Disposable Fashion

Well I can, but from what I read on the GN threads many people haven’t quite got the message yet.

It's not so simple though to be more ethical by buying natural fabrics - jeans are something like 95% cotton/5% elastane.

So if it takes 10,000 litres of water to make one pair of jeans, presumably it takes the same to make one cotton dress?

Just as eating tofu instead of meat is not without its ethical problems:

Without proper safeguards, the soybean industry is causing widespread deforestation and displacement of small farmers and indigenous peoples around the globe.

WWF

It is very confusing riverwalk but what is a quite simple concept is that we must buy, use less of everything.
Remember that everything we buy has a consequence.
A big bag of expensive clothes is just as damaging as a big bag of cheap ones.

If we stop buying cheap clothing and Primark goes out of business, what will their third world employees do for employment?

It's all too difficult.

A lot of soybeans grown in deforested areas are used to feed animals. Tofu way less damaging to the environment than meat. But that’s not the issue. You could argue we’ve all got to eat something, but we don’t have to buy new clothes every week. The textile industry is one of the most polluting on the planet.

Probably one of the biggest employers in the third world too.

I do agree with you though. It's just too darn hard.

Gonegirl, perhaps we should have to pay a levy for every article we buy. This could go to those exploited people who are barely able to live on what they earn.
Have you seen how they live? The conditions that they live in? The fact that their water is contaminated, if they’ve got much left.
It is unfortunate that the more expensive producers treat their workers in an abominable way too.
Buy less, pay more and make the manufacturers and retailers pass more of their profits down the line.
It’s possible but our mindset needs to change.
We don’t need to close anything down we need to re-evaluate.

I think our current system of exporting the manufacturing of clothes to poorer countries is damaging to their economies. It places their economies as servants to the whims of foreign consumers and distorts their economies and inhibits development.

Without this over dependence on cheap exports they should be helped through foreign aid to rebalance their economies to be able to produce a wider diversity of goods for a local market. Where they produce and export raw materials, mineral or agricultural, for example, much more should be processed in country and exported as finished goods

M0nica
With all due respect. If the rest of the world encourages the Asian and other markets to rebalance tgeir economies to produce a wider range of goods for their home countries, where is the money coming from for people to make those purchases?
Bangladesh for instance. Their wages are far below ours as is their cost of living therefore the population will only be able to afford to pay less so the manufacturers will get less ergo their workers.

tgeir their

I am appalled at the concept of throw away clothes that are worn once. Where do you get them because I don't want to buy them. Are they marked wear once. Someone mentioned primark but I have had clothes from them in the past but they lasted a while. Asda clothes are comparatively cheap but I still have a jacket now 15 years old which I still wear and cost 8 quid. I'm not trying to hijac this thread as i intended to start one of my own. Btw I just bought 2 asda tops 6 quid each and will be wearing them till they get tatty.

Gabriella. Rebalancing economies means changes in industries, not clothes manufcturers in Bangladesh selling to Bangladeshis. It mean encouraging small businesses to proivde goods and services that local people want. Clothes manufacturers may well go out of business, but if you read about projects set up by many small charities, teaching small holders how to grow better crops, get them to market, perhaps process them into the food products customers want. If a few more hours work will double the harvest of your smallholding, you may well buy something like wheat ready ground into flour, rather than grind your own. Many families have grown out of poverty that way. Children get educated and can train for more skilled jobs,

That is how all economies and countries have grown since the beginning of time.

I agree etheltbags1 - I do buy cheap on occasion but always wear them to bits and then use as dusters/floor cloths etc.

Have never purchased a ‘proper’ dish cloth or duster and always cut down old towels/sheets/pillowcase for car cleaning/decorating etc

If something doesn’t suit me or fit anymore and has plenty of wear then it goes to charity shop along with handbags and shoes so someone else gets some use out of it.

I’m of an age not to be bothered about wearing the same outfit to lots of different events - I figure there’s younger, prettier folks attending and no one is looking at me anyway!

I just don't need any new clothes and I certainly don't care about being up to date with the latest trends. The very fact that I have stuff from 30 years ago proves that they've stood the test of time ( quality ) and don't look out of place when worn today and also tells me that fashion is nothing but a mugs game. I only buy knickers.

I can dress up for any occasion without leaving my front door going scatty looking for something I'd only probably wear once. I'd rather splash out on a good fillet steak !