Environment
Consumer
Fashion as a policy area falls under the remit of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). However, the researchers were told by DCMS that they are not responsible for fast fashion strategies and that this was the responsibility of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Even though the British Fashion Council is sponsored by DCMS. The research into Government action on fast fashion found that the UK Government has published five strategies containing 19 policies to tackle fast fashion starting in 2008 to the most recent in 2018. In comparison, there have been 14 Government obesity strategies containing 689 policies to date.cies to date. Two of the five strategies published were focused solely on fashion and three were broader waste reduction strategies. The strategies are:
Sustainable Clothing Roadmap (2007)
Waste Strategy for England (2007)
2007
Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (2011)
2011
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Waste Prevention Programme (2013)
Our Waste, Our Resources: A strategy for England (2018)
2013
2018
Not only have there only been 19 Government policies proposed to date, but they have only been proposed in a way that is unlikely to lead to implementation and most policies proposed did not seek to directly address the issue of fast fashion (for example failing to include a timeline, budget or focusing purely on one element of the issue – mainly waste). The Government has also not taken advice on this issue and rejected all of the Environmental Audit Committee’s recommendations from its ‘Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability’ inquiry report. The Government has also announced plans for a new ‘Waste Prevention Programme for England: Towards a Resource Efficient Economy’ that aims ‘to address the negative environmental impacts of the textiles sector and fast fashion, including by supporting more sustainable design, improved consumer information, new business models and better recycling’. Fast fashion is a complex issue that incorporates issues of the environment, workers’ rights and corporate sustainability yet the government has only looked at it through the lens of waste reduction when in fact this is an issue that must be tackled by multiple departments.
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hubbub.org.uk buybetter.squarespace.com
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